1880 



THE LANCASTER FARMER. 



41 



layers o£ stoae lightly covered with earth and 

 gravel. The macadam turnpike is really a 

 thoroughly drained road-bed wlieii it is per- 

 fect. The reason why it so often fails is 

 because in many places there is no outlet to 

 the drain. Tlie water runs under tlie road to 

 tome depression, and tliere lies until wiuter 

 frosts have lifted the stones from their foini- 

 dation and left road a quagmire as soon as 

 the spring came. If the macadam road-bed 

 is connected with an underdrain it will obvi- 

 ate this trouble and make a lirm and perma- 

 nent road-bed. 



Piling loose earth and sods in the centre of 

 the road may be somewluit better than leav- 

 ing tlie surface level. But if the snil is vege- 

 table matter, sods and the like, the more it is 

 piled up, the worse the road-bed will surely 

 be. Nothing will do any good except to fir.st 

 remove surplus water by stone or tile uiuler- 

 drains. When this is done, it is surprising 

 how little stone or gravel is needed. I am 

 glad that road-makers are learning to use 

 more gravel; but in thousands of (ilaccs draw- 

 ing gravel to throw on an undrained turnpike 

 is nearly a waste of labor. — Country Gentle- 

 man. 



MORE ABOUT SORGHUM SUGAR. 

 Not long ago the Cane Growers' Conven- 

 tion met in St. Louis, and a large number 

 were in attendance. Mr. Belcher, the expert 

 of the association, made a number of interest- 

 ing statements concerning his experiments, 

 that show what possibilities there are in 

 sorghum and corn stalks. His experiments 

 were of a nature to greatly encourage those 

 who look forward to a time when this country 

 shall be emancipated from paying the tribute 

 of 8100,000,000 we are now compelled to send 

 annually to Cuba and other sugar growing 

 countries. The samples of sorglmm juice 

 tested by him showed the presence of sugar 

 running from 4.47 to 12.86 per cent., the lower 

 figures having been obtained from unripe and 

 the latter from matured cane later in the sea- 

 son. Some .even tested up to 14i degrees; 

 the juice of Cuban cane was from 14 to 10. 

 What is not definitely known is whether there 

 are substances present in sorghum juice that 

 are not to be found in true sugarcane. Every- 

 where the results were satisfactory. Large 

 sums of money have been invested in the 

 sorghum sugar interest and with very fair 

 results. At Chrystal Lake, in Indiana, 4.5,- 

 000 pounds of most excellent sugar were 

 turned out from the sugar making establish- 

 ment located there, and that, too, from very 

 inferior juice expressed from unripe cane. 

 The president of this comi)any asserts tliat 

 cane with juice testing up to 10 degrees can 

 be ground" up one day and at once converted 

 into sugar, ready for maket the following 

 day. All the facts developed corroborate 

 what Commissioner Le Due has so often 

 told us. 



The fact is abundantly proven that both 

 sorghum and corn cane contain saccharine 

 juices of a grade sufficiently higli to make 

 sugar from profitably. What is now needed 

 is the skill and intelligence necessary to carry 

 forward the process. It is something new, 

 and not to be learned in a single day. In 

 consideration of the vast interests involved, 

 it seems the part of wisdom in Congress to 

 make such appropriations as shall eventuate 

 in carrying forward the experiments now 

 making by private associations and iudividu- 

 uals to a successful conclusion. No man can 

 estimate fully what an advantage it would be 

 to this country if we could grow cane in suf- 

 ficient quantities to free us from our present 

 dependence on foreign countries; It would 

 add auotlier source of great agricultural 

 wealth to our farmers, which is, at the pres- 

 ent time, almost entirely neglected; one, too, 

 which would be restricted to no limits of lat- 

 itude or longitude, but which can be grown 

 successfully all over the country. It is an 

 interest which tlie government will do well to 

 foster. It can make no appropriations that 

 will return an equal amomit of benefits for 

 the sums expended.— JVew Era. 



THE 



OF BEET 



MANUFACTURE 

 SUGAR. 



The Legislature of Delaware, in 1K70, ap- 

 proi>riated .S300 to be paid out as an encour- 

 agement for the growing of sugar beets in the 

 State; and at the session of 1878 the amount 

 was increased to Si. 500, and a commission, 

 cosisting of Messrs. Lea Pusev, of Wilming- 

 ton, S. B. Cooper, of Kent, and T. B. Giles, 

 of Sussex county, appointed to oiler premiums 

 to tlie growers of sugar beets. Tlie commis- 

 sion obtained pure Imperial sugar beet seed 

 from abroad, which they distributed to 

 farmers who desired to riiise them. Wi"' 

 the seed were furnished documents containing 

 instructions as to the character of the soil 

 needed and its preparation, the time ofiilant- 

 ing, cultivation and harvesting, also eojiies of 

 the following conditions as the principal ones 

 to be observed: "Select a suitable soil; use 

 fertilizers or well rotted manure; deep jilow- 

 ing in tlie fall or early spring; straight rows 

 and close together, and plenty of seed ; early 

 and frequent working and careful thinning to 

 one beet in a i)lace;"place one boet to every 

 120 or 200 square inches, which will give from 

 HU,000 to 50,000 beets per acre, wliich, in ricli 

 laud, will weigh from one to two pounds 

 each." 



Result of the Experiment. 

 Tlie action of the commission induced a 

 large number of farmers in Delaware to com- 

 mence the culture of the sugar beet as an ex- 

 periment, and premiums were awarded for 

 the growth of 1878 to twenty-two farmers in 

 Kent county, ten in New Castle county, and 

 one in Sussex county. The reports from the 

 various parties contain a description of the 

 soil, the time of plowing, and the mode of 

 cultivation. The premiums for tlie growth of 

 1879 were $100 for the best oik; acre and 

 upwards grown under contract; $7.5 for second 

 best; $50 for the the third, and $25 for the 

 fourth. This action of the Commission stim- 

 ulated the ftirmers, and, during the past year, 

 from 75 to 100 of them, priiiciiially in Kent 

 and New Castle counties, cultivated the beet 

 with an aggregate production of attout 000 

 tons. The result of the experiment was con- 

 sidered so favorable that a company was 

 formed under the name of the Delaware Beet 

 Sugar Co., to erect a factory for the purpose 

 of manufacturing sugar from the beet. A lot 

 was purchased on the line of the P. W. and B. 

 R. It. four miles north of Wilmington, and 

 about six months ago a brick building was 

 erected, in which the work was to be carried 

 on. Aliout four months ago the machinery 

 necessary for the operations was set in 

 motion, and since that time has been in con- 

 stant operation. 



How the Sugar is Obtained. 

 Last week Mr. Coleman, city editor of the 

 Ledijer, in company with other gentleman, 

 visited the works, and gives tlie following 

 description of the processes connected with 

 this new and promising industry ; 



The method adopted for tlie manufacture 

 of the sugar is known as the diffusion pro- 

 cess. The beets are first placed in a cylinder 

 of wood, with slight openings, and thoroughly 

 washed, after which they are conveyed by an 

 elevator to the second story and emptied into 

 a cutting machine, where they are cut into 

 tliin slices, and from tliere carried by another 

 elevator into the iliflusion battery. This ar- 

 rangement consists of eight iron tanks,, each 

 holding about 1,500 pounds of cut beets, into 

 which the water is introduced. The water is 

 started in one of the tanks, and, after i)a.ssiiig 

 through it, is conveyed to the outside by 

 means of pipes, which connect all the tanks, 

 so that the water from the first tank flows 

 througli each, thus absorbing all the sugar 

 possible. When the water has thus become 

 impregnated, it is shut off and the juice, as 

 it is now termed, is withdrawn and conveyed 

 to larger iron tanks, where lime is introduced 

 with the juice, so as to absorl) its impurities. 

 Carbonic acid gas is then introduced to pre- 

 cipitate the lime, after which the production 

 is run through bone black to clarify it. From 



these tanks the juice is passed to a steam 

 pump, where it is forced to the filer presses, 

 wliicli still further extract impurities. Prom 

 here it is conveyed into the vacuum pan, 

 wliore it is concentrated almost to the crys- 

 tallization iioiiit. 



After having passed through tliis process, 

 tlie juice is placed in iron wagons and run 

 into a room with a temperature of about 125 

 degress, where it remains from four to five 

 days, when it is ready for the last process, 

 whicli consists in passing the Juice tlirough a 

 centrifugal macliine. This revolves at the 

 rate of 1500 revolutions per minute, and from 

 one end runs tlie molasses or syru]), and from 

 a box a dark yellow substance, known as raw 

 sugar, is taken, and which is sold to the re- 

 finers. 



Tlie capacity of the present works is 25 tons 

 of green beets per day, but it is expected to 

 increase them to 200 as the cultiViUion of the 

 beet increases througlumt the State. The 

 product so far has been from eight to over 

 eighteen tons jier acre, and the inice realized 

 was about $4 per ton. After extracting the 

 sugar from the beet, the i)ulp is .sold to farm- 

 ers, at $1 per ton, and u.sed by them as food 

 for cattle. 



The only other establishment now making 

 sugar from beets is one in Maine, and one „r 

 two in California. 



RECLAIMING SWAMPY LAND. 



A writer in referring to the reclaiming of 

 swampy land, says: The treatment of swampy 

 land is'usually bad, and this is worse, as such 

 land can generally be made the best. The 

 difficulty is in the work, which is too often 

 badly planned and worse carried out. With 

 proper management these boggy plains can be 

 made the very best meadow land; also supe- 

 rior for corn, producing indeed any crop, if 

 rotation be practiced. Usually, however, as 

 the substratum is niostiy clay, timothy and 

 other grasses are best adapted, and may be 

 put in permanently. First, of course, tliere 

 must be drainage, carefully and thoroughly 

 done, by open or blind ditches, or both, as the 

 situation may require. Next the vegetable 

 material must be removed, leaving sufficient, 

 say a few inches, to mix with the hard soil 

 below, being careful that an equal distribu- 

 tion is secured. It is best to plow in the fall 

 or winter, throwing up to the frosts and 

 snows. If there is a fair proportion of sand 

 and a thorough winter action, a mellow sur- 

 face might be secured in the spring. But 

 whether a crop may be ventured upon de- 

 pends upon other things, as where a consider- 

 able depth of muck had rested uiion the soil, 

 preventing the sun and frost from reaching it, 

 thus leaving it in a raw state, little calculated 

 to successfully grow any crop, though exhib- 

 iting a mellow seed bed. But with little peat 

 or wafer to obsfrucl the heat and cold, the 

 land approaching the condition of sod, there 

 is more prospect of success, especially if a 

 coat of ripe manure follow the plowing. 



The belter way (because the safe way,) is 

 to forego a spring crop, and put the soil in 

 thorough condition during the summer, work- 

 ing manure in to aid in the )ireparation, also 

 lime, if an acid taste shows it is lacking, ap- 

 plied in the sjiring. Thus the vegetable ma- 

 terial, sometimes tough and ditTcult to man- 

 age, can be reduced by mellowness and mixed 

 with the heavier soil. (Jrass seed may be sown 

 in the fall, or any grain crop in the following 

 spring. I would not advise wheat sown with 

 the grass seed, as the soil may lack the neces- 

 sary compactness. The most difiicult thing 

 in the whole operation is the first plowing, 

 requiring often three horses, with a stout 

 man at the i)low, to keep it at its projier 

 depth, and see that every tussock is inverted 

 or removed. The first jilowing dune well, 

 there will be little dilliculfy afterwards. The 

 action of the elements during the year, and 

 the free use of the plow, cultivator and har- 

 row,. have a wonderful effect in reducing to 

 mellowness, making new land of it and the 

 easiest to work. 



