18 



NEW ENGLAND FARMER 



JVI.Y 2r, 1S3G. 



and tliiee feet I'ight inclics in ileplli. I had a 

 separate boilKr for each operation, and each boiler 

 had two stop-cocks, one close to the bottom and 

 the oilier five inches above. Between these two 

 boilers, there were two vessels fifteen inches deep, 

 p.n;l ench of suflicient cnpacity to receive thejii ce 

 of an operation. In these, evaporation is carrieil 

 on. The rims of all the boilers should be very 

 wide, so as to cover the thickness of the wall in 

 which they are set. 



RIy rasps anil l)res3es are placed upon the first 

 floor, in order that the jnice may flow through 

 leaden i)i|ies into the boilers, which are tipon the 

 the ground floor, and thus save the labor of trans- 

 portation. By this arrangement, I can have my 

 depnratory boilers so ninch raised, liiat upon turn- 

 ing the stop cocks, ilie jnice will flow^ into the 

 evaporating vessels. 



Whilst the juice is heating, some milk of lime 

 is prepared by pouring gradually some warm wa- 

 ter into a bucket containing ten pounds of lime. 

 My boiler contains 475 1-2 gallons of juice, so that 

 I employ the lime in the proportion of about 46 

 grains troy. 



As soon as all the juice has passed into the 

 boiliT, and become heated to the degree mention- 

 ed in the last paragraph, the milk of the lime is 

 thrown into it, the greatest care being taken to 

 stir and mix thejn well together; after which the 

 temperature may he raised to the boiling jjoint. 

 As soon as the first bubble makes its appearance 

 through the thick, glutinous scum which rises 

 upon the top of the lirpior, the fire is immediate- 

 ly extinguished by throwing a pailful of water in- 

 to the fireplace. The scum thickeis, dries, and 

 hardens by rest. The juice becomes clear, and 

 takes a light yellow hue. When there can no lon- 

 ger be seen in it particles either of lime or mucil- 

 age, the scum is removed with a skimmer ^ud 

 thrown into the bucket, in order that the juice 

 which it contains may be expressed. The upper 

 stop-cock is then opened, and the li<]UQr is suffer- 

 ed to flow into the evaporating boiler, 



The juice does not become clear in less than an 

 hour, and evaporation ought not to be commenc- 

 ed till it is perfectly limpid. 



As soon as all the liquor above the level of tlie 

 upper stop-cock has passed out, the second stop- 

 coi;k is turnetl ; and if the liquor floM ing through 

 that be found clear, it is mixed with the first por- 

 tion. If OH the contrary, it appears cloudy, the 

 stop cock is again closed to give it time to settle, 

 and it is not made use of till towards the termina- 

 tion of the evaporation. 



The deposit which is formed at the bottom of 

 the boiler, renders the last portion of the juice tur- 

 bid. But as soon as this is seen to be the case, that 

 which reuiains is drawn off into the bucket con- 

 taining the scum. 



The deposit which is formed at the bottom of 

 the boiler, and this scum, are expressed by means 

 of a lever press of very simjile and cheap con- 

 struction, and which is very easily worki'd. 



I ]>lace a cylindrical willow basket upon a 

 Mock of stone three feet square, the iipjier surface 

 of which is sliichlly inclined ami furrowed h ith 

 channids an inch deep uniting in a common centre 

 at the lowest angle. The basket is lined with a 

 bag of coarse cloth, the end of which turns back 

 and hangs down. Into this bag I put the deposit 



the inside of the basket. This I load with sever- 

 al square jiieces of wood, which project over the 

 upper part and serve as a fulcrum for the lever. 

 When things are thus far arranged, I proceed to 

 adjust the lever, which is five feet long. This is 

 fixed at one end to a ring-bolt, which passes 

 through a stone. The other end 1 load with 

 weights to the amount of from 56 to 112 pounds, 

 increasing tliern at pleasure, so as to jiroducc a 

 gradual and constantly increasing pressure, which 

 may be rendered as powerful as is necessary. The 

 juice which is thus forced out, flows intoa bucket 

 and is thrown into the evaporating vessel. 



The most difliciilt operation to be ])erformed, 

 is that of piiiifyiiig the juice ; and if this be not 

 thoro ghly done, the processes of evaporation and 

 graining are long and troublesome: the juice 

 swells and bubbles upiu the boiler, and the sugar 

 crystallizes imperfectly and remains mixed with 

 molasses. The lime whii h is thrown in to clari- 

 fy the juice, does not always rise to the top with 

 the scum, by a prolonged period of rest in the de- 

 puratory boiliT, neither is it always piecipitated. 

 It sometimes happens, that, notwithstanding all 

 the care that can be taken, the liquor remains 

 cloudy; and in such cases it is always in vain to 

 look for good results. I have endeavored to as- 

 certain the cause of these accidents, and I have 

 sought to remedy the evil. I shall report here 

 only what appears to me to be fully established by 

 experiment and observation. 



The jnice does not purify well if the beets have 

 begun to germinate too strongly, or if they liave 

 bjgun to decay, or have been frozen. 



When the operations of the rasps and presses 

 are conducted too slowly, so that the juice stands 

 five or six hours before being purified, decompo- 

 sition commences, and good results are never ob- 

 tained. 



If all the utensils employed are not carefully 

 washed after each operation, so as to free them 

 thoroughly from tlrc juice adhering to them, the 

 labor becomes diflicult and unsuccessful. 



1 found, upon one occasion, that beets which 

 had been kept in a cellar, where they had neither 

 frozen or germinated, dill not, when subjected to 

 experiment in March, yield sugar. They appear- 

 ed perfectly healthy, though a little softer iha i 

 those that had been kept in barns. 



If the first operations are not well conducted 

 the results are always bad. I can only point out 

 the steps that can be taken to prevent this. 



Beets, that have been well kej)l, may be work- 

 ed with equal good success from the beginning of 

 October to the end of March. 



When the juice does not become clear, a small 

 quantity of sulphuric acid may be thrown into the 

 evaporating vessel, a little before the liquor begins 

 to boil. This will remedy any trouble arising 

 from the use of too large a quantity of lime. !t 

 will however, be useless, if the faults proceed 

 from an altered state of the I. eet juice. 



By making use of a portion of animal charcoal 

 to clarify the liquor, the evaporation of the juice 

 and the graining of the sugar is sure to be ren- 

 dered more easy ; but the quantity of sugar ob- 

 tained is very small. 



The lime used in the process of purification 

 combines with the mucilaginous principle of the 

 beets, and neutralizes the malic acid contaiued in 

 them ; after this operation, the juice weighs If 



and scum ; then drawing ihe edges of it together 



I tie the mouth closely « ith a packthr -ad. I place I or 1.5'^ less than before. 



on the top a wooden trencher of the diameter of 1 (To lie continued.) 



(From thu Cultivator.) 

 L.A.RG£ CORK CROP. 



Mr Jesse Buel. — It afl^ards me pleasure to be 

 enabled to resort to your very useful paper 

 as a medium through which I can bear testimony 

 to the value and importance of the soil of our lit- 

 tle State of Delaware. 



Little has been heretofore known, beyond its 

 own limits, of the superior quality of the soil of 

 the peninsula of Delaware and Maryland, and of 

 its advantageous location ; but the piesent age of 

 improvement has, fortunately, brought within a 

 part of our territory the public improvements of 

 a canal, and two rail roads, which have developed 

 to the world the importance of our location, the 

 beauty of our country, and the susceptibility of 

 our soil, to the greatest extent of production and 

 improvement. These improvements appear to 

 have infused new life into our citizens, and caus- 

 ed a spirit of enterprise and industry which has 

 been most beneficial to the agricultural interests 

 of our country. 



As a specimen of the capability of the soil, and 

 the ability of the farmers in the neighb irhood of 

 St. George's, New Castle county, Delaware, per- 

 mit me to |)resent you with the following state- 

 ment of a crop of corn, raised last year, by Major 

 Philip Reybold, one of our most enter|)rising far- 

 mers — one to whom our community are largely 

 indebted for the impetus given to our agricultural 

 improvements — viz : 



On one field of 22 acres, he raised 2,216 bushels, 

 about 100 3-4 bushels per acre. 



On another field, 30 acres, he raised 2,240 3-4 

 bushels, about 75 bushels per acre. 



On do., 27 acres he raised 1,819 bushels, about 

 67 bushels ])er acre. 



79 acres — total crop 6,284 1-2 bushels — aver- 

 aging for the whole crop of 86 acres, near 80 bush- 

 els to the acre — and all this upon a soil that was 

 not naturally as good as a greater part of the soil 

 of this county ; and brought up within the last 

 ten years, from an extreme state of poverty. 



I have obtained from Maj. Reybold, a statement 

 of the mode adopted by him for the improvement 

 of his land, as well as the cultivation of the crop 

 of corn here referred to, which is as follows: 



On the field of 22 acres, about 7 years ago, he 

 put 60 bushels of stone lime to the acre and jdant- 

 ed it in corn, in the following spring he put it in 

 oats, and in the fall put on about 40 loads of barn 

 yard manure to the acre, and sowed in whe:)t and 

 timothy seed, and in the ensuing spring with clo- 

 ver. It remained in grass until last spring, re- 

 ceiving an immediate top dressing in 1833, of 40 

 loads of barn yard manure per acre. He mowed 

 it for 3 or 4 successive years, and each year ob- 

 tained from 2 1-2 to 3 tons of hay per acre. 

 Last spring he gave it another top dressing of 40 

 loads i)er acre of long manure, which was jiennlt- 

 ted to remain as long as possible in order to give 

 the grass a chance of starting through it. He 

 then ploughed it up about ten inches deep, with a 

 No. 5 concave plough, which completely covered 

 the manure ; he then gave it a stroke with the har- 

 row along the course of the plough furrows, and 

 then crossways, and struck it out very shoal, 3 1-2 

 feet from the centre to centre each way After 

 the corn came up, he harrowed it both ways with 

 llie fallow harrow, and from that to the first of 

 Jiilv, he gave it three dres-ings with the cultiva- 

 tor (fluke harrow) first crossing the |)lough tracks ; 

 in ten or twelve days the other way, being very 



