202 



NEW ENGLAND FARMER, 



JANUARY 4, 183T. 



equally hardy — none more so, than the niulli- 

 canlis. I have seen the young vnripened ivood of 

 all varieties destroyed hy the winter, and was very 

 early led to adopt measures to fjnard against it, 

 and now I never lose a hud. 



None but the young trees are ever injured hy 

 winter, and all we have to do ife to give them such 

 a start as to enahle them to ripen their wood pre- 

 vious to the ajiproach of very eold weather. I 

 raise all my trees from cuttings in a hot bed. — 

 Ahout the first of March. 1 make an ordinary hot 

 bed, like those used for cahbago plants ; then I 

 take the young wood of last year's growth, and 

 cut it into pieces about two inches long, merely 

 leaving a single bud on each ; these pieces I slick 

 in the hot bed, three inches apart, in a slanting 

 direction, the upper end inclining to the north, 

 and burying it so that the hud is scarcely seen at 

 the surface of the earth ; sprinkle the bed with a 

 watering ])0t, and jiut on the glasses ; keep the 

 bed properly moistened by watering every day, 

 and throw matting over the glass at night, and in 

 the middle of the day, to protect both from frost 

 and the hot sun. By the uii.klle of May, the 

 plants will be four, six or eight inches high, and 

 may thin be transplanted to the place they are to 

 grow, like cabbage-plants, watering them o.nce a 

 day for eight or ten days, if the weather is dry ; 

 they will be foimd to be well rooted, and will 

 grow from four to six feet the same season, and 

 will ripen their wood so that the ensuing winter 

 will not injure them. After the first year, I have 

 never seen any of them lost by the winter, except 

 in some extra cases, and in these the white mul- 

 berry lias sufl'ered, and even the native mulberry, 

 fully as nuich as the multicaulis. Last winter a 

 white mulberry tree, seven or eight years old, in 

 the western part of the city of Baltimore, was 

 killed to the ground ; while my niorus multicau- 

 lis not a quarter of a mile from it, and north of it 

 too, and in a higher situation, was not injured. 



Gideon B. Smith. 



BKET SUGAR. 



BY W. G. 



There seems lo be some little conflicting differ- 

 ence of opinion on the possibility of manufactur- 

 ing beet sugar profitably by individuals or families, 

 among those whose attention has been drawn to 

 the subject, and who jirofess to speak from exper- 

 iment. For instance, Mr Sleigh of Philadelphia, 

 in a late communicaticn to the U. S. Gazette of 

 that city, says: "An eslahlishment will not clear 

 its expense, unless it be calculated to manufacture 

 at least from two to five hundred pounds of sugar 

 a day ; so that the idea of individuals in this coun- 

 try manufacturing profitably for private consump- 

 tion is [ireiiosterous ; their sugar would stand 

 them, including labor, a dollar a pound." This 

 opinion Mr Sleigh says he has ooine to "after nu- 

 merous experiments." 



On the other hand, Mr Le Ray de Chaumont, 

 Mr Isnard, and others intimately acquainted with 

 the manufacture in France, assert that there can 

 be no doubt of the practicability and profitableness 

 of domestic or family manufacture, and that there 

 are large quantities actually so manufactured in 

 France. In addition to these statements, in the 

 "Journal des Debats," of April 15, 1836, appears 

 an article on this subject, in which it is stated, 

 that four residents in the village of Wallers, de- 

 partment of the North, formed an association for 



making sugar, subscribing 50 francs each as cap- 

 ital. One was a blacksmith, the other farmers. 

 These men were able to make from 40 to 50 lbs. 

 a day, of sugar of a mediiiui quality, a result sm-- 

 prjsing, considering their sim|)le mode of conduct- 

 ing the (irocess. They use<l curry combs to rasp 

 the beet roots, used linen bags for expressing the 

 juice, and ihe syrup thus obtained, was boiled in 

 pots on the Iilacksiiiiih's fires. Scv<'ral others .-u- 

 mentioiicd ;.s having iuirodiiced the business mi 

 a small scale successfully, and the French editor 

 intimates as his opinion, that the time is not dis- 

 tant, when every family in that country, will 

 make their own sugar, as they now do their pre- 

 serves. 



'i'hat some experience in the manufacture of 

 beet sug;ir hy companies and capitalits in this 

 country must be acijuired, before it can be intro- 

 duced into families, can be readily conceived, hut 

 as the processes become simplified, and our far- 

 mers become familiarized with them, and with 

 \he culture of the beet, we can see no reason why 

 it cannot he as well made in families here as in 

 France ; and there is no reason for doubt but 

 that it will. If with cooking pots and a black- 

 smith's fire, six or seven dollars worth of sugar 

 were produced ; tl ere can surely be no obstacles 

 that American |)prseverance, and an improved ap- 

 paratus will find insuperable. — Genesee Far. 



Household aff.iirs. — Every housewife knows 

 how to make herb tea. Tlie herbs are put into a 

 cup or dish, hot water turned upon them, and 

 they are suffered to steep — why not hoil ? Be- 

 cause, a large portion of their medical virtues, and 

 particularly the principle of flavor, the most vola- 

 tile property they contain, is dissipated by boiling, 

 and the virtues of the tea lost. In the process of 

 boiling and fermentation, the natural flavor and 

 aroma of the choicest vegetables are dissipated 

 and changed. Yet, though every woman knows 

 how to make herb tea, few seem to know how to 

 make green or black tea, or coffee ; or knowing, 

 do not reduce their knowledge to practice. A 

 mistaken economy, to get all the strength induces 

 them generally to boil the latter well, and often 

 the former ; and the consequence is, that instead 

 of a grateful, refreshing beverage, tliev give us a 

 dull, acrid, or insipid substitute, retaining nothing 

 pleasant but the color and heat. 'J he aroma, 

 which givesthe liquor its value, and which should 

 be recognized by the nose as well as the palate, is 

 goue — with the steam, and with it much of the 

 flavor. They not only boil the strength, but they 

 waste it. Now without intending to infringe 

 upon the prerogative of the good wife, we do ad- 

 vise, that she will make her green and black, as 

 she does her herb tea, without boiling; and that 

 she will only leach her ccrffee, hy putting it, when 

 recently burnt, and fresh ground, into a strainer, 

 fitted to the top of her coffee pot, and turning 

 upon it as much boiling water as would suffice 

 in the old mode. We can assure our fair readers, 

 from reason as well as experience, that this is the 

 best way, not only to gratify the taste, but to pro- 

 mote economy. Less tea and coffee are required 

 than in the boiling process. — Cultivator. 



New Invention. — A late London paper de-, 

 scribes the following invention : 



A new machine for taking casts had been lately 

 invented by a gentleman in Paris, and is called 

 the Physiognotype. It is of a very simple na- 



ture, and takes an exact imprint of the counte- 

 nance, without any disagreeable sensation, by an 

 application of less than two seconds. This in- 

 strument is a metallic oval plate, pierced with a 

 large quantity of small holes, very close together, 

 and through each of which a metallic wire pas- 

 ses with extreme facility. These needles have 

 the appearance of a brush. The whole is sur- 

 roiimlcd with a (jmible case of tin, which contains 

 warm wau i, in <.rder lo keep the instrument of a 

 proper temperature with the blood. If any figure 

 be applied against this brush of needles, it yields 

 to the slightest pressure, and leaves an exact 

 mould. The needles are then fixed hy a very 

 simple process, and from this metallic mould the 

 cast is taken. It is, in fact, a new application of 

 the principle of a process familiar to sculptors, by 

 which a fac-simile of a model is obtained in mar- 

 ble, the needles being driven into the stone. — 

 There is nothing disagreeable in the application 

 of the instrument; hut the sensation cannot be 

 well described, although, if the Physiognotype 

 were not heated, it would feel like immersing the 

 face in snow. 1 he impression left is an undoubt- 

 efl likeness, and the mask which it jvoduces is 

 a fac-simile of the mould. Nothing is wanting — 

 even a vein on the temple is faithfully represen- 

 ted. 



Good Advice to a Farmer. — "Many years 

 ago," said a quaker friend who told ns the follow- 

 ing anecdote, " many years ago, a brother of the 

 celebrated Benjamin West, who had been a coop- 

 er in this city, a man of sterling sense and integ- 

 rity, purchased a farm some miles out of the city 

 which had been suffered to be overrun with briars 

 and bushes. He was for a short time considered 

 by his neighbor farmers as very far from being as 

 wise as Solomon or even themselves, but in a few 

 years his was the best and most productive farm 

 within fifty miles around him and his fame as a 

 farmer spread far and wide. One day a man 

 came to him wlio was desirous of improving his 

 farm, and asked him how he should do it. Go 

 home, said Mr West, and make five or ten acres 

 as rich as thee wants, and come to me and I will 

 tell thee what to do next. But, said the farmer, 

 I have not manure enough to do that. Very well 

 then, go and prepare three acres, two acres, or 

 one acre in the same way, but what thee under- 

 takes, do well. 'Ihe farmer, said our friend, per- 

 fectly comprehended the advice, and what is un- 

 usual, ptactised upon and benefitted by it, leaving 

 at his death, one of the best farms in thecountry." 

 Go and do thou likewise. — Phila. Herald. 



Carrots. — Deacon Andrew Webster, of this 

 city, has grown the present year, on a flat in his 

 garden, a crop of Carrots at the rate of 1920 bush- 

 els to the acre. 



Another. — There have been grown the pres- 

 ent season, at the Mount Hope Garden, a blood 

 beet, 26 1-2 inches long, besides a good piece of 

 the root, which sonje roguish Symsonian, or some- 

 thing else, prevented from coming up ; a Parsnip 

 14 1-2 inches in circumference, and Uuta Baga at 

 the rate of 1200 bushels to the acre. — Bajigor ffar. 



There are three manufacturers of tacks in Ply- 

 mouth county, each of whom makes 15,000,000 

 per week ! In Massachusetts it is supposed there 

 are at least 75,000,000 ef teefes made weekly; ma- 

 king 3,800,000,000 a year ! 



