222 



NEW ENGLAND FARMER, 



JAKVARV 18 18 7. 



BOSTON, WEDNESDAY, JANUARYIS, 1837. 



FARMERS' WORK. 



Notices relative to Beet Sugar. — Tlie friends to 

 the niniiiifacluic of this Sugar, will find pnideure, cau- 

 tion and sliill as indispensable lo success, as enterprise 

 and industry. Chaptal, in his observations on ihis man- 

 ufacture, states that the greater part of the establishments 

 first si-t on foot in Frdnce, had been given up, after lav- 

 in:; occasioned loss to the proprietors. " But," lie says, 

 " I must remark that this new branch of industry, like 

 all otlier.^, requires some knowledge and apprenticeship. 

 It needs to be conducted by men accustomed to similar 

 operations; and it is not at all surprising that these have 

 not been everywhere found. 



" It is impossible to mention any kind of manufiicturo 

 anlongst those that have succeeded, whose perfection 

 has been attain?d at once." 



The conductor of the Genesee Farmer, in treating of 

 this subject observes as follows : — 



" Whether the climate of the Middle States is as fa- 

 vorable to the Sugar Beel, as the 7torth of France, may 

 be a question. We have lately been told, though we 

 know not on what authority, that the Beet in the siiulh 

 of France, yields but little if any sugar. But be that as 

 il may, the report [of .M. Pedder] would seem lo favor 

 suc.i a conclusion, for it ap|iears that a much greater 

 proportion of saccharine matter is obtained in Siberia, 

 than in the north of France. From these premises a fair 

 inference would be that the Genesee country is butter 

 adapted to the Sugar Beet, than the neighborhood of 

 Philadelphia ; and that the climate of Vermont and Low- ' 

 er Canada is more genial than our own. 



" Some attempts have been lately made in this coun- 

 try, to e.\tract Sugar from the Beet without success, but 

 after reading the Report, we have not been surprised at 

 the result. In one case at least, the common beet was 

 employed. Much d.-pend' on the soit, however, and 

 even the yellow Sugar Befl, which we have grown in 

 years past, for the table, on account of its sweetness, is 

 rejected in all the large establishments in France. The 

 rose-colored, and the ichiie Silesian, are the kinds culti- 

 vated. 



" The maturity of the Beet is another important re- 

 quisite ; and there are other points on which an unex- 

 perienced manufacturer would be likely lo err. It ap- 

 pears from the Report, that when the mot is reduced lo 

 a pulp, no time should be lost in submiltiiig it to the 

 press, ae fermentaton commences almost instantaneous- 

 ly. To check this, lime is pre|iared so as to be of the 

 consistence of cream, and then most intimately mixed 

 with the juice. Animal carbon is also employed dur- 

 ing the evaporating and clarifying processes," &c. 



Bui we have no doubt of the eventual success of this 

 manufacture ; we would merely caution those who are 

 disposed to embark in it, nol lo be loo sanguine nor pre- 

 cipitate. They cannot, however, raise loo mariy of the 

 beets, as tiiey are perhaps, the best root, which can be 

 cultivated for feeding caltle, Ac, and if we are not pre- 

 pared to make beet sugar, we may make beef, butter, 

 iVc., from the same article, which we hope will event- 

 ually give us abundant supplies of sugar. 



by dividing and drying it, and of promoting vegetation 

 by the salts they contain. 



So far as 1 can obtain information from experience 

 and otherwise, leached ashes are more beneficial to ^ry 

 sandy loams, than to wet i;i clayey lands. Leached 

 a.shes are, undoubtedly beneficial in prolonging vegeta- 

 tion, and when they can be obiaiiied at a low price, will 

 pay for the carrying on to such loams, merely for the 

 purpose of improving the texture of the soil. They op- 

 erate on such soils to make them more compact — mote 

 retentive of moisture, or as we sometimes say, more 

 heavy. Ashes do not render any lands more light. — 

 Clayey or wet hinds, therefore, should nol receive them 

 in large quantities. They make them mossy and more 

 barren, after a few years, though they may improve the 

 first year's crop. 



Such ashes are, probably, worth more than as large a 

 quantity of clay to improve the texture of light loams, 

 as tlie remains of lye and lime, left in thein afier leach- 

 ing are stimulants to vegetation. 



Unleached ashes or lime, when applied to any soil, 

 produces the greatest effect whin the soil is fiiU of veg- 

 etable matter. Hence it is that they are both more ben- 

 eficia' to green-sward soil, or lo any soil filled with veg- 

 etable substances, than to soils which have been for 

 some years in tillage. 



Their principal operation is to decompose this matter 

 and render il fit for the food of vegetables. It is well 

 known that a strong lye will soon decompose or render 

 rotten any fibrous matter immersed in it. Yarn is often 

 ruined in this miinner. Some tirfte since I purchased a 

 new brush, lo be used in washing apple trees, &c. with 

 lye. The lye was very strong, and in two hours the 

 brush was rlecoinpo.sed to atoms. It was mere manure. 

 Unleached ashes should, therefore, generally be applied 

 to green-sward and lime, so far as I can perceive, oper- 

 ates like ashes 



Count Chapel appeals lo the well known efFects of 

 ashes in the case of paring and burning. Bui such ash- 

 es, made Iroin peat are totally difTerent from wood ash- 

 es. They have no lye in them, and do not seem to act 

 as a decomposing power. Hence, though they operate 

 well on lands in grass, much belter than wood ashes, 

 they are not of half tlie value, when applied to corn and 

 green-sward that wood ashes are. 



1 observe that M. Puvis,in his dissertation on the op- 

 eration of lime as manure, ranks it with wood ashes 

 But he places peat ashes in a diflerentclass of manures. 

 When 1 object to the a| plication of wood ashes to wet 

 and to clayey land, I do not include peat bottoms. These 

 in truth are our lightest soils. They are also filled with 

 vegetable matter, and only require loal they should be 

 rotted to yield us the largest buithens. 



Yours, very respectfully, 



W'jM. Buckminster. 



[nir Now is the lime for delinquents to -'pay up." 

 We have many names upon our list, who have not paid 

 for two, lliree, five, ay, even ten and twelve years. — 

 We need nol offer an argument to prove the injustice 

 of thus keeping us out of our just dues. We will ac- 

 cept of advance price from those who owe for one year^ 

 if they will f.irlhwith remit $.'> by mail, the pay for two 

 years. Remember! '■ Pay that thou owest," and " owe 

 no man any thing," are injunctions which have never 

 been removed, and remain in their full force and appli- 

 cation. 



MASSACHUSETTS HORTICULTURAL. SOCIETY. 



EXMIBITIOM OF FRDITS. 



Saturday, Dec. 31, 1836, 

 Pears. — Burgomaster, from Judge Heard, Watertown, 

 and from Hon. P. C. Brooks, Uledford. 



Passe Colmar, from B. Weld, Esq. Roxbury. 

 Apples — Baldwins, from Mr James Eustis, South 

 Reading. 



Bell Flower, from B. V. French, Esq. 

 Danvers Sweet, do. do. 

 For the Committee. 



L. P. GROSVENOR. 



{For the New li^nglani] Farmer.) 

 Mr Editor -. — In a late number ofyour paper, I no. 

 ticed an article on *^ ^skes as a manure for i^iusslanils," 

 and Count Chapel is ciled as authority for applying 

 leached or bucked ashes, t-o wet or clayey land ; and lie 

 thinks they possess the property of amending such land, 



By the Editor. — The article alluded to by our esteem- 

 ed correspondent, was published in the current valume 

 of our paper, p ige 197. We d ) not recollect from what 

 source it was derived, but believe it contains eironeous 

 views, which are pointed out by Mr liuckminster. But 

 the writer of the arlicle which has led to Mr B's stric- 

 tures is not alone in (what we think are) his erroneous 

 views of the subject. Deane says, " a few bushels of 

 ashes on an acre, are a good dressing on grass lands that 

 are low and i7iclining to be mossy " But most v^'riters 

 and practical cultivators arc of opinion that ashes suc- 

 ceed best on dry, loamy lands, or loam mixed with soil. 

 Tlrey possiss an altraction for moisture, and if applied 

 to a soil naturally wet,they add toils defect, and dimin- 

 ish its lertility,ky making it more moist than il was be- 

 fore the application. See N. E. Farmer, vol. 2, p. 322. 



Coal. — We understand that the Massachusetts Mi- 

 ning Company at Mansfield, are selling the coal at their 

 mine as fast as it can be got out, at eight di liars per 

 ton, warranted to be equal lo the Peach Orchard Coal. 



The Mansfield Mining Company who have been op- 

 erating about two miles from the first named company, 

 and near the Branch Railroad, have we learn, struck a. 

 vein of coal, which promises as favorably as the other. 

 If good coal in sufficient quantity, can be obtained in 

 this region, and we have no doubt il can be, it will form 

 an invaluable acquisition — more valuable than a mine 

 of gold. 



Glass Ware It probably is not generally known, 



that glass ware may be tempered so as not to be liable 

 lo crack when filled with hot water, by merely boiling 

 it in water, which should be cold when the gliss is put 

 into it, and then leaving it to cool gradually in ihe wa- 

 ter. If the ware is to be exposed to a greater heat tljan 

 that of boiling water, it should be tempered in oil. 



Large Hogs. — Joseidi Jennison of Southhoro', Ms. 

 has fatted and brought to Market this season, two Hogs 

 18 months old, weighing (129 lbs. and .IS? lbs., which 

 he sold for 13 cents a pound, realizing the sum of $154 

 18. Pretty fiii business this ! 



A doer vvas recently killed in Springfield, supposed to 

 be in a rabid slate. Dogs should be furnished with wa- 

 ter in cold weather, when every thing is frozen up ; 

 and the needless curs which eat the bread from chil- 

 dren, at Ihe present price of bread stutl', should be ex- 

 terminated. 



The last Baltimore Farmer states that Mr George 

 Beltzover of Baltimore, has a calf only three months 

 old, which weighs 337 lbs. This was produced between 

 a half Durham and Devon bull, and a 7-S Durham cow. 

 The weight of the mother of this fine animal on the 

 hoof was 1300 pounds. 



A writer with the signature of S. S,, in a commoni- 

 oation for the Railroad Journal, recommends the man- 

 ufacture of Salad or Table Oil in the U. S., from the 

 seeds of the Poppy. 



Anthony Hoffman of Pine Plains, killed, on the 19th 

 ult. a hog twenty-one months old, which weighed whea 

 dressed 891 lbs. and was sold for f 100. 



