274 



NEW ENGLAND FARMER, 



MARCH 8, 183r. 



Mr Jolin Lane Boylston, in u corDtriunicaiioii 

 inil)lisli(:(l ill ilii: N. E. Fiiriiier,. vol. viii. p. 19, re- 

 cointnrmls wliite washing llie interior of barns, 

 stables, &c. as a remedy for lice in cattle ; and 

 likewise ailvisos shearing the enrf, and between 

 the horns in the fall before they are put up to hay. 

 He say.s, in white washing no salt ni ist l)e used, 

 as is usual in the outside of Imildings, les the cat- 

 tle should lick it off. 



We have also been informed by a gentleman, 

 who has, for many years kept a large stock of 

 cattle, that fine dry sand seattenM on the back, 

 neck and siiles of the animals, is an effectual rem- 

 edy against lice on cattle. Ho collects dry sand, 

 and puts it ir) a box or tub in the barn, and occa- 

 sionally applies it during the winter, by .vifiing or 

 strewing it over the body of each Greature, with 

 complete success in ridding it of its troublesome 

 guests. 



MASSACHUSETTS LEGISLATURE. 



House of Representatives, Feb, 20, 1837. 



REPORT AND BILL TO K.NCOURAGE THE MANUFAC- 

 TURE OF IiVDIGNOUS SUGAK. 



The Committee on Agriculture, to whom was 

 referred the Order of the House of January 21st, 

 " to iiiquire what measures, if any, are necessary 

 to introduce and eileoiirage in this Conimonwealtji 

 the culture of the sugar beet," have taken tlial 

 subject into consideration, and unanimously ask 

 leave to submit the following 



REPORT: 



If we may credit statements that appear to be 

 Ve]l substantiated, the culture of the sugar beet 

 if/iy contribute as largely to the improvement of 

 our i.'£!ricultiire, as the turnip culture has to that 

 ofOi-eat '^'■'"''" > "■""' if encouraged, will not only 

 ^(v/- jj^ij. fj^j. ■^crs a most valuable addition to their 



field products, y "7'" 'V''" ^'^" '^'■■~'-' '*""^ "'■ 

 n,, ii„ .<., ''^ °"t 'O'' foreign sugar. 



money- amiua.'ly P-i . . "^ >: 



r^ ^ , ■ „ ,nnts '""* fi'l'iire nients parfic- 



«Jn several accv^""'*' , ) , 



•1 .„., \s a . '8«iii ig crop, for the 

 a^r=:r^edsLt.rp,:iveH.ng 

 it's as eftectual as « nali^d sunM^^er" iallow, w,th- 

 out is attendant exhausting and perntoous conse- 

 auencee. As an ameliorating or ennchmg crop, I 

 it will take the precedence of our most ennchmg i 

 grasses, in the amount of vegetable n.atter return- 

 ed to the soil, or product of nntrtt.ous food for) 

 any description of farn> stock, and at the same 

 time afford, in sugar, a larger .narketube ralu-e 

 than the same land will produce of kh? exhaustmg 

 crops of wheat or corn. 



These facts will account for the enthusiam with 

 which this culture is regarded in France ; and if 

 true, fully sustain the opinion of yonr Committee 

 that encouragement, for the growth of the sugar 

 beet in Massachusetts, is dictated by sound wis- 

 dom, and eminently calculated to promote her ag- 

 ricultural interest. 



It is believed that it will in some degree break 

 the charm that rests upon old usages and customs, 

 which are followed for the very substantial rea- 

 son that they have been followed by generations 

 past, and introduce a better and more enlightened 

 system of rotation or alternation of crops ; that it 

 will dispel somewhat the prejudice existing against 

 new plants or impleinents, or new m -des of cul- 

 ture, by contrasting among our farmers, stronger 

 than has yet been done, the superiority of im- 

 provement over antiquated notions ; and by fer- 

 tilizing his lands, increasing his various agricul- 



tural products, and his ready capital, furnish both 

 the farmer and his sons profitable employment at 

 home, and stay the tide of emigration to the south 

 and west, — our climate .securing to us, in the beet, 

 an article of produce with which those regions 

 probably cannot successlully compete. 



The factthat onr soil will readily produce beets, 

 is within the experience of almost every farmer in 

 the State, and there is no reason to doubt that, 

 both in rpiantity and quality, it will give crops 

 equal to the soil of France. 



In 1830, the Massachusetts Agricultural Society 

 awarded Mr Gideon Foster, of Charlestown, a 

 premium for one acre, yielding forty-three tons, 

 nine hundred and sixty-one pounds of scarcity 

 beef, — a variety which, though not considered the 

 best beet for sugar,»is said to be extensively culti- 

 vated in Emope for that purpose. This crop, es- 

 timated by Mr F. to cost $35 for cultivation, was 

 very large, pi rhaps more than double the weight 

 of those coii'iidered good crops in Fraice, or that 

 may be expected from ordinary good land and 

 cultivation here, but still it shows what can be 

 (■Jnne. And as this is the only well anthenti''ated 

 account of the product of ai! acre exclusively of 

 beets, cultivated in Massachusetts and knowia to 

 tbe Committee, (although there may be main' oth- 

 ers,) they will make it the basis of some calcula- 

 tions to show the value of the beet culture; bear- 

 ing in mind that this quantity of beets was given 

 onfy by land in the highest state of cultivation, 

 such as would probably give one hundred bushels 

 of irorn, or fifty bushels of wheat, in a favorable 

 .seas on. 



Btiets of good quality are said to contain ten 

 p<ir C'.;nt. of saccharine matter, capable of chrys- 

 lalization. But in the present state of improve- 

 ment in the manufacture, six pounds of sugar from 

 lOO pc 'unds of beets seem to be thought a fair es- 

 tiuwte. From the same quantity of beets, after 

 being submitted to the rasp and press, there re- 

 mains aPso thirty pounds of pomace, and 60 pounds 

 of poma ce is considered a fair daily allowance of 

 feed for a fattening ox. These estimates are of 

 French ; luthority, and however well or ill they 

 may bear the test of experience in Massachusetts, 

 ive l\ave a.t present no others from which to make 

 ou r calcid ations. 



Ajjply these estimates to Mr Foster's crop of 

 43 tons aniJ 961 pounds?, and they will give 5217 

 pounds of sugar, and 434 days', or more thanfour- 

 I teen months' feed for a fattening ox. The value 

 ' Q,'" this feed, and the means it will furnisli for en- 

 richin" '"* '^"''' ^^''•' '^® s^e-n at once by the far- 

 mer. Estiniai'.'."? ^ Way's feed e(pial to one peck 

 of corn, (the usual qtiantiV^' given a fattening ox 

 per day, in addition to hay,) '»"'• its value would 

 equal lOS 1-2 bushels of corn. Add to this the 

 95;!;„ dollars balance received of the manufacturer 

 for the juice extracted,— which it will amount to, 

 estimating at the proportional diff'°i'Pnce at which 

 they have been sold in France, tJic beets at $4 

 per ton and the pomace returned at ^Q per ton — 

 antl also the great quantity of leaves and tops left 

 on the ground cultivated, at least half equal to a 

 dressing of manare, and it will not be very diffi- 

 cult for any one to see that the beet culture, if 

 successfully introduced, will give thrift to the cul- 

 tivator and energy to the soil. If there is any 

 crop cultivated by onr farmers, wliich gives a re- 

 turn half equal to this, without exliau.sting the 

 soil, it is not known by your Committee. It may 

 be recollected also, that less than two thirds of the 



sugar is obtained by the | resent process, and im- 

 [irovements in the manufacture are constantly pro- 

 gressing. 



The expense of manufacturing the sugar here, 

 cannot be known until tested by experiment; hut 

 we see no reason why it may not be manufactured 

 here, after having bc<'n fiiirly brought within the 

 .SCI pe of yankee ingenuity ai;d enterprise, as cheap 

 as in Frame. Such is foninl to be the case with 

 heavy cottons, or substantial goods .or wares of 

 many kinds, not requiring a great degree of e.\- 

 treine nicety and fancy, or of chemical knowledge 

 in their manufacture. 



The price of aday's labor is nuieli less in France 

 than here, but the difference in the price is prob- 

 ably not much greater than the difference in the 

 effect of the labor ; anil if it were, the objection 

 does no more forbid ( nr raising beets than it does 

 our raising other agricultural products, that are 

 common to both countries. 



By referenee to the books of the custom-house 

 in Boston, it will be seen that, exclusive of what 

 was re-shipped, over twenty-six mi'lions pounds 

 of foreign sugar was imported into this city in one 

 year ending September 30th, 1836, at an expen.se 

 to the importing merchant, exclusive of freight, of 

 nearly two hundred thousand dollars. From the 

 forego ng estimate, it will be seen that it is possi- 

 ble to produce this amount of sugar froin a tract 

 of land less than three miles square. Thisisshown 

 to be possible, but not probable, at least until 

 great improvements, such as we may hope this 

 culture will introduce, are made. 



Ihe possibility however of doing this, or any 

 thing like it, or even half of ir, may justly claim 

 our most candid attention. 



Two millions of dollars aimually paid out of 

 the State for a foreign product, which for aught 

 we know, ran, and eventually will, be raised cheap- 

 er with us than with then), is certainly matter for 

 the grave consideration of legislators. 



It is a subject permanent in its bi;aring, and as- 

 sumes an importance, compared with which, ma- 

 ny others that engage our liveliest attention, dwin- 

 dle almost to insignifiance. 



Even the portion of the surplus revenue com- 

 ing to Massachusetts, which has excited so much 

 interest over the Conmionwealth, au:onnts only to 

 about three-fourths the sum annually paid out by 

 her citizens, for an article which her own soil 

 itiight produce, without a whit's diminution of her 

 present products. That this assertion is even less 

 than the truth, will eventually be demonstrated ; 

 if the facts stated in regard to the sugar beet cul- 

 ture are correct. 



For years no subject of equal importance to our 

 agriculture has presented it.self ; and well tr;ay it 

 be said that the vital interests of the Common- 

 wealth are neglected, if this culture is not encour- 

 aged. 



Let those facts, so well established in France 



that this culture returns to the soil^ in enriching 

 matter, more than an equivalent for its heavy ex- 

 actions, and at the same time affords ample re- 

 turns for the labors of the cultivator and manufac- 

 turer, in a value that is not confined to the civi- 

 lized world for a market ; — become established 

 here, and it is not ea.sy to estinjate all its advan- 

 tages. Its enlivening influence will be felt in ev- 

 ery department of domestic industry and trade ; 

 and it hardly requires the gift of prophecy to say 

 the lime will not be far distant when we can add 

 a third staple to our exports of " rock and ice." 



