308 



NEW ENGLAND FARMER, 



APRIL, 5 IS''?. 



BEET SUGAU. 



Extract from a file of the "Journal des Dttiats, 



15tli April, 1836," at the rooms of the Youii;,' 



Men's Association in this city. 



" Four resiil 'tits of the viMajje of Wallers, fle- 

 partment of the north, one a hlacksniith, and the 

 other fanners, formed some tnonths since, an as- 

 sociation for niannlrtcturinfr Beet Hoot Siij;. r, with 

 a capital of 4G0 francs,* in fonr equal shares oT 

 50 francs a |)iece. These enterprising men ob 

 tained the most happy results. They were able, 

 every Hay, to make a loaf of sn-rnr of tnediinii 

 quality, weighing from forty to fifty j)ounds. The 

 following is their simple mode of manufacturing- 

 the suit: r. They used curry comhs ! I to rasp the 

 beet roots with, and linen bags fot expressing the 

 juice, the syrup thus obtained was boiled in the 

 family iron pot, on the blacksmith's fire. By 

 these simple means tiiey are able to make a loaf 

 every day. 



More lately still, Messrs Rapez and Lecerf of 

 Onnaing, have also manufactured beet sugar on a 

 small scale. Monsieur Lefitte, deputy from Sieiie 

 and Osie, and one of the most zealous propaga- 

 tors of agricultural improvement is on the point 

 of esfciblisliing some "sucreries" on his farm at 

 Auverneau. Should, thanks to the endeavor of 

 the Royal Agricultural Society, the process of 

 making beet sugar become popular in France, we 

 shall .soon see the day when every family will 

 make its sugar as it now does it preserves. 



* Valuing the franc at 18 3-4 cents, this would 

 amount to 7-5 dollars;— ^/feani/ Cult. 



springs up at the time the f\y is hatched, and a 

 supply of food being thereby aflorded, it is not 

 surprising that they should nudtiply and thrive. 

 If inst 'ad of sowing immediately, the soil is bro'i 

 into as fine a state as possible and the sowing de- 

 layed for ten days, although the fly would be 

 hatched, it would die for want of its natural food. 

 The existence of a fly in the field may he ascer- 

 tained by placing cabbage leaves at n'gbt, and 

 examining them in the morning. — Baltimore Far- 

 mer. 



MoRTjs Mni.TicADLis. — By recent advlcesi from 

 a gentleman now in France, who contemplaterj a 

 •pM-chase of mulberry trers for his own ()lanta- 

 'tioD, under date of Deceudier 14, 1836, and Feb- 

 Tuarv 14, 1837, states that trees and seed are vciy 

 "scarce -and dear — that before his arrival, all for 

 f.> iB b'dd been secured for the American market — 

 that in fiict there are no Morns Mullieaulis for 

 sale, and that the season was so impropitious, that 

 the seed did iiot cotne to maturity. .Another ad- 

 vice states that even white Mulberry seed is worth 

 60 tVancs the pound in Paris, Those who have 

 r;nulberry trees on hand should make the most of 

 ihem. There is im prospect that trees can he im- 

 ported and sold another year at former prices, 



SILK CULTURE, 



A writer on the subject of the Silk Culture, ve- 

 ry properly remarks that " we feel certain that if 

 the subject is properly tstiinated by agriculturists, 

 that the silk culture is calculated to make a great 

 moral an I |)hysical change over the whole face of 

 our country, and to banish penury from the door 

 of every farmer in this land who has enterprise 

 and industry enough to enter into it." — JVorthamp. 

 Courier. 



The Tcr.nip Fly A method of preventing 



the ravages of the turnip fly has been adopted in 

 Hampstead : 



The practice is founded upon the fact that the 

 fly emits its eggs in the autumn, and that they are 

 not hatched till the next spring, when the warmth 

 and tlie fruitful state of the soil by repeated 

 ploughiugs and harrowings, admit of the genera- 

 ting effects of the sun's rays. It is at this |>eriod 

 the turnip is generally sown; the plant therefoie 



Var.n;sh for Pales and coarsk Wood Work. 

 — Take any quantity of tar, and grind with it as 

 much Spanish brown as it will bear without ren- 

 dering it too thick to be used as a paint or var- 

 nish, and then spread it on the palcsor other wood 

 as soon as convenient, for it quickly hardens by 

 keeping. 



M his mixture must he laid on the wood to be 

 varnislied by a large brush, or house-painters' 

 tool ; and the work should then be kept as free 

 from dust and insects as possible, till the varnish 

 he thoroughly dry. It will, if laid on smooth 

 wood, have a very good glos.s, and is an excellent 

 preservation of it against moisiore ; on which ac- 

 count, as well as it is being cheaper, is far prefera- 

 ble to painting, not only for pales, hut for weath- 

 er-hoarding, and all other kinds ol^ wood work for 

 •grosser jjiirpose.s. Where the glossy brown color 

 is not liked, the work may be made of a greyish 

 brown, by mixing a small proportion of white 

 le.ad, or whiting and ivory black, with the Span- 

 ish brown. — Operative Mec. 



Chim.vf.vs. — It is said to have been demonstra- 

 ted that chimneys built with the inside flue nar- 

 rowest at the bottom and widening toward the 

 top never smoke. In England, they are begin- 

 ning to build cl|imneys on this principle, for car- 

 rying off the engine smoke in the manufactories. 

 There is no longer any necessity for building such 

 lofty towers of chimneys as formerly ; the in- 

 creased draught being obtained equally well by 

 this expedient. 



(From the American f ilk Grower.) 

 EXPERIMENT WITH POTATOES. 



Mr Cooke: — In No. 19 of your paper, I find 

 the account of an exper nient by Mr ijazen, which 

 together with that made by Mr Hatch of Alstead, 

 and published by you some time since, would nl- 

 most seem siifticient to satisfy the reader witliout 

 my communication, but as I had, previous to see- 

 ing ,Mr Ilazen's publication, prepared a history of 

 an experiment 1 had marie with considerable care, 

 and with more mathematical precision than either 

 of lliose,I send it for your consideration with lib- 

 erty to publish it, if you see fit, as different re- 

 sults may arise from different modes of manage- 

 ment, on different soils, &c., I consider that a 

 goodly nmnber of experiments on the same sub- 

 ject, to be not amiss. 



About the 29tli of May 1836, when planting my 

 potatoes, I left five rcws for experiment, on eacli 

 side of which I planted the row with one good 

 fair sized whole |)otato to each liill, I then plant- 

 ed the five rows in the following manner : — The 

 1st row with three tcf four small ones laid scatter- 

 ing to ea(di hill, making about the same amount 

 of seed, by weight, of the wholes. I then took 

 the seed-ends, taking as near half of the potato as 



I could judge, from a gxiod sized potato, like thoso 

 generally | Ir.nted in the field; ami to each hill 

 laid two of these pieces six or eight incln^s apart; 

 next I selected some quite large, and took enough 

 of the seed-end to he of equal weight, each of one 

 good fair sized f)Otato, being generally about half 

 of the great potato, and to each hill put one of 

 these seed-ends; the 4th rov/ I cut into quarters 

 and planted scattering about eight inches apait, 

 all four of the quarters to eacli hill ; the 5ih rtpw 

 was planted with two goo<l fair sized vvludes to 

 each kill, (double the seed of the rest^ then next 

 to then), as you will imderstand, came my wholes 

 planted one to the hill, as 1 before stated. 



Now for the result. To make the story plain, 

 I took as much groimd of each sort as ju-oduced 

 100 pounds from those ])lanted with tlie wholes irf 

 good fair size. 



1st row, planted with small ones, 89 lbs. but on- 

 ly about two thirds as large as an average of the 

 others. 



2d row, planted two seed-ends to the hill, 87 

 2-3d lbs., and the size about like the produce of 

 the wholes. 



3d row, planted with one seed-end of a large 

 potato to the hill, ninetytwo and one half pounds, 

 the produce of these being fair and hantlsome. 



4tb row, planted with 4 quarters to the hill, 90 

 lbs. of a quality rather below mediuuL 



5tli row, planted with two good potatoes to the 

 hill 105 |)Ounds, having rather more small ones 

 than those planted with single wholes, and altho' 

 they ijroduced the greatest crop by 5 per cent, yet 

 it is estimated tliis surplus was only about half 

 enough to compensate for the extra amount of 

 seed i)lanted ; therefore on the whole, we find the 

 greatest profit in planting one good sized, fair, 

 whole potato to each hili, provided the distance 

 of hills be such as I usually make, that is, nearly 

 4 feet by 2 1-2. But if you are intent on making 

 the hills further apart, then iierhajis it may do to 

 put two good ones to the hill, but in no ordinary 

 case, do I approve of cutting. Repeated experi- 

 ments in former years have fully convinced me 

 on this point ; even cutting into halves and plant- 

 ing both |)iece.s, is not quite as good as to plant 

 whole, for in cutting we mutilate the germsof the 

 coming plant with which nature has furnished 

 each potato, and being thus lacerated it is render- 

 ed incapanle of throwing up so vigorous and per- 

 fect a plant, and hence deterioration must he the 

 consequence. Nathan Wild. 



Chesterfield, March 20, 1837. 



Mr Cooke: — I was much pleasiHl to sec the 

 communication of Mr Hale of the culture of Car- 

 rots — for information on this subject, is at this 

 time wanted. The facts that are given, are val- 

 uable, but on exercising our " mathematical inge- 

 niiily " in calculating the " nett profit," we find 

 more facts wanting, viz: the eflect of those given 

 to the co-v—what he considers the value of the 

 carrots per bushel, from the means he has of judg- 

 ing. 



Also, if in estimating tlie cost of the carrots, 

 the manure after it was applied was considered 

 as part of the land — whether the worth of the 

 manure, or the labor of applying it was reckoned. 



Inquirer. 



Cheshire, March 1837. 



Repentance without amendment, is like contin- 

 ually pumping without mending the leak. 



