1864. 



NEW ENGLAND FARMER. 



107 



ally done on shares, the manufacturer retaining 

 one-half for his trouble and expense. As to the 

 reliance to be placed upon the production of this 

 plant. I found most of those I inquired of re- 

 specting it were of the opinion that it was upon 

 a par with Indian corn, subject to no greater vi- 

 cissitudes, and requiring no better soil or greater 

 care. The early frosts of the past season through- 

 out the West cut off the sorgho as well as the 

 corn crop. This is an evil .not to be looked for 

 as liable to occur in the future, any more than it 

 has in the past. As to the quality of the syrup. 

 I think when properly manufactured it equals 

 most of the syrups made from the sugar cane. 

 At first using it some might not like it, but use 

 soon overcomes this, and would it not be well for 

 you, Mr. Editor, to gather and publish some of 

 the necessary facts bearing upon this subject that 

 the past year's experience have demonstrated ? 

 By doing this very many of your readers would 

 be truly gratified, I have no doubt. It would en- 

 able them to decide whether it would answer for 

 them to attempt its culture. I am persuaded 

 that if it paid when prices of sugar and molasses 

 were selling for one-third the present prices, and 

 the tariff very much less, the manufacture of sor- 

 gho must now be a very profitable operation. 



A price current by my side quotes brown sugar, 

 at wholesale in New York, last week, at \\\ a 

 \5\ cents per lb., and loaf at 17 cents per lb. — 

 molasses at 45 a 70 cents per gallon, according to 

 quality. These prices are enormous, and of 

 course fifty per cent, higher than the specie basis 

 still, making all due allowance for the inflation of 

 the currency and the present high price of labor, 

 the margin for a profit is still large. We are not, 

 however, confined to sorgho exclusively for an ar- 

 ticle to obtain our sweetening from, neither am 1 

 fully satisfied that it should hold the most impor- 

 tant place in this respect with us in the Northern 

 States, where our soil must be well manured in 

 order to produce whatever crop we desire to cul- 

 tivate. The leaves alone of the sorgho are of any 

 value for stock, if the plant is matured sufficient- 

 ly for sugar and syrup. Not so the beet. From 

 this root, which will grow well on most any soil, 

 we can not only extract the saccharine properties 

 and distil alcohol, but the refuse, or pomace, is of 

 about as much value for feeding stock as before 

 the still has operated upon it. In France, we all 

 know, the beet has been fostered by the govern- 

 ment until it has become so well established that 

 it is regarded as one of the permanent products 

 of the country from which it obtains a large por- 

 tien of its sweetening, and derives a large reve- 

 nue. A few years since a company was organized 

 in England for the manufacture of the beet into 

 sugar, syrup and alcohol. They not only culti- 

 vate the beet extensively themselves, but encour- 

 age the cultivation by others, paying them re- 

 munerative prices, and doing a prosperous busi- 

 ness. I think it has been found, by analysis, 

 that beets grown in our soil and climate are bet- 

 ter than those grown in Europe, abounding in a 

 greater per cent, of saccharine material. It seems 

 to me that the advantages are all in our favor for 

 producing our own sweetening. K. o. 



Rochester, Jan. 18, 1864. 



In fruits, a pleasant sour is generally thought 

 better than sweet ; in disposition and temper never. 



For the New England Farmer. 

 DISEASES OP FARM STOCK. ' 



Let any one talk with most farmers about the 

 diseases that occur among their cattle, horses and 

 hogs, and he will be surprised at the vague and 

 indefinite notions they express. They have cer- 

 tain general terms for groups of symptoms, which 

 they observe. But they have no definite ideas 

 with respect to the organs or tissues affected, or 

 of the cause or nature of the affection, or the 

 course it will run if left to itself, or the change 

 which must be wrought by remedies in the sys- 

 tem, or in the affected organ, in order to arrest 

 the disease. They give remedies — and often harsh 

 and violent remedies — without any definite ideas 

 with respect to the effects which those remedies will 

 produce. 



A cow is sick. She stands with her back curled 

 up, her head drooping, her nose dry, her eyes 

 dull, and taking no notice of anything around her, 

 and refuses to eat. What is the matter? Her 

 owner feels of her horns, and says they are cold, and 

 he thinks she has the horn ail. Well, what is the 

 horn ail? What action is taking place in the 

 horns ? Why, I don't know. Probably some in- 

 flammation and pain. But you say the horns are 

 cold. If inflammation was going on within them, 

 would they not be hot rather than cold ? Yes, I 

 should think so ; but I don't know. She acts as 

 neighbor A's did, and she had the horn ail. So 

 he bores a hole in the horn, cuts off the end of her 

 tail, rubs some spirits of turpentine upon the 

 roots of her horns, and gives her a drench of 

 thoroughwort tea, with a quantity of rum, molas- 

 ses and melted lard added to it. Now the gimlet 

 wounds the bony tissue within the horn and lets 

 in the air, and inflammation ensues, just as it 

 would if a gimlet were thrust into the bone of the 

 leg. The cutting off the tail causes soreness and 

 pain in that organ, so essential to the comfort of 

 the animal. The turpentine causes smarting and 

 inflammation of the skin about the top of the 

 head, and the drench sickens the poor beast, and 

 she dies. Well, I am sorry, but it can't be helped ; 

 cattle are apt to die of" horn ail. So she is 

 dragged away to some by-place and buried. No 

 examination is made to find out what is really the 

 matter; even the horns are not cut open to find 

 out whether inflammation was present there. The 

 lungs, the heart, the different stomachs, the in- 

 testines, the kidneys, are not searched to find the 

 seat of the disease. But, says the owner, if I 

 should cut up the animal I could not tell what was 

 diseased and what not so. Then get some phy- 

 sician or farrier or some butcher to assist you 

 who is familiar with the appearance of the tissues 

 in health. But most farmers, especially if they 

 have been in the habit of having their animals 

 slaughtered upon their own premises, can tell the 

 difference between diseased and healthy organs, 

 even if they cannot tell the precise nature of the 

 disease. If a lung is inflamed, enlarged or hard- 

 ened, they can distinguish it from one in a natu- 

 ral state. Every man who has the care of ani- 

 mals ought to be able to do as much as this ; if 

 he is conscious that he cannot, he should go to the 

 nearest slaughter house and make himself famil- 

 iar with the size, consistence and general appear- 

 ance of the healthy organs. 



It is by the dissection of the bodies of those 

 who have died of disease, and by comparing these 



