202 



NEW ENGLAND FARMER. 



July 



evaporation. In these . recent experiments, no 

 bone filters were ready, and hence other methods 

 were resorted to to defecate the juice. The evap- 

 oration was done both in a kettle with steam coil, 

 and on sorgho evaporators. The editor says of 

 the first experiment : "When it had reached a 

 consistency supposed to be right for granulating, 

 it was taken off and set in a warm room for the 

 night. With many anxio'us feelings we approached 

 the vessel holding it the next morning, when, to 

 our great ddigM, we found the whole mass had 

 erystalized from top to bottom, showing large and 

 splendid crystals of sugar, which, after standing 

 twenty-four hours longer, was allowed to drain. 

 No more than twenty per cent, of it drained out, 

 much of which was sugar. This would have been 

 less had it been allowed to stand longer." 



In former volumes of the Monthly Farmer, the 

 reader may find several articles on the economy 

 of using the beet to obtain sugar, and the modes 

 by which the process is to be conducted. 



At this time of high prices, when a barrel of 

 good white sugar costs something more than fifty 

 dollars, would it not be well for many of our farm- 

 ers to sow the sorghum to a moderate extent, and 

 reduce its juice to syrup for family use. This was 

 done several years ago, when molasses sold for 

 one-half what it is bringing now, and it was then 

 thought, that, under improved modes of extract- 

 ing and boiling the juice, a sweetening might be 

 obtained by a large number of our people at an 

 economical cost. It is now made at the West 

 with success and profit, and the probability is, 

 that they will produce a large surplus the present 

 season. 



The only way in which we can learn what can 

 be done in this respect is through numerous trials 

 by individuals in a small way, as well as by asso- 

 ciated effort on a large scale, with all the appli- 

 ances necessary to perfect success. In a small 

 way, the fact can be established, whether the beet 

 and the sorghum contain a sufficient amount of 

 the saccharine quality to make their cultivation 

 an object for the purpose of obtaining sugar. A 

 secondary object would be the large amount of 

 matter left for feed for cattle after the juices are 

 extracted from the beet. Perhaps paper might be 

 manufactured from the "bagasse," or remainder 

 of the sorghum. 



Eradication of the Ox-eye Daisy. — J. J. 



Thomas states in the Country Gentleman that on a 

 farm which he lately visited in Pennsylvania, the 

 ox-eye daisy has been so thoroughly eradicated 

 that not a plant could be seen, though it is gener- 

 ally abundant in the neighborhood. The mode 

 practiced for its extirpation is to plant two hoed 

 crops in succession, usually Indian corn, both be- 

 ing well manured, to be followed by wheat and 

 seeded by clover. The few weeds which show 

 themselves are dug up. 



It requires the death of 8,300 elephants annu- 

 ally to supply the demand for ivory in London. 



BRECK'S BOOK OF FLOWERS. 



There are few of the incidental employments of 

 life that have a more happy tendency upon both 

 body and mind than the cultivation of flowers, 

 and a tolerably correct knowledge of their names 

 and habits. Their great variety, beauty and fra- 

 grance have attractions for all. The gross in 

 manner, the impure in habit, and even the hard 

 and grasping heart, wrapt in self and forgetful of 

 others, are all happily affected by their presence. 

 Everybody likes flowers. 



The infant, too young to express its admiration 

 in words, will lie upon its mother's lap'and gaze 

 long and earnestly at the vase of flowers upon the 

 centre table, or the single rose that graces as well 

 as perfumes the room. Girls and boys pluck wild 

 flowers, and adorn their sunbonnets and hats, and 

 look handsomer and feel better for such adorn- 

 ment, while they make the woods echo with their 

 glad voices. 



The betrothed maiden places the half-opsned 

 rose-bud upon her bosom on her wedding-day — 

 fit emblem of half-revealed virtues of patience, 

 gentleness, charity and loving kindness, which are 

 to be developed day by day in her new sphere of 

 affectionate duty. 



Everybody likes flowers I The aged man, 



"the lean and slippered pantaloon, 1 ' 



pauses on his crutch and contemplates the sweet 

 briar blossom by the way-side, and is reminded of 

 her who was his stay on earth, and now his guar- 

 dian angel in heaven. He plucks it, gazes upon 

 it as her favorite flower,, drops a tear upon its 

 trembling petals, and finds new strength for the 

 battle of life. 



So we enshrine the dead with flowers, and strew 

 them over the green turf that rests upon their 

 bosoms, as sweet memorials of our undying love. 



In his touching story of Cymbeline, Shakspeare 

 makes Arvirago say, 



• "With fairest flowers, 



Whilst summer lasts, and I live here, Fidele, 

 I'll sweeten thy sad grave ; thou shalt not lack 

 The flower that's like thy face, pale primrose, nor 

 The azured harebell, like thy veins ; no, nor 

 The leaf of eglantine, whom not to slander, 

 Outsweeten'd not thy breath." 



Cultivated flowers are evidences of high civiliza- 

 tion, — they are a sort of floral thermometer, indi- 

 cating the degree of intelligence and refinement 

 which a people have reached. And those indica- 

 tions are as significant as the evidences afforded 

 in architecture, painting, poetry, or any of the 

 sciences. 



Flowers are refiners. As gold comes from the 

 crucible of the chemist rich and pure, so a garden 

 or conservatory of flowers, or even the single pot 

 on the kitchen window, refines the heart, sweetens 

 the affections, and teaches us lessons of love and 

 duty in every petal that is thrown open to the sun. 



