1870. 



NEW ENGLAND FAEIVIER. 



93 



vigorous animals rob the weaker ones. So saj's 

 the Ohio Farmer to enforce the admonition to take 

 good care of the old animals. 



— A worthy farmer in Egremont, Mass., sitting 

 at his fireside the other evening, was disturbed by 

 a heavy, suspicious movement outside, and came 

 to the conclusion it was a bear. Peering through 

 the darkness he saw a large black object, and he 

 sets his dogs on it, but the supposed bear beat them 

 off. Getting his gun he levelled the animal, and 

 found on handling the carcass that he had slaugh- 

 tered his old and valuable black hog. 



— A correspondent of the Western Rural, who 

 cured a cow of garget by giving her at first, as di- 

 rected, four pieces of poke-weed root, about the 

 size of a butternut, but finding she ate it greedily 

 gave her in half an hour nearly two quarts, or all 

 she would eat, says, "I find when a cow's milk 

 organs are all right they will not eat the poke-weed 

 root ; but when the milk gets disordei-ed they eat 

 of it greedily till they have enough, when they 

 stop, and you needn't try to make them believe 

 it's good any longer." 



BEET SUGAR. 



After having been engaged in experiments 

 for the manufacture of sugar from beets for 

 several years, a Prussian chemist succeeded in 

 1799 in producing several loaves which were 

 presented to the king. During the blockade 

 of 1812 its manufacture was commenced in 

 France. In 1866 reports from 1426 factories 

 in France and seven other adjoining European 

 nations showed a production of 630,000 tons. 

 This success in Europe has encouraged us to 

 hope that the manufacture of beet sugar might 

 be successful in this country, especially at the 

 West. The attempts which have been made 

 at different times and in different sections have 

 not been as encouraging as was hoped. A few 

 •weeks since we published a rather unfavorable 

 account of the enterprise at Chatsworth, 111., 

 where a large capital was invested and as was 

 supposed the most skilful workmen were era- 

 ployed. But it is said that the season has been 

 very unfavorable in that section to most crops 

 the past year, and particularly so to the growth 

 of beets. 



It is with much pleasure, therefore, that we 

 copy from the Prairie Farmer the following 

 particulars of a more successful attempt at 

 beet sugar making in Wisconsin : — 



Mr. A. Otto, a practical German sugar-maker, 

 left his native country with a small "kii" of tools 

 and machinery, some beet seed, &c., intending to 

 visit California and experiment with the beet for 

 sugar there. On his way to this country, falling in 

 with an intelligent countryman, his attention was 



called to the vicinity of Fond du Lac as very sim- 

 ilar, in quality of land, to the best sugar districts 

 of Germany. Arriving here, he visited that place, 

 and was so well pleased that he at onee decided to 

 try the experiment there, and last year located 

 about four miles from that town, on leased land, 

 planted four acres of beets, and fitted up cheap 

 aud simple apparatus for manufacturing. The 

 crop turned out well, and proved rich in saccha- 

 rine matter, yielding a good quality of sugar. 



His operations attracted the attention of Mr. A. 

 D. Bonsteel, a citizen, and ex-mayor of the city, 

 who cartfullv watched the progress of the work- 

 ings of Mr. Otto, and became so well convinced of 

 the profitableness of the cnterpris-e that he entered 

 into a business arrangement with him for the pres- 

 ent year. Eighty acres of land were purchased 

 and planted to beets, and, notwirhstanding the un- 

 favorable season, the peculiar fitness of the soil 

 gave them a good crop of beets. More machinery 

 was obtained, and the manufacture is now being 

 prosecuted most successfully ; about 1000 lbs. of a 

 good quality of coffee sugar being turned out ev- 

 ery twenty-four hours, with improving results as 

 the work progresses. The crop is sufficient to oc- 

 cupy the works for at least four and one-half 

 months, which will give an aggregate of 125,000 

 to 135,000 pounds of sugar. 



The metuod of manufacture is not unlike that 

 pursued at Chatsworth, the beets being grated fine, 

 the juice extracted by centrifugal machinery, when 

 it is defacated by milk of lime, purified by gas and 

 charcoal filters and then reduced to the sugar point 

 in vacuum pans. It is then poured into coolers, 

 where it granulates. It is then prepared for mar- 

 ket by separating the syrup by centrifugal ma- 

 chines. 



The locality of Fond du Lac seems to embrace 

 all the requisites to make the manufacture of sugar 

 a prominent feature there ; a soil of black sandy 

 loam, underlaid with friable red clay, resting on 

 gravel ; abundance of pure soft water, obtained 

 from Artesian wells, bored to the depth of 100 feet, 

 giving a strong flov/ of water for three or four feec 

 above the surface; cheap fuel obtained at a low 

 pmcc from the numerous saw mills in the neigh- 

 borhood ; cheap and abundant labor, whic h is al- 

 ways obtainable in the town at a few hours' notice, 

 and both railroad and water communication with 

 the outer world. 



The beets are planted fifteen inches apart, each 

 way, and have been cultivated the past year, al- 

 most entirely by hand labor; another season, with 

 increased acres, suitable machinery will be intro- 

 duced into the field culture. 



With the light we now have on the subject, it 

 seems as though there was no industrial enterprise 

 in the West, deserving of more attention or more 

 sure of giving good returns for the capital invested, 

 and the day seems not distant when the great West 

 will be supplied with sugar from home factories, 

 and then turn the tide towards the sea-board, 

 eventually driving foreign sugar from^our markets. 



Hereford Steers. — In a business letter to this 

 office, a correspondent speaks of a pair of matched 

 Hereford steers, which he had recently seen, one 

 year and five months old, weighing 2000 pounds,, 

 owned by Benj. Clark of Russell, Mass. They took 

 the first premium in their class at ihe Hampden 

 Union Fair at Blandford. 



Sales of Stock. — Mr. J. A. Harwood, Littleton.. 

 Mass., has lately sold to George Hoover of Canal- 

 Fulton, Ohio, the Short-horn bull calf A/a«, got by. 

 Roan Princo 6370, out of Mattic Newell. 



