TROCEEDINGS OF THE FARMERS' CLUB. 251 



graining- until it became a mass, called mush. But I have not seen any 

 syrup made last Fall, no matter how rapidly, \that has shown any signs of 

 graining-. I have a letter by me from ^V'm. Morris Davis, of Philadelphia, 

 the late able member of Congress from that city, a practiced sugar refiner 

 (who performed the experiments attributed to Jos. S. Lovering), giving me 

 directions for converting sorghum juice into sugar through i4s various 

 manipulations. He does not object to exposing the syrup to the atmos- 

 phere, nor to stirring it. The process is too complicated, requires too 

 much science, to be practically carried out by farmers, if not too expensive 

 to be profitable in the end. First neutralizing the acid with an alkali, then 

 clarifying- with bhjod or whites of eggs, or passing through a bag filter; 

 then removing the gum which retards crystalization by the addition of an 

 alkali at a high temperature; then test again to know if all the gum is re^ 

 moved, until the white scum ceases to rise, &c." 



Iron as a Fertilizer. 



Mr. D. Petit, Salem, X. J. — In 3'our discussions of. Jan. IT, sulphate of 

 iron (copperas). a poison, is introduced from an exchange as a wonderful 

 fertilizer, but is not recommended by your Club; but it is there confounded 

 with oxide of iron, which is not a poison but is a i'vvilWzcy. Permit me to 

 ciTer you a few examples in support of these assertions as regards vegeta- 

 tion. There was a ditch cut many j-ears ago, ten feet wide by six feet 

 deep, along- the shore of a piece of meadow which bounds this county on 

 the north-east. This was 'done to cut off the springs. The earth excavated 

 was composed in part of a large portion of green s.and marl, strongly im- 

 pregnated with sulphate of iron. The ditch bank was spread on the mea- 

 dow side. From that time until I accompanied Prof George H. Cook to 

 see it (who was making a geological survey of the marl district), and 

 which was about eighteen years, there had not a spear of any kind of vege- 

 tation grown on it. An acre of a field to he, planted with corn was covered 

 with a part of the material. That so covered remained nearly as bare as 

 the traveled road, the season out, while on the remainder of the field the 

 corn was good. I Lave tried oxide of iron (scales from the blacksmith 

 shop) on grape vines, with good success, as well as on garden vegetables. 

 According to the analysis of my marl, the best vein contains 25 per cent, 

 oxide of iron, which, with the practical applications I have made, prove 

 that oxide of iron is not detrimental to vegetation. 



Dr. Sylvester Lyons, Wayne county, N. Y. — I do not find sulphate of 

 iron poisonous to plants when used in small quantity. I find it profitable 

 to buy copperas at two cents a pound to use in the compost heap. It is 

 one of the best and cheapest deodorizers. 



Mr. P. T. Quinn thought plaster cheaper and better; it produces the 

 same result. 



yiv. Tiiomas Cavenach said he obtained from the blacksm^ith's shop a load 

 of stuff composed principally of the sweepings, which he mixed in a com- 

 post heap, and the result was injury or death to nearly all the plants to 

 which it was applied. 



