THE ILLINOIS FARMER. 



33 



In pail of saccharine matter, my experiments 

 have proved that the average stalks produced 

 one pint of juice. — a few large ones produced a 

 quart each. In Wabash county a few staiks 

 were raised 22 feet long and 2 1-2 inches In di- 

 ameter. But they were uncommonly large. 

 Careful measurement proved that the juice con- 

 tains not less tnan 16 per cent of saccharine 

 matter, and that one pound of sugar can be made 

 from every six pounds of the juice. This state- 

 ment and all my experiments warrant me in 

 saying that from 150 to 250 gallons of syrup 

 may be made from an acre, accordinn: to the 

 quality of the land on which it is planted. 



I ground upon a mill constructed of two rol- 

 lers, of hard timber, plain surface, 15 inches di'^ra- 

 eter and 18 long, put up verLica'lj, in the same 

 manner as the old fashioned apple mill, and key- 

 ed together by means of followers. The horse 

 was attached to a beam placed on the top of one 

 of them like the apple mil!. The stalk was 

 pressed through these rollers, and a trough or 

 tub underneath canorht up the sap as it was ex- 

 pressed by the rollers. This is the cheapest and 

 most effective miil upon a small scale. Bat is 

 not large enough to grind a, large crop. Hori- 

 zontal rollers made of cast iron would be the 

 best, but require a separate horse power, and 

 vfould of course be more costly. The mill used 

 need not exceed in cost ^10. 



"Whatever doubts I might have had as to the 

 saeceas of this plant, I am fully satisSc-d now, 

 that it will more than prove to the Northern 

 States what sugar cane has to the South and the 

 Gulf Islands. The stalk contains more juice, 

 and according to the tests of Mr. Peters, of 

 Georgia, contains a larger percent, of saccharine 

 matter. In 1855 I ripened it from a planting as 

 late as the 25Lh May, but in 1853 that portion 

 which was planted so late did not ripen, owing 

 to the fact that we had a killing frost a month 

 earlier than usual. 



I am anxious to diEtribute the seed as far as 

 possible, so that this season every farmer in the 

 country can procure a sufficient quantity to 

 make his own sugar. 



To all post paid applications, with a six cent 

 postage stamp inclosed, (to pay return po.stage.) 

 I will forward a quantity sufficient to plant a 

 quarter of an acre. This> with care, planting 

 not more than three or (our in a hill, will pro- 

 duce from eight to ten bushels of seed. 



Address me at McOleary's BluS, Wabash 

 county, Illinois. JOS. C.ORTH, 



Scarcity and Cost of Provisions. 



There is room for much reflection ia the 

 high price of provisions, — in the clearness of 

 human sustenauce, that prevails so general- 

 ly over the world. In early times, through 

 the records of all history, men have suffered 

 from the want of food; the Patriarchs went 

 into Egypt, or sent there, after corn ; and 

 Egypt was afterwards visited with a famine. 

 The inhabitants of India and China, forming 

 the balk of the Asiatics, are not a well fed 

 people, — flesh being almost unknown to 

 them; and in the latter country, snakes and 

 reptiles are exhibited in the market stalls of 

 the great cities, and are readily taken by 

 those who have the povrer wherewithal to 

 buy. In Europe there are few countries 

 where the iov.er or middle classes have the 

 power of much selection in the quality or 

 quantity of their food. Indians and the bar- 

 barous, all the world over, are celebrated for 

 the precariousness with which they live; the 

 want of nutriment; the abstinence they suf- 

 fer; the obstacles they surmount, at all times^ 

 in the keeping of the body together. 



In this country, until of late years, we 

 have prided ourselves upon the general 

 abundance of food ; but at this time there is 

 much complaint, in every direction, and 

 much sufiering in consequence of the dear- 

 ness, and therefore general scarcity, of our 

 supplies. Though seed time and harvest are 

 interrupted by droughts, by contingencies 

 that man cannot compass, by absolute fam- 

 ines; yet we are not prepared to arraign, the 

 providence of God for the cause of this 

 limited dispensation of the prime necessar- 

 ies of life. "We must seek for its solution 

 in our own limited views of what is right in 

 the premises; in our short comings; in our 

 improvidence; in our ignorance; in our pos- 

 itive viciousncss; — but quite as much we 

 think in the very plethora of our abund- 

 ance, and to which we will now address our 

 selves. The earth teems with sufficient sus- 

 tenance for countless millions more of in- 

 habitants than now dwell upon its face. 

 Taking the more Christian and civilized por- 

 tions of men, for our data, we find that 

 Europe in the Middle Ages, after the down- 



