[■.^•Ti-^tvrj-rv 



142 



THE ILLINOIS FARMER. 



prefer it for the table. It is iu season for 

 the table from December uniil the next June. 

 These are larger than the common turnips 

 and the seeds should be sov/ii by the 20th of 

 this month. 



Buckwheat is a very essential article in 

 winter. Lars^e quantities of the flour would 

 be cousamed if it could be had pure and at 

 low prices. This grain is easily raised, and 

 yields well. For the last two years, most of 

 the flour consumed in Central Illinois was 

 made from buckwheat raised in other States. 

 Please, fi'mers, to do your best to prevent 

 this in future. 



Good cro})s of potatoes, turnips and buck- 

 wheat, the coming fall, will prove a sensible 

 advantage to the pecuniary welfare of many 

 industrious and poor families, as well as a 

 great convenience to those better off. 



The Chinese Sugar Cane, &f. 



A few days ago wa'had an interesting in- 

 terview with Mr. Hedge':;, of Cincinnati, (ot 

 the firm of Hedges & Scott,) who is at this 

 time getting up mills for expressing the 

 juice from the Chinese sugar cane, and boil- 

 ers for converting the juice into sugar and 

 molasses. Mr. Hedges informed us that his 

 mills will cost from fifty to two hundred 

 dollars, and his boilers (if we recollect right) 

 five cents per pound These are to be 

 of cast iron. 



Mr. H. also informed us, that in order to 

 test his apparatus in time for the fall crop 

 of cane, he had planted in green houses, and 

 which was growing at this time in the open 

 air, a considerable quantity of the cane, 

 now three feet high. So soon as it matured 

 he designs to have a public exhibition of 

 his machinery, and show the whole process 

 of expressing the juice from the cane, and 

 converting the juice into sugar and molasses. 

 Of the time which this exhibition is to take 

 place he will give us due notice, and he 

 desires all interested to attend and witness 

 all the processes. 



Mr. Hedges has had already consider- 

 able experience in this matter, and has 

 every confidence of entire success in his un- 

 dertaking. He has had frequent interviews 



with Mons. Wray, a French gentleman, who 

 has cultivated the cane in France, and who 

 is the discoverer of an easy and simple 

 method of converting the syrup into sugar. 

 Mr. Wray regards the climate here as better 

 adapted to the cultivation of the cane, than 

 that of France. He will remain in the 

 United States and be present at the ex- 

 hibition in Cincinnati. 



-'•^ 



England and America on the Turf. 



We learn from Porter's Spirit of the Times 

 that "Lecompte," " Pryor," and " Prioress," 

 the three gallant coursers which were sent from 

 this country last Fall, to confront the renowned 

 champions of the English Turf upon their own 

 ground, and at their own terms, are entered for 

 the Great Goodwood Cup! 



This great trial of speed comes off on the 29th 

 of July, and at the latest advices, the American 

 horses are in excellent condition. It is hardly 

 necessary to add that the eyes of the whole sport- 

 ing world of America are turned upon Mr. Ten 

 Broek and the gentlemen engaged with him in 

 this grand national affair. It is the first time 

 the United States have ever measured them- 

 selves against England on the turf. Under the 

 conditions of this race considerable advantages 

 ars offered to the American horses. Lecocompte 

 will carry 124 lbs., Pryor 121 lbs., and Prioress 

 109 lbs., four pounds being allowed to Prioress 

 as a mare. It will be seen, therefore, that 

 Lecompte and Pryor will run at an advantage 

 of 14 lbs. less. On these items, therefore, our 

 readers can begin to form their opinions and 



calculations. 



,a» 



8@o.Sugar is still advancia . in price, and 

 there is no prospect of its being any lower, 

 unless the experiments now in progress in 

 the United States, for making sugar from 

 the Chinese sugar cane, prove successful, 

 In the mean time, sugar must be used in 

 families with more economy than formerly, 

 or such families must incur great expense in 

 using it. It will be a wonderful discovery, 

 indeed, if at this moment, when the sugar 

 enterprise has failed iu Louisiana, and the 

 crop sensibly decreased in other sugar grow- 

 ing countries, we shall find a supply in the 

 cultivation of a plant at home. We believe 

 that this will be the case, and that experi- 

 ments will not fail of success when they are 

 properly made. 



