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272 



THE ILLINOIS FARMER. 



that six gallons of juice would make one 

 gallon of superior syrup. I then built a 

 mill with wooden rollers, 18 inches in diam- 

 eter, and went at it in good earnest, and 

 found that it now took eight gallons of 

 juice for one of syrup. Upon investigating 

 the case, I found there were two juices dis- 

 tinct from each other in the cane, viz: a 

 crystalizable and an uncrystalizable sacchar- 

 ine juice. The iron rollers expressed both; 

 the wooden rollers only one. The juice run 

 from the iron rollers granulated eaily, while 

 the juice from the wooden rollers could 

 scarcely be said to grain. 



I made from one acre of cane 200 gal- 

 lons of syrup, for which our merchants pay 

 me, by the barrel, 90 cents per gallon. The 

 result may be summed up as follows: 



Rent of land $3 50 



Co3t of seed 3 00 



Plowing of ground and planting £ uO 



One day«'B plowing cane 2 00 



Paid for labor in working 18 00 



Paid for wood for boiling 2 00 



Ono iron miU 2S 00 



One woodenmill 20 00 



Two kettles, 40 and 60 gallons 17 60 



Total cost $96 £0 



200 gallons ayrup at 90 cts per g-jl $180 00—83 50 



Leaving a nett profit over every expense of 

 $83 60, from one acre of Chinese sugar 

 cane. The cane was twice frozen solid bo- 

 fore it was cut. 



Col. Belcher, of St, Louis, writes to a 

 gentleman in thils State: "I have made some 

 experiments in the syrup of the Chinese 

 Sugar cane, but have not succeeded iu gran- 

 ulating it; and I very much fear it will prove 

 a failure so far as sugar making is concern- 

 ed, and if it will not granulate, the syrup 

 does not con tain a due proportion of cane 

 sugar." 



Mr. J B, Newcomb, of El^in, in this 

 State, writes to the Prairie Farmer, that 

 he expressed the juice of the can before the 

 seed had mature »d, converted it into syrup 

 and set it away, and in a day or two after 

 found half of it had granulated. lie ex- 

 amined the crystals with a microscope of 

 one hundred diameters, and found them 

 very well define d and almost transparent.: — 

 No sugar was p nt into help the granulation. 



S. B. Shaw, of East Cleavcland, writes 

 to the Ohio Fs.rmer: "From a little patch, 



containing about 240 square feet, I made 

 2 1-2 gallons of very superior quality — in 

 appearance like honey and of very excel- 

 lent flavor. Though only three-fourths of 

 the juice was extracted from the cane, the 

 yield of syrnp was equal to over 225 gallons 

 per acre, and I am fully satisfied that this 

 amount can be easily excelled by proper cul- 

 ture and proper grinding of the cane." 



The editor of the Ohio Farmer has been 

 sceptical in regard to the Chinese Sugar 

 cane furnishing the north with molasses and 

 sugar. We are gratified to notice the fol- 

 lowing paragraph in that paper of the 14th 

 instant : 



We have received several samples of syr- 

 up made from the Sorgho. One from A. 

 Turner, of Sharon, was a good sample of 

 molasses, and the sam.e may be said of that 

 from A. Williams, of Joutli Kirtland ; both 

 of these we think, were made from cane that 

 was rather or that liad been somewhat hurt 

 by the frost. We have little doubt that the 

 profitable culture of this cane has become a 

 fact, and that the Middle States and some 

 of the Northern, have a climate in which it 

 can be grown to advantage. Much has yet 

 to be learned regarding the most favorable 

 sods, aspects and coditions in which this 

 culture can be prosecuted; and science as 

 well as practical experience must poit out 

 the proper methods by which the manufac- 

 ture of both sugar and cane be brought to 

 the proper degree of perfection. We anti- 

 eipate tiiat at no distant day, Sorghum su- 

 gar and molasses will be articles of common 

 consumption and sale. Many of our friends 

 who have tested this plants, are sanguine 

 of this, and think that this product will yet 

 become ono of the staples of our State. 



We here take occasion to say that the 

 seed of the cane will not poison stock. We 

 know that it has been fed to stock not only 

 without injury but with decided benefit. It 

 is possible that stock may gorge themselves 

 with it, and that it may thus kill them. But 

 so tliey may do with corn, wheat and other 

 articles. Fed out as it should be, the seed 

 I can be made useful for stock; and ground 

 and converted into flour, it can be made to 

 rival buckwheat flour for "hot-cakes." 



We regard the experiments in growing 



the Chinese sugar cane in the season just 



closed, the expression of its juice, and it 



s 



