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THE ILLIlSrOIS FA^HMER. 



lOl 



conductors, unless they are entirely coated with 

 silver, copper, tin, palladium (which possesses 

 9 times the conducting power of iron), or gold, 

 in consequence of tbeir liability to rust, or oxi- 

 date, by the action of the weather. 



Conductors should neither be painted nor 

 Tarnished, as that would diminish their con- 

 ducting power. 



This rod is the invention of Z. J. Emery, of 



Illinois, who has applied for a patent for the 



same. We consider it superior to any that we 



have seen for the purpose intended. It is now 



being introduced into the country, and will pro. 



bably soon be brought to the notice of our 

 readers. 



-••»■ 



"Stay to see the Balloon Go Up !" 

 Mr. Editor: On the 22d June a stout, 

 healthy-looking man of about 23 years — 

 rather rough exterior — his elbows very 

 nearly out, his hat a great deal worse 

 for wear — tobacco juice staining the 

 corners of his mouth — was seen swaying 

 and lounging near a grocery. Espying 

 an acquaintance from the country who 

 was bustling about doing up some little 

 business, and manifestly anxious to re- 

 turn to his farm, he hailed him — "John, 

 going home ? ain't you going to see the 

 balloon go up?" No, I can't stay ; too 

 much work at home ; can't lose an hour; 

 just got some early corn ; mean to have 

 a lot of corn : 'twill pay well next fall. 

 Sam, you Bad better go home, too ; 

 you'll want some corn next fall." But 

 Sam wouldn't g'j. He spent the after- 

 noon loitering about — spent all the 

 money he had in his pockets — spent his 

 credit, and di'ove up to his home about 

 midnight, pretty much spent himself. 

 It took him a whole day to recover from 

 his balloon speculation, and thus he lost 

 a day and a half of a vreek, every day of 

 which was worth ten dollars to the pro- 

 dent, energetic, go-ahead farmer. He 

 lost the plowing and planting of several., 

 acres of corn land, his other work 

 crowded upon him, and he has not yet 

 got up with it. His wheat was ready 

 for cutting — some of it was suflFering ; 

 his grass was getting old in the field, 

 and — but we need go no further. 



"John" went home ; he didn't stay 

 to see the balloon ; he didn't care wheth- 

 er it went up or not ; his mind was on 

 his farm ; he wanted a corn crop ; he 

 wanted to get up and keep ahead of his 

 work. He did all this. Three weeks 

 after the balloon went up his corn look- 

 ed finely, his wheat was cut, his hay was 

 in the process of going into the stack — 

 every thing looked snug and fine about 

 John's place. 



Sam looked on with wonder. He felt 

 a little ashamed. He never was as in- 

 dustrious as John, and he just felt that 

 the appearance of the two farms proved 

 the owner of one to be shiftless and 

 thriftless, and the other to be a good 

 farmer— just the man, after a few years, 

 to have a good house, carriage, to be a 

 school director, and a pattern of a 'man. 



Sam thought a little. This was some" 

 thing new to him. There was a eause 

 for all this. He looked back to the bal- 

 loon frolic — how John would go home 

 and work, and he — Sam- — staid in town 

 when his farm was suffering, drank bad 

 whisky, spent his money, saw the bal- 

 loon go up, and returned home a sad but 

 not a much wiser man. 



"John," said he, "I see it all now. — 

 I didn't, when I went to town to see the 

 balloon go up. What soft-headativcness; 

 (Sam here manufactured a capital word 

 — it expresses an idea!) May the 

 hawks catch me when I go to town 

 again to see the balloon go up!" I very 

 often see young men come to town for 

 this purpose. They suffer from soft- 

 headativeness. They are amused and 

 led about by those who want their mon- 

 ey. They finally see the Tjalloon go up; 

 feel their pockets empty; know that 

 they are doing their reputations no cre- 

 dit; recollect that their farms are suffer- 

 ing for their labor; and if all this should 

 cure them of their folly, and harden the 

 soft places in their heads, it would be a 

 good thing for them, once in their lives, 

 to see "the balloon go up." 



-«•► 



Tlie Northern Sugar Crop. 



Mr. Editor: It would be wonderful, 

 indeed, if we should not have enough 

 hot weather to mature our sugar cane 

 crop the present season. This crop is 

 not benefited by early planting. What 

 it wants is, — when it is planted, to be 

 planted on good kind ground, and to be 

 cultivated well. So soon as the hot 

 weather sets in it grows, and rapidly 

 attains maturity. Last year cane seed 

 planted late in June matured well. 1 

 believe it will do the same tiling planted 

 Ihe last part of the month. Late falls 

 almost always follow late springs. 



Will the planting of sugar cane seed 

 pay those of our farmers who are near 

 enough to the proposed mill to deliver 

 the cane there ? What are the estimates 

 of a crop of Chinese sugar cane ? The 

 first question must be answered ]»y the 

 farmer; and I will endeavor to answer 

 the other; and for the basis of that an- 

 swer I will take the statement of Joseph 

 S. Levering, of Pennsylvania. 



Mr. Levering manufactured juice 

 from the Chinese sugar cane last fall. — 

 He did this with imperfect apparatus, 

 by which the loss was considerable; still 

 he obtained the following positive re- 

 sults : 



Actual amount of sugar from an acre of the plant. ..1221 lbs 

 Amount of molasses also from tbe same acre 74 gals 



Now the gentleman Avho thinks of 

 putting up a sugar mill here offers to 

 pay for the cane one-half it produces in 

 sugar or molasses. Half of the sugar 

 from an acre, by Mr. Lovering's esti- 

 mate, will be 610 lbs. This will be 

 likely to be worth 7 cents per lb., which 



amounts to ^42 70. Half the molasses 

 from the some cane would be 37 gallons, 

 which, at 50 cents per gallon, would 

 amount to §10 50.. Put these two sums 

 together, and you have §61 20. 



This sum would buy the corn on three 

 acres of land. 



The cost of raising sugar can be no 

 more than that of corn. The land should 

 be plowed in the same mamier, planted 

 in the same way, and cultivated as corn 

 is cultivated. 



After corn is "laid by," the crop 

 must bo cut, shocked and fed out or 

 shelled for market. 



After the sugar cane is "laid by," the 

 leaves are to be slashed do-v^m, the stalks 

 cut, the grain cut off, and the stalks 

 carried to the mill. The fodder and 

 grain will more than pay for the cutting 

 the leaves rnnd heads off. Then you 

 have to meet the expcn.so of cutting, 

 shocking'- and feeding out or sliellingthe 

 corn, and sending the snino to market — 

 the cost (tf' cutting the cane ."italks and 

 carrying them to mill. Say they are 

 equal, though we think the odds are in 

 favor of the cutting of the cane, and 

 hauling it to mill. 



On the whole, I cannot believe that 

 the cost of raising an acre of sugar cane 

 and delivering the stalks at the mill is 

 greater than the raising of an acre of 

 Indian corn, and preparing it for feed- 

 ing or market. 



The questicu. then, is — Which is like- 

 ly to be the most profitable? 



I think that sugar cane, with fair 

 prospects of a crop, v.ill pay better than 

 wheat at §2 a bushel ; and an acre ■^^^ll 

 produce more raoney than four acres of 

 corn. 



Look at this matter in another light* 

 If the estimate we have inado of the pro- 

 duct of an acre of sugar cane should be 

 reduced two thirds, it will still be better 

 than a corn crop under favorable cir- 

 cumstances. 



I say, let Mr. Depew come on and es- 

 tablish the proposed mill, and he will 

 not only make money for himself, but 

 he will make money for the farmers who 

 will funiibh him \vith cane. M. 



The Sugar Cane Crep. 

 Editor of Farmer: The papers con- 

 tain accounts of high waters on the low- 

 er Mississippi, the breaking of the levees 

 and submerging of plantations. The 

 losses of crops, it is said, may be esti- 

 mated by millions. It would not be 

 strange, under the circumstances, indeed 

 the fact is very probable, that the inju- 

 ry to the sugar crop may be so great as 

 to cause the renewal of the high prices 

 that ruled last year. If that should 

 prove to be the case, our fiirmers would 

 find it for their interest to raise sufficient 

 Chinese sugar cane the present seaso^ 

 for the manufanture of sugar and m^, 



