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THE ILlLIISrOIS FA.IIMEK. 



107 



Imphec, or African Sugar Cane. 



It is a remarkable fact, that just about 

 the time the Chinese Su;^ar Cane Seed 

 was taken to France from China, and sub- 

 jected to trial, Mr. Wray, a Frenchman, was 

 experimenting in Southern Africa, on several 

 similar plants, to ascertain if their juice could 

 be converted into sugar and molasses. He 

 succeeded in both, and carried the aeeds of 

 the Imphee to France (of which there are 

 some dozen vorieties,) for further trial. He 

 was successful therej but believing the cli- 

 mate of this country, especially the middle 

 and southern part of it, better adapted to the 

 growth of the plant than France, he visited 

 it more than a year ago, and placed his seed 

 in the hands of Brutus J. Clay, of Paris, 

 Ky., for cultivation. Mr. Clay also cultiva« 

 ted the Chinese Cane, or Sorgho. He says: 



'•I planted the Imphee on the 22d May; 

 broke the ground twice, and planted- it three 

 or four feet apart, putting two or three seeds 

 in a hill. About three-fourths grew; hence 

 it was rather thin upon the ground. It did 

 not all mature before frosts — the middle of 

 October. I think the average growth of 

 stalks was no more than eight feet. They 

 were, however, one-third larger than Sorgho, 

 and contained much more juice, of a quality 

 very similar to that of the latter. It stands 

 up well, being large at the bottom and taper- 

 ing at the top, and is not liable to be blown 

 down by the wind." 



The Imphee Seed is fur sale at the seed 

 stores. We hope that a trial will be made of 

 the plant in this section of the country the 

 present season. 



"We acknowledge the receipt of a 

 fine present from the Niirser}^ and Gar- 

 dens of N. L. Dunlap, Esq., of West 

 Urbanna, Champaign Countj, of straw- 

 bery plants, rhubarb plant and shrub- 

 bery. Every plant is now doing well. 

 Mr. Dunlap has an excellent nursery, 

 and can supply every article in his line. 

 in the best possible order for planting. | 

 The Eastern drummers are already in 

 the field soliciting orders for next fall. 

 Look out, those who do not wish to be 



skinned ! 



,^^ 



J^@*There is to be a trial of Reapers 

 and Mowers at Laporte, la., on Wednes- 

 day and Thursday, July 7 and 8, 1858, 

 under the direction of the Indiana State 

 Agricultural Society. Competition is in- 

 vited. Premiums — Best Mowing Ma- 

 chine, ^30 ; second bcit, §15. Best 

 Reaping Machine, $30 : second best 

 $15. Best Combined Reaper and 

 Mower, $30 ; second best $15. Every 

 preparation will be made to have a 

 thorough and satisfactory trial, and the 

 fullest competition is wanted. 



Pear Culture. 



Lewis J'. Allen, of New York, has given 

 his experience in the ITovticuUurUt on Pear 

 Culture. He says that he commenced his 

 experience by planting out 500 dwarf pears 

 on quince and .300 standards. He knows 

 that the soil was good on which they were 

 planted; that they were well planted — for he 

 planted them himself; and they were 

 well eultivatad. The next year after they 

 were planted they produced some fruit, and 

 so they continued to do. 



Various diseases and ailments effected 

 them, so that within five years after planting 

 he had to re-«et trees, in number equal to half 

 the original number of trees planted. With 

 other fmit trees he "never took half the 

 pains he did with that pear orchard." That 

 they were well cultivated, he knoicx to he a 

 fact. The mice girdled the whole orchard in 

 1855-6. 



This gives an idea in brief of the character 

 of his experience, and Mr. Allen is well 

 known to be a man who would do a thing well 

 if he undertook it, and to have every resource 

 for obtaining desired information at his com- 

 mand. We append a few extracts from his 

 communication which may be of interest. 



''With standard pears, the success of one 

 orchardist has been various. Disease has 

 carried off the majority of them, in one shape 

 or another; blight, in its various phases, has 

 been the chief scourge, particularly with the 

 finer varieties. 



"Numerous standard pear orchards have 

 been planted out in Western New York with- 

 in the last ten or twelve years, and I know 

 of not a single one which is /nil, or even half 

 full of trees as they were first planted; and 

 if any orchardist has succeeded with the 

 pear as well as he or others have done with 

 the apple, I should be pleased to know it. 



"1 believe that I have succeeded quite as 

 well as the average of those who have tried 

 them, having now upwards of twenty quite 

 fair standtird trco^; about my house, growing 

 in a strong, clayey-loam soil, and bearing, 

 more or less, very good fruit every year; they 

 have thus far escaped the blight, Avliile some 

 of my neighbors, chiefly on lighter soils, 

 have been terribly scourged by this disea.se, 

 and lost many of their best trees. I consider 

 the pear much safer on its own stock than on 

 the <|xiinco: yet having no prejudices in this 

 matter, and speaking from my own observa- 

 tion, I freely admit tliat there may be loeali- 

 tios in the ea-stern part of Massachusetts— • 

 about Boston, for example — where the pear, 

 both on its own stock and on the (luiuee, may 

 thrive and be profitable for orchard cultiva- 

 tion. The statements of such pomologists, as 

 Col. Wilder, Mr. Hovey, Mr. Manning, and 

 others there who say that they .succeed in 

 their cultivation, are not to be controverted 

 with hypotheses or denial, at least by me. 

 I only say that their locality is a fortunate 



one. 



"Bartletts — the best mai-ket pear we have 

 — are seldom worth over three dollars a bush- j 

 el, and must be good specimens at that, i 



Virgalieus, when really good, will bring five 

 to six dollars a bushel. Seckels, better fla- 

 vored than either, are worth no more, and, 

 from their inferior size and color, unless the 

 buyers k7iow their excellence, will not .sell 

 for near as much. Indeed, the size, color, 

 and appearance of the fruit, help the sale fiar 

 better than flavor, and one may talk of flavor 

 in an ill-looking pear to all eternity, and the 

 public won't buy it. A ffood-lookiru/ choke 

 pear is better with them. We never could 

 get over three dollars for our Bartletts in the 

 very best season, when our orange pears, not 

 good for the table compared with many oth- 

 ers, yet are very best for preserving, will sell 

 for a dollar and a half to two dollars. In 

 fact, so obtuse are the public to pear flavor, 

 that a wilding will sell readily for nearly as 

 much, in large quantities, as the best of other 

 varieties, with no better looking outside. 

 while in beaiing they yield double or treble 

 the quantity on the same sized tree. I met 

 a friend the other day who said he had a few 

 bushels of well-grown Vicars, which he sent 

 to market some weeks ago, and could not get 

 two dollars a bushel oflfered for them in a city 

 of over 80,000 people! He grows more 

 pears than any one else about here, as he 

 says, and only gets three dollars for his best 

 Bartletts, which don't pay for growing, tak- 

 ing the seasons as they run. In fact, the 

 . only men abont here who make Jany money 

 by their pears, are a few farmers, having 

 large, old wilding pears, which give large 

 annual yields, and sell at about a dollar a 

 bushel on the average." 



We are apprehensive that the fine delicate 

 foreign pears will not succeed on our prairies. 

 We must be satisfied with American seed- 

 lings. Some of these furnish very good 

 fruit. They are hardier trees, and better 



suited to our climate than the foreign. 

 «•» 



Sugar Boiler. — The letter from Hedges, 



Free & Co., describing the sugar mill, of 



which we gave a cut representation in our 



last number, did not reach us till a few days 



ago. That letter says : . :. -. , 



" Sugar mills are of little use for sugar 

 making without kettles, and we know of 

 nothing so exactly adapted to the public want 

 just now, as this kettle. We send but one 

 cut of kettle, as that will show liow they are 

 made. Their width is 30 inches, their depth 

 about 27 inches, and their length from 85 to 

 5 feet. The oval bottom is of cast iron. 

 The sides or curb above, of sheet iron. The 

 oval bottom and oblong shape gives a good 

 fire surface, and renders the kettle conve- 

 nient for setting in a straight wall, plain ftir- 

 nace, that any one can build. " 



••> — — ■'■::■ ' 



Meteorological. — We learn from M. 

 L. Dunlap, Esq., the following me teorologi- 

 cal items : — At Urbana we have had (in 

 May) 83,995 inches rain; 18 rainy days; 11 

 cloudy days; 1 clear day (12th); and all oth- 

 ers more or less cloudy." 



<•> 



l?@°'Our farmers are too deeply engaged in 

 farming to write much for this number of 

 the Farmer. 



