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186 



THE ILLINOIS F^HMER. 



and, in oar c inion, it is an improvement on 

 most other similar plows; and we believe it ia 

 worthy the attention of farmers jjenerBliy. 



We have also examined the Ganj^ Plow man- 

 ufactured by C. II. Dawfion, of Jacksonville, 

 and pronounce it a great improvement on tlie 

 old plow in common use. 



We also examined the sinple plow with 

 •wheelp, manufactured by H. Prather, of Deca- 

 tur — which we think will be valuable for deep 

 plowing and for loul ground. 



S. M. Parsons, 

 PIZRA >IaRQUE88E, 



F. May. 



'I'. B. HoppiK, 



D. S. Stafford. 



TLe Imphecs as Sugar Plants. 



It will be recollected by those who are 

 conversant with the history of the Chinese 

 Sugar Cane, that soon after its introduction 

 into France, Mr. Wray, of South Africa, 

 discovered in that country, of which he then 

 was resident, several varieties of Millet^ 

 which he believed, on experiment, contained 

 saccharine properties to a large amount. 

 3Ir. Wray came with the seeds into France, 

 there made experiments, which appeared to 

 satisfy him, that the Imphees yielded more 

 saccharine than the Sorgho or Chinese 

 Sugar Cane. Mr. Wray came to the United 

 States, on invitation, bringing his seed, which 

 was planted and crops produced on Gov. 

 Hammond's farm, of South Carolina. Gov. 

 H. believes it a more profitable article for 

 molasses than the Sorgho. He has raised it 

 extensively this year; but we have seen a 

 late letter from him, in which he states, that 

 he made no sugar. 



The Imphee seed, to some extent, was 

 planted in this State last spring. A farmer 

 in Grundy county made sugar from the juice 

 without difficulty. But we have had no 

 such certain and conclusive evidence of the 

 value of the Imphees, as saccharine plants, 

 before this time, as will be found in the fol- 

 lowing communication, from Mr. R. KiM- 

 B.VLL, an old and respected citizen of Taze- 

 w^ell county. The statements made by Mr. 

 Kimball can be fully relied upon. "We hope 

 however, he will furnish us with some more 

 particulars. Wc wish to learn whether the 

 Imphee comes to maturity sooner than the 

 Sorgho. We wish more particulars in regard 

 to the conversion of the syrup into sugar. 

 W^e doubt not, as he says, that he prefers 

 the Imphees to the Sorgho; but we want to 

 know all the causes of this preference. 



We here give the letter of Mr. Kimball, 

 and will only further remark that the expe- 

 riments of Mr. Kiml)all do him great credit, 

 and we believe will be useful to the coun- 

 try : 



Delavan, Tazewell Co., | 

 November, 15, 185S. J 



Editor Illinois Farmer : — With your 

 permission, I will now answer your request, 

 to know how I came out with my Imphees, 

 (African Sugar Cane.) 



I desire to say, Mr. Editor, by way of in- 



troduction, that I have always been a lover 

 of sweet things. I have often wished, when 

 rearing my family, that I had a hogshead of 

 sugar just to go to, and use as we desired. 

 Sugar has always agreed with me. I have 

 always been fond of sweet cake, good family 

 gingerbread, pies of all descriptions if made 

 good and sweet, and, in short, all those good 

 articles that pass under the appellation of 

 pastry cooking. Such things are a vast sav- 

 ing of other articles of food, besides being 

 far better for the physical system, and much 

 more satisfactory to the mind. 



Last year I was a mere beginner in mak- 

 ing molasses from cane. We kept about two 

 barrels for our own use and had plenty to go 

 to the whole year. I sent three samples to 

 Springfield, made after the cold freeze. The 

 committee said it was very pure, but had a 

 bad flavor. Our folks thought, however, 

 that it was very good, and so did all our vis- 

 itors that eat of it. 



>'ot being disheartened on account of the 

 opinions of great men, I have still persevered 

 in trying to improve, and do better, if possi- 

 ble. Accordingly I obtained nine varieties 

 of Imphee seed (African Sugar Cane) of Mr. 

 A. 0. Moore, of New York city. I planted 

 five varieties the first of May, a few days be- 

 fore the wet weather set in. The other four 

 varieties I planted iMay 29th. A/l (he cario 

 ties ripeiml iccU; nor did the wet kill asingle 

 plant, although some stood in the water most 

 of the time for a month. On ripening I 

 found the canes very sweet and sugary. 



]My first attempt in making sugar was on 

 No. 1, (Oom-see-a-na.) I dreaded the trial, 

 as I knew nothing about sugar making, ex- 

 cept what I had read. And then I had not 

 half the materials or implements that I 

 wanted. I, however, miulc about ticcntj/- 

 Jive poxuuls of moist sugar. 



I next worked up the other varieties of 

 the Imphee simultaneously, and made a 

 hatch of uhuut fifty pounds of ijood, moist, 

 rich sui/ar. I then made a small batch of 

 what good cane I had left, and used more 

 bone black. T/tis icas delightful in favor, 

 and the best J had ever seen, (although, I 

 suppose other folks have seen better.) 



Perhaps I ought to say that in making 

 the first batch from No. 1, I selected the 

 best stalks; and afterwards worked up the 

 poorer stalks, together with some of No. 10, 

 (Sorgho-ka-baic,) — a good deal of this also 

 granulated. 



Last of all, I worked up No. 4, (nee-a-za- 

 na,) — in which I had no faith — to ascertain 

 if that also, contained sugar. I clarified it 

 better than any other parcel I had worked. 

 It appeared beautiful in syrup. I boiled it 

 down to the consistency of sugar; but there 

 was no sugar in it, nor was the syrup of a 

 pleasant flavor. / threw all the seed away 

 as worthless. 



My experiments prove to my mind two 

 things : 



1st. The Imphee (African Sugar Cane) is 

 very prolific in sugar; and 



2d. That I am not an experienced sugar 

 maker, although I made sugar every time I 

 tried. My only difficulty is in separating the 

 molasses from the sugar. 



I came very near burning the first batch, 

 in trying to get the heat upto 238°; butcould 

 not do it. Perhaps the fault was in the ther- 



<v 



mometer. It was a 225° thermometer — 

 marked to 240°. 



One remark, and I have done. I have 

 kept all my varieties of Imphee seed separ- 

 ate; put up in bags and marked; but my re- 

 mark is, — that the Imphee is bound to take 

 the jilace of Chinese Sugar Cane in this 

 State. It has already done so with me. I 

 am confident that it is far better than the 

 Chinese Sugar Cane, and that it contains 

 much less mucilage, and consequently the 

 juice is much more easily clarified. I have 

 some seven or eight bu.shels of the seed of 

 the eight good varieties. 



llespectfuUv, 



II. 'KIMBALL. 



B@n=The editor of this paper has made ar- 

 rangements with Mr. Kimball for his Imphee 

 seed. It will be put up in papers by him, 

 and sufficient to .sow two square rods will be 

 sold for five cents. 



The Catllc Market. 

 The attentive observer of the cattle 

 market in the Eastern cities, must be 

 struck at the large amount of stock sold 

 there from Illinois within the past six 

 months. The pressure of the times 

 here has forced this stock into the mar- 

 ket, and the sales have been made close. 

 We have not a vast amonnt of stock left 

 which will be suitable for the market 

 next season;— from which we infer that 

 after next spring cattle will be high in 

 Illinois. We know the vastness of the 

 amount of our resources in this respect, 

 still we believe our conclusions will prove 

 correct. 



Sheep Raising. 

 The conclusive statement in our last num- 

 ber, by Mr. A. B. M'Connell, of this county, 

 of the profit of raising sheep, has drawn the 

 attention of many of our farmers to the sub- 

 ject; and we doubt not will be the means of 

 increasing the number of flocks in this coun- 

 ty. Sheep raising and wool growing here — 

 by those who know how to manage them — 

 has always been profitable; — while wheat 

 raising has generally brought the farmer in 

 debt. 



Two crops of Isabellas. 

 We have seen the second crop of Isa- 

 bellas grow and mature tolerably well 

 the present season. In trimming the 

 vines, much was cut off so as to throw out 

 fruit on the fruit buds designed for the 

 coming year. The position was favor- 

 able, and the fruit would have ripened 

 perfectly but for the cold wet weather 

 which continued nearly two- thirds of 



October and a part of November. 

 ••. _ 



JtQ^We presume that our Tennessee 

 subscriber can obtain Orchard Grass 

 Seed at either of the seed stores in Louis- 

 ville, Ky. 



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