THE ILLINOIS F^HjMER. 



203 



One lecturer, with half a dozen well 

 prepared lectures, could extend his la- 

 bors over a large section of country, and 

 while he would be of essential service 

 in the rural districts, he would find him- 

 self handsomely paid for his labors. 



We want lecturers that can take the 

 more complicated agricultural imple- 

 ments to pieces, explain the uses of 

 the i)ai"ts, and put them together, 

 and instruct others how this should 

 be done. For this purpose he could 

 have models for his demonstrations. 

 At this time when agricultural ma- 

 chinery is coming generally into use, 

 how few farmers are there who under- 

 stand their construction so completely 

 as to be able to discover when they are 

 out of. order and will not work, 

 the cause of difficulty? How often do 

 we see in harvest time farmers losing 

 their time in seeking some one to put up 

 their reaping machines, or \vlio can tell 

 the causes why they cannot make them 

 work? It needs a practical man to explain 

 these matters. To be a successful now, 

 he must be something of an engineer. 

 We knew a case where one of xltkins' 

 reapers was condemned and was about 

 to be returned, when it so happened 

 that a practical man, a fanner of some 

 knowledge of mechanics came along, 

 and was able to set the machine at 

 work, and the farmer went on his way 

 rejoicing. 



What we want is practical as well as 

 scientific knowledge in an agricultural 

 lecturer. Such men can be found, who 

 with a little practice, would make them- 

 selves useful to the community and to 



themselves individually. 

 1 » 



The Sugar Question. 

 Just at this time the question of mak- 

 ing molasses and sugar from the African 

 and Chinese Sugar Canes, seems to 

 have a general interest. Many of our 

 farmers are desirous of all the informa- 

 tion they can obtain on the subject. 

 AYe have already given the experience 

 of many of our correspondents, — and 

 among the communications from R. 

 Kimball, of Delavan, which are of ex- 

 ceeding interest. In our correspon- 

 dence with Mr. Kimball, we have 

 sought to procure all the information 

 collected by him in his series of experi- 

 ments. In addition to his general 

 statement in our last number, and the 

 communication in the present, we are 



about to take the liberty of making some 

 extracts for iDublication from a letter 

 received just at the closing up of the 

 forms of this paper for the present 

 month; and to which we invite the spe- 

 cial attention of "Sugar Growers." 



We asked Mr. Kimball for the rea- 

 sons of his preference for African Sugar 

 Canes (or Imphees) over the Chinese 

 Sugar Cane, (or Sorgho.) lie an- 

 swers:. . -■--_■ -_;- 



"With regard to my preference of 

 Imphees over Sorgho, I have to say : I 

 find the matter to staud thus : — the juice 

 of the Imphee is considerable/ sweeter, 

 and has a much more sugary taste; and 

 when it is worked this flavor is discern^ 

 able in every stage of the process till we 

 arrive at molasses or sugar. Were I 

 only to make molasses, I would prefer 

 Imphee on this account. Our women 

 say, "I would not raise any more Chi- 

 nese Sugar Cane. The Imphee is much 

 better." Mr. N. and family were with 

 us on a visit. We put on our table 

 some of our molasses to use with biscuit 

 and butter. I remarked to Mr. N. that 

 I thought it about as good, as honey. 

 His reply was, "It is much better. I 

 prefer it to honey." 



Another reason why I prefer Imphee 

 to Sorgho, is — the juiee is much more 

 easily clarified. Mr. Wray, (who intro- 

 duced the Imphee into this country.) 

 makes the same remark. The rc»>on 

 for the fact, I gave in my communica- 

 tion published in your December Fae- 

 3iek; and it was this, — that the Imphee 

 contained much less mucilage than the 

 Sorgho. Let me state a circumstance. 

 In my largest batch of Imjjhee juice I 

 had about forty-five gallons. I then 

 worked a batch of Sorgho juice of sixty 

 gallons. I skimmed my Sorgho all the 

 way through till it had reached the con- 

 sistency of thick molasses, and left it in 

 the boiler till next morning, and then 

 found on it a scum one and a half inches 

 thick. This scum was very solid, — so 

 much 80 that lumps of it would settle at 

 the bottom of the syrup. But thinking 

 that it would do to make \4negar, I put 

 it into a vessel and some three or four 

 days after this was done, I went to put 

 this compound into the vinegar barrel, 

 and found some scum yet on the top. 

 I got the skimmer and tried to remove 

 the scum, but could not. I then dipped 

 deeper, and yet could not insert the 

 skimmer under the scum. On examin- 

 ation I found nearly the whole mass a 

 tough mucus that could not be dipped 

 with ladle or skimmer. This mucus 

 gives to the pith of the Chinese Cane a 

 very solid appearance and to the juice 

 thickness and consistency. 



"Xow I wish here to remark, that I 

 was of the opinion at the time that there 

 was more saccharine matter in the fortv- 



eight gallons of Imphee juice, than in 

 the sixty gallons of Sorgho juice; and yet 

 the saccharometer stood as high as in the 

 Sorgho as the Imphee. And here I 

 would make one further remark to cor- 

 rect a fallacy that appears to be generally 

 current. The saccharometer is sujtpos- 

 ed to indicate the .amount of saccharine 

 matter in cane juice. This is very un- 

 certain. Mucilage, in which there is not 

 an atom c>f sweet, will elevate the sac- 

 charometer as readily as saccharine mat- 

 ter. Mucilage of gum Arabic will do 

 the same thing. Tliis deception was 

 very apparent this year in the Sorgho 

 juice. Our Sorgho juice this year was 

 very little more than half as valuable as 

 was last year, though the saccharometer 

 did not indicate that difterence. 



"In regard to your question whether 

 the Imphee will ripen earlier than the 

 Sorgho, I am not fully prepared to an- 

 swer. My Sorgho was planted out ear- 

 ly in April, and the Imphee the first and 

 laiit of May, as I have ali-cady stated. 

 Some of the varieties of the Imphee 

 headed out sooner than the Sorgho; but 

 the Sorgho seemed to come on more 

 rapidly, and I thought got up T\-ith the 

 Imphee. On the whole, it apj)eared to 

 me that they ripened about together. 

 They all ripened well. 



"One thing is settled "w-ith me; — ^the 

 Imphee comes up much the quickest 

 after planting, and in favorable weather 

 in from eight to ten days. The Sorgho 

 is said to come in good weather in fifteen 

 to twenty days. [By soaking these 

 seeds they will come up much sooner. — 

 Editor.] My Sorgho this year was a 

 month in coming up; — ^though being 

 planted very early, the ground'not being 

 in the best order, it required more time 

 for the seed to genninate. The seed of 

 the Sorgho will lay in the ground all 

 winter without injury. 



"I have been examining my molasses 

 to-day, and find much of it granulating. 

 In conclusion I would say, that persons 

 who design to make sugar should have 

 Lovering's jjamphlet.". 



Imphee Sugar from Africa. — H. S. 

 Oleott Esq., of New Rochelle N. Y., 

 writes to the Editor, under date of Dec. 

 24th. "At our Farmer's Club on Friday 

 a venerable missionary, a former resident 

 of South Africa, came forward and read 

 details from a letter from a brother mis- 

 sionary in 1832, going to show that at 

 that time a package of Imphee seed, and 

 sample of Sugar (made by his friend, 

 was sent to him.) Do you know of any 

 one in your State" who has made good 

 Imphee Sugar." 



We do. Mr. R. Kimball, of Delevan 

 has don« it; and so has a gentleman of 

 Grundy county. They made good sugar 



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