o 



04 



THE IT^LINOIS FARMER. 



without difficultj. Thcj both say that 

 the Imphce juice contains less mucilage 

 than the juice of sorgho, which is the 

 great obstacle to making sugar of the 

 Sorgho. Mr. R. Kimball, of Delevan, 

 Illinois, will respond to letters from Mr. 

 Oleott. 



Sugar from Chinese Sugar Cane. 

 S. Francis, Esq., 



Chairman of State Committee of Sugar 

 Groiccrs' Convention. 



I have delayed making any statement 

 in regard to the Chinese Sug-ar Cane 

 until I had finished my year's experi- 

 ence. I made the first attempt on the 

 10th of September, when the tops seeds 

 had began to turn black; the under ones 

 were barely out of the milk. The re- 

 sult of that trial was about two gallons 

 of vei'y thick syrup. I found crystals 

 of sugar mixed with the syrup when I 

 took it out of the kettle, and in a few 

 days a large portion of it crystalized. 

 At the time I felt very much gratified 

 with the result, and supposing it was a 

 very easy matter to make sugar, little 

 pains was taken to preserve it. The 

 sample herewith sent, marked No. 1, is 

 a portion of the same sugar. It was also 

 exhibited at our county fair. 



Tlie next trial M-ith a view of making 

 sugar was about three weeks later. 

 Cane taken from the same lot, but mudi 

 riper and on a small scale. The syrup 

 l>eiug scorched a little, made the sugar 

 of a rotldish cast, although it was a supe- 

 rior article both in taste and grain; it was 

 also exhibited at our county fair and 

 wtis highly spoken of. This sam^ile was 

 all used up. 



I continued through the season to 

 make samples of sugar without any deli- 

 nite and satisfactory result, except to 

 satisfy myself that there is a large jior- 

 ceutage of crystalizable sugar in the eano 

 juice,"all that is wanted is the requisite 

 skill and good well matured cane produ- 

 ced from the right kind of soil. I would 

 remark here, tliat the last trial was made 

 on the 13tli of Nov. from cane that was 

 cut a few days after the trial in Oct., it 

 had changed in taste perceptibly when 

 cut, after it was cut and put in the house 

 no change took place njj to the time 

 it was worked up, which Avas about four 

 weeks. The result was al)Out two gal- 

 lons of thick syru]); after standing a few 

 days a considerable portion of it crystal- 

 ized. At this time it is about like nmsh, 

 a sample of which is herewith sent 

 marked No. 2. 



After exi)ressing the juice I added one 

 tal)le-spo(.>uful of lime water to a com- 

 mon wooden bucket full of juice, two 

 t'lrurs and one T)int of sweet milk to about 

 16 or 20 gallons of the juice, when it 

 was brought to the boil. After the 

 first scum was taken off I added two 

 nut-galls and two ounces of Ivory Black 



to the above quantity and boiled down 

 to a thick syrup immediately. 



The early cane in this vicinity yielded 

 about one gallon of syrup to six or seven 

 of juice. 1 used a w^ooden mill wdiich 

 gave about 45 pounds of juice to 100 

 pounds cane. I tried several experi- 

 ments in running the canes through the 

 mill twice, but uniformly found the sec- 

 ond run about three-tenths less in 

 weight than the first. The average 

 yield per acre in this vicinity is 160 gal- 

 lons of syrup, although some small 

 patches might go to 200, but it is not a 

 safe calculation, especially such seasons 

 as the last. 



From observation and inquiry, I have 

 become fully satisfied that it is a paying 

 crop to the farmer, providing he goes to 

 work understandingly in me planting 

 and cultivation of his crop. My course 

 hereafter will be to select the lightest 

 soil I can, with a warm exposure, raise 

 my plants as I would cabbages; set them 

 out when six or eight inches high on 

 well pjrepared ground, which will save 

 much finii'er weeding, and advance the 

 growth of the cane at least two or three 

 weeks. The past season I have trans- 

 planted all sizes from three inches to 2 

 1-2 feet, with perfect success. Plant as 

 M'ido a2:>art as you would corn, either in 

 hills or drill, tend the ground well in 

 the early part of the season and I will 

 insure a good crop, if the season is favor- 

 able. 



There are in this county fourteen or 

 fifteen small wooden and iron mills for 

 expressing the juice. From the best 

 information I can get there was manu- 

 factured between four and five thousand 

 gallons of syrup, of a much superior 

 quality to that made last year, although 

 the cane is not quite so rich. 



All of which is respectfully submit- 

 ted, JOSIAll saaVyer. 



Tkemont, Tazewell Co., Dec. 2G, '58. 



Note. — Accompanying the above re- 

 port was a note from Mr. Sawyer, in 

 which he says : "I yesterday examined 

 six stone jars of different boilings, and 

 found sugar in five at the bottom, in 

 considerable quantities, which confirms 

 my judgment in regard to the crystali- 

 zable sugar in the juice." 



Care of Roses. — Tender kinds, will 

 need some protection. Dry straw or 

 leaves are the best material for this pur- 

 pose. Draw the tops of the j^lants togeth- 

 er and tie them in several places with a 

 string; then place straight rye straw 

 around, and bind in a conical form, or 

 if they stand in a bed, a foot thick of dry 

 leaves may be placed all over the bed and 

 around the plants, with some heavier ma- 

 terial to keep them from blowing si way 

 This, will most ellectually protect themo>t 

 tender roses. The tops may get killed. 



but the roots and lower part of the stem 

 will be uninjured, and when cut down to 

 the live wood they will grow up and bloom 

 as well as ever. This is a much safer 

 method of protection than laying the 

 tops down and covering them with soil, 

 where the latter is heavy and tenacious 

 of moisture. The cold and dampness 

 constantly surrounding the tops, are apt 

 to rot the bark, and indeed to kill the 

 plants you intend to protect. Hybrid 

 perpetual, climbing, and garden or an- 

 nual roses will need no other protection 

 than a coat of rotted manure laid about 

 their roots, to be forked in the spring. 

 After all the tender plants have been 

 removed and cared for that require it, 

 and others have been protected where 

 they stand, then put your garden in win- 

 ter order. Clear oft' and store away 

 dahlia and other stakes, remove to the 

 rubbish heap all decaying stems, tops of 

 plants, and leaves, that will otherwise 

 lay around and look unsightly. Edge 

 all round the beds, borders, and walks 

 with a spade or edging iron, to cut off 

 the grass, &c., that may have grown 

 ever either. This, by defining the edges 

 and giving a clear outline to the whole 

 garden, will of itself add vastly to the 

 good appearance of the place. 



Beat this. Gentlemen. — Mr. Jno. 

 B. Poyntz, of this vicinity, one of the 

 best farmers in the state, has devoted 

 special attentien to raising Milch Cows, 

 and with his imported and thorough bred 

 Alderneys, Jersey, and Derons he chal- 

 lenges the State to a fair trial of the 

 merits of his cows. On Saturday last 

 he brough to our offiice, a bottle of Milk 

 which he had taken from the bucket into 

 which his two cows, Bravible, Alderney, 

 eight years old, and Jenny Lind, Jersey 

 five years old, had that morning been 

 milked. These cows have not been fed 

 lately, but are grazing on fair blue 

 grass and he does not consider the speci- 

 men to which we refer as a fair average 

 of the milk given by them, under usually 

 favorable circumstances. This milk was 

 just five inches deep, m a bottle with 

 straight sides, and four inches in diameter 

 After standing twenty four hours, we 

 measured the thickness of the cream, 

 which had arisen, and found it to be ex- 

 actly one inch — in other words one fifth 

 of the total depth of the milk as it stood in 

 the bottle, was cream. Extraordinary 

 as this statement may seem, we have the 

 best possible reasons for believing that 

 other tests have been repeatcdhf instituted 

 which resulted more favorably than this 

 as regards the richness of the milk and 

 quantity of cream. We do not believe, 

 however, that this can be beaten by any 

 gentleman in the State; and we will be 

 -'pleased to publish the result of any exp^r- 

 imcntfs thsit mav be made to test it. — 

 MayHville Express. 



