YOL. IV. 



SPIIINGFIELD3 JUNE, 1859. 



NO. 6. 



PUBLISHED MONTHLY, 



BY 



BAII.HACHE: & BAKER, 



JOURNAL OFFICE SPRINGFIELD, ILL 



••« 



S. FRANCIS. Editor. 



••• 



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CONTENTS. 



Premium Esiay '27S 



i:heep in Sp ing „ ^76 



Cranberry Culture 277 



White Beans 277 



Wool Growers' and Manufacturer's Convention 278 



Fertility of the Iloly Land 279 



Fairbauk'fl Scales 279 



Preservation of Leather 279 



Wine 279 



Great Tr^ tting Match 279 



lilvergreeDB - 280 



Protection for Orchards 280 



Sugar Cane 2S0 



Hedges, Free & Co ^SO 



Apples for Illinois 2S1 



The War 2*1 



The Seas u 231 



Hog Cholera 281 



Now is the Time 282 



Horticultural 282 



The ExodUi! fri.ni Pilie's i-e^ik 282 



Fruits and Vegetables in Califoriiii 28-' 



Hungarian Grass 183 



Large Yield of Wool .-.'83 



Cotton Growing in Central Illinois 2"<3 



Ofnamental Trees -Hi 



Early Rising 2S4 



Macoupin County Fair ~ 2S-t 



Potatoes 284 



Why don't Pcopls Learn 28-1 



How to Raise Squash, Melon and Cucumber Plants 2S4 



Big Boston -84 



Hints to Ilousekeept r.i i84 



Sweet Potatoes 284 



Gardens 2SJ 



Corn i;S4 



Winter Squashes 284 



Stumps 285 



Uorse Thief Diitcctor 5S5 



The Instinct of Toads 285 



Corn 2S5 



HuDgariau Grass Seed ."iSo 



GftsTar ;. 285 



Insects 2<;o 



Markets 287 



A Goad Name ^ 286 



[From the forthcrming volume of Transactions of the State 

 Agricultural Society, now in press.] 



PREJfUlJJfl ^S«»fl'. 



Br ISAAC A. B EDGES, OF OHIO. 



Sorgho and Iippliee Sugar Cane. 



In a treatise professing to discuss the 

 characteristics as well as cultivation and 

 manufacture of an agricultural produc- 

 tion adapted, as are there varieties of 

 sugar millet or cane, to latitudes and 

 soils so various, it must be apparent to 

 all that difficulties lie in the way of em- 

 bodying in general directions, such for- 

 mula as shall meet the exigencies of 

 every occasion and circumstance. The 

 following are based upon experiments 

 and observations chiefly made through- 

 out the Northern and Middle States, 

 and ought rather to be received as gen- 

 eral than special in their deductions. 



The Chinese Cane has, thus far, given 

 encouraging evidences of improvement 

 in becoming Americanized on several 

 farms to which my attention has been 

 directed. I have observed a more vis- 

 orous development of the plant in '58 

 than in '57 and an increase ofthe sac- 

 charine richness of the juice, varying in 

 different localities, from one and a half 

 to four degrees of Be urn's Saccharome- 

 ter. It should be borne in mind, how- 

 ever, that a more propitious season may 

 have tended largely towards producing, 

 if it not Las wholly effected this result. 



Vrhether the Chinese will hybridize 

 with the Imphee or African variety, and 

 if so, what the hybrid product may be 

 be like, I have no means of judging, and 

 would suggest that experiments in that 

 direction another season, must lead to 

 highly interesting and perhaps to im- 

 portant results, ^ilr. Wray, who intro- 

 duced t'e latter into this country, thinks 

 the two varieties will not cross. As Oth- 



er varieties of the Holcus family appear 

 to readily hybridize with both the Chi- 

 nese and African, I deem it proper to 

 guard the public against planting either 

 in situations contiguous to fields of 

 Broom or Dhouracorn, and would advise 

 planting apart from each other, until 

 experiment may have determined wheth- 

 er, any deterioration takes place from 

 such conjunction, as is known to be the 

 case when planted near Broom corn. 



As regards the comparative value of 

 the two plants, it is a difficult matter to 

 form a correct estimate. The Imphees 

 are subdivided into several distinct var- 

 ieties, but few of which are believed to 

 be adapted to this latitude, and of these 

 few, not all have proven chrystalizable 

 into Sugar. The balance, except in 

 cases where there have been good reasons 

 to believe the seed was either hybrid or 

 not genuine, have generally yielded 

 syrup in quantities; and of a quality 

 which compares favorably with the Chi- 

 nese or Sorgho. It has been observed 

 to manifest a tendency to become sickly 

 and to be infested with a sort of honey 

 dew insect, at about the period of its 

 growth when the tuft appears, but 

 though these vermin swarm in numbers 

 sufficient, seemingly to devour the plant, 

 they soon disappear, leaving no visible 

 mark of injury. Many who have grown 

 both Chinese and African Cane accord 

 their preference to the latter. Among 

 the most distinguished of these, are 

 ex-Governor Hammond (now Senator,) 

 from South Carolina, and Brutus J. 

 Clay, Esq., the President of the Ken- 

 tucky State Agricultural Society. S. 

 Francis Esq., the Editor ofthe Illinois 

 Farmer, has shown me an interestii-g 

 letter from a farmer in Tazewell Coun- 

 ty in that State, who has successfully 

 granulated sugar from eight varieties of 

 the Imphees out of nine, which lie had 

 planted, and who expressed himself in 

 a very sanguine manner as to the proba- 

 bility that the Imphee will supercede the 

 Sorgho in Illinois, From the drawings 

 which I append, the phytographical dif- 

 ference in the distinctive features of the 

 hint will be readily ob-ervcd— the Im- 

 phee being thicker than the Sorgho at 



