P5«"fKF»^T:^- '/'.>*.'••". 



THE ILLIISrOIS FA.Il]\£EIl. . 



339 



With low, spreading heads the trees are 

 much less affected by the winds and by 

 the severity of the winter ; besides, they 

 bear better crops and finer fruit, and 

 the fruit is much more accessible. No 

 need of running the plow under the tree 

 or close to it. If low trained its shade 

 as a fertilizer, with the requisite mulch- 

 ing, belter than frequent stirring of the 

 soil. Very thrifty young orchards are 

 generally tardy in commencing to bear. 

 In such cases we have successfully 

 brought the trees into a bearing condi- 

 tion by seeding the orchard down to clo- 

 ver, but care is necessary to keep the 

 ground free from the sods for four or 

 five feet around the trees, either by 

 mulching or stirring the surface. As 

 the trees grow older, the tendency to 

 rough, scaly bark and moss increases. 

 These should both be scraped off when- 

 ever they appear. Even old orchards 

 require a aeep stirring up at least once 

 in two or three years. It is a good plan 

 to sow buckwheat in the orchard, and in 

 the fall turn in the hogs to devour the 

 grain and fallen fruit. Enough grain 

 will be left on the ground to seed it 

 another year, and the straw will keep the 

 ground loose and moist. If the ground 

 becomes exhausted it must be well ma- 

 nured all over. Feed your trees, and 

 they will feed you. The most dreadful 

 enemy of the apple orchard is the borer. 

 In his case, as in most others, an ounce 

 of prevention is worth more than a pound 

 of cure. Look sharp for him in May 

 and June, wash frequently with soap 

 suds, &c., put leached ashes and old lime 

 around the tree, and you need not be 

 much troubled with him ; but if he once 

 gets in he must be cut out, or he will 

 cut himself out, and nerhaps carry the 

 life of the tree with him. 



SUGAR AND EVAPORATORS. : 



Report of the Committee at Freeport Pair. 



The undersigned, appointed, together 

 with Gen. Wm. Duane Wilson, of Iowa, 

 a special committee to examine and de- 

 cide upon the relative merits of mills for 

 grinding and expressing the juice from 

 the Sorghum or Chinese Sugar Cane, 

 and also of evaporators for reducing 

 that juice to molasses or sugar, would 

 report: 



That there were on exhibition and ex- 

 amined by us, six differently constructed 

 mills, of which three were horizontal, 

 two perpendicular and one had rollers 

 revolving around a cone. Of the first 

 class there were those exhibited by 

 Weber & Co., Clark & Co., and Mr. 

 Newcomb. Of the second «fere those of 

 Douglas Bros, and Gates & Co. The 

 sixth mill was that of Hunt, Brawner & 

 Co. They were all mills to be operated 

 by one horse. Your committee submit- 

 ted these mills to the same tests — the 

 only ones which, under the circumstan- 



ces, could conveniently be applied. We 

 took a quantity of well ripened cane, 

 grown in Southern Illinois, and out of 

 the same pile weighed 150 lbs. to each 

 mill. We required this to be ground, 

 and measured the juice, noted the exact 

 time of grinding, and, without having a 

 dynamometer or counting the number of 

 revolutions, observed with as much par- 

 ticularity as possible the speed of the 

 horse and the amount of draft. The 

 following were the results : 



Douglas Bro's mill; time, 15J^ minuteB; quantity of juice, 

 7% {^bIIodb; speed, Blow; diaft heavy. 



Gates & Cu.'b mill; time, 8 minutes; qnantity of Juice, 8^ 

 gallouB and 1 pint; speed, fast; draft, heavy. 



Hunt, Brawn er ft Cn.'a mill; time, 7 minutes; quantity of 

 juice, S^-^ galloDi and 1 pint; speed, moderately fast; draft, 

 moderately liuavv- 



Newconib's mill; time, 8 miDutas; quantity of juice, 4^ 

 gallons; speed, moderately fast; draft, irregular and hard on 

 the hand. 



Weber A Oo.'a mill; time, 8 miuntes; quantity of juice, 8 

 gallons: epeed, fa^t; draft, heavy. 



Clark A Co.'s mill; time, 7 minutes; quantity of juice, 8^ 

 gallons; speed, moderately fikt; draft, moderately heary. 



It will thus be seen that so far as time 

 and quantity of juice expressed are con- 

 cerned. Hunt, Brawner & Co.'s mill 

 stands first. Gates & Co.'s expressed 

 exactly the same quantity of juice, but 

 took a little longer time. Clark & Co.'s 

 occupied the same time, but got out one 

 pint less juice. Weber & Co.'s took a 

 little more time than Clark & Co.'s, and 

 got out less juice, by half a gallon, than 

 the latter. Douglas Bro's occupied a 

 good deal more time than any, and ex- 

 pressed less juice than all the others, 

 excepting Mr. Newcomb 's, which fell so 

 far short of the others in that particular, 

 that we could give it no further consid- 

 eration. We will say that the horse 

 used by Douglas Bros, was not as strong 

 or active as those used by the others, 

 which may in part account for so much 

 greater length of time occupied by their 

 mill. They were all crowded beyond 

 the capacity of ordinary working. The 

 exhihibitor of Newcomb's mill claimed, 

 that owing to some defect in the partic- 

 ular one exhibited, it had not done what 

 his mills could do. ^ 



There is no material difference in tbe 

 principle upon which the mills of Doug» 

 las Bros., Gates & Co., Weber & Co., 

 and Clark & Co.'s mills operate. All 

 have three rollers, revolving either in a 

 horizontal or perpendicular position; 

 the former have more gearing. Doug- 

 las Bros, claim for their's an improve- 

 ment in the manner of feeding, by which 

 the cane is put through an upright plate, 

 perforated with holes ; and their's is 

 more regular. Gates & Co. have at- 

 tached to their's a graduated hopper, for 

 which they claim — and perhaps truly — 

 the same result. Hunt, Brawner & 

 Co.'s machine is entirely different from 

 any of the others in construction, and 

 we are inclined to think that thereby is 

 secured for it some advantages over its 

 competitors. It is keyed up by means 

 of a single screw ; an India rubber spring 

 placed between two washers causes it to 

 admit of yielding to any sudden resist- 



ance, and thus lessening the liability of 

 the castings breaking ; and, because 

 there is no shaft overhead, it is fed more 

 conveniently. We therefore recom- 

 mend that a first premium be given to 

 Hunt, Brawner & Co.'s mill; and, tak- 

 ing all tilings into consideration— sim- 

 plicity of construction, strength and ca- 

 pacity — we believe that Gates & Co.'s 

 mill is somewhat superior to the balance 

 of the mills, and recommend that a sec- 

 ond premium be awarded to it. 



There were four evaporators upon the 

 ground, and a model of the fifth. Two 

 were exhibited by Gates & Co., one by 

 Cook & Co., and one by L. P. Harris. 

 The model was exhibited by Mr. Bulk- 

 ley. When we examined these, Gates 

 & Co.'s were the only ones who had a 

 sufficient quantity of pure juice to give 

 us a complete practical exemplification 

 of the working of their evaporators. 

 Cook & Co. had some juice which had 

 been used before and mixed with water, 

 out of which they could not make mo- 

 lasses. The other exhibitor had none, 

 but indicated to us the principles of his 

 evaporator by means of water. 



Gates & Co.'s evaporators, though ar- 

 ranged on different principles — the one 

 being a long pan placed over a furnace, 

 the other having, in addition, hot air 

 flues passing through the pan, and thus 

 requiring a much less quantity of fuel — 

 seem both to require that a separate 

 vessel should be used for what is called 

 the *' defecating process," that is, for 

 bringing the juice to a boil and skim- 

 ming off the scum which then rises to 

 the top. Gates & Co.'s evaporators are 

 placed over brick furnaces, and are thus 

 fixed and nermanent. In these two 

 particulars Coek & Co.'s has the advan- 

 tage. The whole process is commenced 

 and completed in their one evaporator. 

 The newly expressed juice is allowed to 

 fl-ow in at one end in a constant stream, 

 and the molasses is carried off at the 

 other, and no intermediate handling is 

 required. The scum separates from the 

 juice and is easily removed, and will not 

 follow the juice as it flows towards the 

 place where it is finally drawn off. It 

 is also portable, the furnace being of 

 sheet iron, and is exceedingly simple in 

 its entire construction. The evaporator 

 of Mr. Harris made something upon the 

 same principle, but without possessing 

 any real advantages over that of Cook 

 & Co.'s, that we could see, is more 

 complicated in the arrangement of its 

 evaporating pan and furnace. The 

 model exhibited by Mr. Bulkley is 

 of an evaporator, which may possess 

 some advantages in the way of cheap- 

 ness to the farmer — at least, that is 

 claimed for it — but we could not decide 

 upon its merits, not having it tested in 

 any way. 

 We therefore recommend that a first 





