THE ILLINOIS FA.IIM:EII. 



39 



inch cylinder, ten inches diameterj two 

 double-flued boilers twentj-eight feet long, 

 forty inches diameter; one evaporating pan 

 twelv* and a half feet long, nine feet wide, 

 heated by 185 feet one and a half inch steam 

 pipe; one pan eight and a half feet square, 

 heated by 125 feet one a half inch steam 

 pipe. Water and juice tanko, cooleri and 

 other appurtenances adapted to the require- 

 ments of a first class sugar house. The mill 

 is furnished with an ample cane carrier, ex- 

 tending outside of the building and to a 

 point from which it receives the cane from 

 the wagons as they come from the field. The 

 buildings consist of a boiler house 40 by 20 

 feet; engine and machinery building 30 by 

 24 feet, surrounded on two sides by a gallery 

 16 feet deep; boiling house 60 by 24 feet, 

 adjoining the machinery building, but hav- 

 ing its floor eight feet below the level of the 

 latter, affording a descent for the juice from 

 the mill in the upper building to the juice 

 tanks, from thence to the first or defeacating 

 pan, from thence into the concentrating pan, 

 from thence into the eoolen, from which it is 

 measured into barrels; thus obviating the use 

 of pumps for elevating the juice at any of 

 the itagCB. It was, however, discovered by 

 Mr. Folsom, that at a certain stage in the 

 process of boiling, shortly after the heaviest 

 scum had been removed, that a large amount 

 of suspended matter could be precipitated 

 by allowing the juice to repose for an hour 

 or two. He then arranged a series of tanks 

 in which the juice after leaving the first pan 

 was permitted to remain for any coBvenient 

 length of time before it was passed into the 

 last pan to be finally concentrated. ; 



The full grinding capacity of the mill is 

 from 300 to 400 gallons of juiee per hour, 

 which is equivalent to grinding in a tiay of 

 twenty-four hours, six acres of cane, produc- 

 ing 150 gallons of sirup to the acre. The 

 capacity of the pans for evaporating, employ- 

 ing steam at a constant pressure of seventy- 

 five pounds to the square inch, is 250 gal 

 Ions of juice per hour. The boilers have a 

 capacity to furnish steam for grinding and 

 boiling at the rate of 200 gallons per hour, or 

 at the rate of between three and four acres 

 per day. The consumption of coal is at the 

 rate of four tons per day. 



The capacity of the mill, boilers and pans 

 is thus seen to be 4,800 gallons of juice ex- 

 pressed and evaporated, producing say 600 

 gallons of sirup in twenty-four hours and 

 consuming thirteen and one-third pounds of 

 coal for each gallon of sirup. Allowing for 

 accidents and unavoidable delays, it would 

 perhaps be proper to state the capacity of 

 the apparatus at 500 gallons of sirup per 

 day, and the consumption of coal at fifteen 

 pounds per gallon, . 



It will be seen that by the addition of 

 another boiler and another evaporating pan 

 the capacity of the apparatus would be nearly 

 doubled. 



The whole cost of the establishment, in- 

 cluding the buildings; was about five thou- 

 sand dollars. 



The cost of manufacturing sirup with this 

 apparatus may be stated as follows: Esti- 

 mating for two sets of hands working alter- 

 nate watches through a day of twenty-four 

 hours, and assessing interest, depreciation, 



insurance, &c., for the year upon 75 days, 

 comprising the grinding season: 



2 Engineers , i ., , ; . , . . . . ,. $S SO 



2 Fireman ., ^ .. i ............ 1 ......... ^... ..... .. 2 00 



4 Mill hands ,..,...'.. — ^... ................ .... , 4 00 



6 Skimuiers ......./............,,. 6 00 



2 Bagasie hands and carts.,.........,.,..;,.......,.... 8 00 



2 Hands of all work ,;.;..,...i..... 2 00 



Superintendence.. , 8 00 



Oil ...;..:.......:...;......,....,.. 75 



Insarance on $5,000 at2 percent perannnm. ........ 1 88 



Depreciation and Taxe» 10 per cent. 6 67 



Interest on $5,000 at 7 per cent ...\. . ;. . 4 66 



8X Tom coal at $335 .......^;..:..;.ia 19 



$49 10 

 Coit per gallon on 500 galloni cents and 8 mills. 



By a proposed increase in the evaporating 

 capacity of the apparatus, estimated to cost 

 $650, increasing the daily product to say 

 750 gallons, and adding for increase of coal 

 and attendance requi.ed, the cost of manu- 

 facturing wonld be reduced to less than eight 

 and a half cents per gallon. 



The foregoing estimate is upon the basis 

 of one gallon of sirup for eight of juice. 

 A substantial gain will generally be obtained 

 upon this estimate. 



A product of one volume of sirup for 

 seven of juice, would reduce the cost of pro- 

 ducing the syrup, other thingi being equal, 

 fully one and a half cents per gallon 



But a small portion of the crop planted by 

 Mr. Folsom reached maturity, and before 

 that portion of his cane from which the best 

 results were anticipated had been reached, 

 he was interrupted by an accident to his 

 boilers, which delayed his operations until 

 about the first of December, and until the 

 weather became so severe that he was 

 obliged to abandon the remainder of his 

 cane. At the time of the hardest freezing 

 weather in December, that portion of the 

 cane which had been left in the field in 

 windrows, unstripped, was entirely sweet 

 and apparantly unchanged by the protracted 

 exposure, while other portions of cane which 

 had been stripped, though in some cases 

 carefully housed, were entirely spoiled. 



The observations of the writer, upon 

 canes variously exposed, all seem to establish 

 a decided superiority of 'resistance to the 

 acetous change in the Imphee over the 

 Sorgho canes. Without feeling fully war- 

 ranted in asserting that such is "the ease, he 

 cannot refrain from calling attention to even 

 a possible peculiarity of so much import- 

 ance. It is hoped that other testimony 

 may be elicited upon the subject, or at least 

 that attention may be especially directed to 

 it another season. ^ - 



The sirup made by Mr. F. was of a very 

 superior quality, much better than is made 

 by the ordinary protracted processes. It 

 would fully answer the most fastidious de- 

 mand for a rich table sirup, while in the 

 culinary department it was found infinitely 

 superior to the Louisiana molasses. 



The yield of sirup was found upon differ- 

 ent measurements for quantity, from 100 to 

 203 gallons per acre, the measurement being 

 upon different lots of custom cane and the 

 amount of land cultivated reported by the 

 producer. The average product upon tenor 

 twelve lots was between 150 and 160 gallons 

 per acre, though in every instance the party 

 reporting his crop, remarked that he could 

 have produced from 50 to 100 per cent, more 

 upon the same ground, had he been assured 

 of having it manufactured. C 



Valae of Sorgho as food for Stock.; 



Editor Illinois Farmer: 



Dear Sir: — About the fourth of June I 

 trench plowed about one-third of an acre, 

 by using two plows, or rather two plowings 

 in the same furrow, turning up the solid 

 earth ten inches deep. Afler harrowing I 

 sowed at the rate of four bushels of Sorgho 

 seed to the acre, harrowed fine and finished 

 by rolling. It came up well and made a fine 

 growth, until killed by frost in October; let 

 it stand some four days, when the leaves be- 

 came cured, and then cut it with a common 

 grass sythe, and shocked up without further 

 curing, putting some two hundred pounds in 

 each shock — making forty shocks, or about 

 four tons to the third of an acre. It has 

 now been fed out, making Jtmple feed for 

 eighteen head of cattle for twenty days, 

 equal to feeding one head a year. It will 

 require half an acre of corn to winter a cow, 

 while half an acre of this cane will winter 

 two cows equally as well, while the labor in 

 its production will be less, and at the uire 

 time it is as equally valuable, in my opinion, 

 for horses, as they eat it with avidity. 



In cutting I would recommend the use of 

 a cradle, as it will facilitate the shocking. To 

 obtain the large snpply of seed required, a ' 

 piece will have to be planted for that pur- 

 pose early in the season. 5; iV/:i,-;vvj^}^ '5^:.;' 



I have tried the Imphee, but thui far find 

 it a much later variety, being full ten days 

 behind the other. -r :>->i:T ^v3^^^^#;^'^ '■■. 



Can you inform me where T can obtain 

 twenty bushels of Sorgho seed? 



Yours truly, J. M. Bkach- 



Springfield, Dec. 24, 1859. 



Remarks. — Such facts as these given as 

 by Mr. Beach, are valuable, and go to esta- 

 blish a disputed point in the value of the 

 Sorgho or Chinese sugar cane. Hii manner 

 of curing is certainly a cheap one, if not the 

 most valuable. Frost and drying winds are 

 cheap commodities in October, and in this 

 case easily made available. 



From the first season's experience with 

 this cane, wo have had confidence in its, 

 value. Such a vigorous grower of foliage 

 when thickly sown, must produce a vast 

 amount of feed. One season cannot settle 

 its value for forage, and we hope, therefore, 

 the experiments will be continued by others 

 as well as Mr. Beach. We do not know 

 who has seed for sale, probably some of oiir 

 seed stores could furnish it. There is 

 considerable demand for this seed and 

 those having it would do well to introduce 

 themselves through our advertising columns. 



Ed. 



RusHViLLE, III., Jan. 25, 1860. 

 M. L. JhtrUap, Editor of lUiTwig Fanner: 



Dear Sir: — I received your's of the 3rd 

 inst., requesting information as to my ex- 

 periments with the Chinese sugar cane, a 

 few days since, and though, not aware that 

 I can supply you with any additional inform- 

 ation to what, I should suppose is generally 

 known, or has been conveyed to the public 

 through other sources, I will simply state my 



