40 



THE ILLINOIS FARMER. 



Feb 



entirely cold, then skim off every particle of 

 scum. It will not do to barrel the sirup before 

 it gets cold, for the reason that a heavy scum 

 "will rise on the top of the barrel and cause fer- 

 mentation. It must get cold and be thoroughly 

 skimmed before ban eling. I intend this year to 

 have a large vat made about one foot deep, capa- 

 ble of holding two or three hundred gallons. In 

 this I will put the sirup to cool. With this and 

 the coolers I have on hand, I shall be able to let 

 the sirup get entirely cool before barreling. This 

 ye ir I was forced sometimes to barrel before the 

 sirup got entirely cold, the bad effects of which 

 I saw in every instance. 



I have made this year two thousand six hun- 

 dred gallons of sirup, and if I had known the 

 Beason would have been so favorable, could have 

 made much more. I sell this year at forty cents 

 by the barrel, and fifty cents by the keg. I have 

 maie very fair sales so far, considering the hard- 

 ness of the times. I think I shall have my en- 

 tire stock sold by spring. 



There is one thing which has somewhat opera- 

 ted against me this year, and that is, a great 

 many have undertaken to make a little sirup in 

 pots, kettles, &c., for themselves. This kind of 

 work rather injures the market, and is of no ad- 

 vantage to the maker whatever. 



In conclusion, I may say, notwithstanding the 

 scepticism of unbelieving souls, the sorghum 

 business has proved an entire success, and I 

 confidently predict that in five years from this 

 time southern molasses in this community will be 

 numbered among the things that were. I have 

 not experimented as much as I intended to have 

 done in sugar making, but 1 am convinced that 

 before many years our own sugar from the sor- 

 ghum wi'l be one of the common articles of ti ade. 

 Yours, &c., 



B. F. W. Striblino. 



Virginia, Cass co., III. Dec. 14, 1861. 



— Mr. Slribling recommends an early day for 

 planting, and we think he intended to say the 

 10th of May instead of April, for the 20th of 

 April is very early for corn planting in Cass 

 county.* Our experience is, that it is of little 

 use to plant before the soil begins to get warm, 

 say May 5th to 20th. We would then plant 

 shallow and roll the ground so as to press the 

 moist earth, on to the seed, as it is well known 

 that the seed requires considerable soaking, and 

 many persons recommend soaking in warm wate^^ 

 one or two days before planting. Among the 



specimens of sirup at the rooms of the State 

 Agricultural Society at Springfield, were several 

 very fine specimens made on Cook's evaporator, 

 and certainly the best sample of sugar came 

 from the same source. £d. 



[For the IlllnoU Farmer.] 



Fruit Trees. 



Ed. Farmer: — I have read with interest the 

 jotting down of your observations, experience 

 and facts el cited on fruit culture on your recent 

 tour as one of the farm committee. It is just 

 the information we farmers need, it is really the 

 experience of fourteen or fifteen years of ama- 

 tuer culture boiled down to a most easily under- 

 stood consistency, and worth today, to the 

 farmers of the West, one million of dollars, for 

 we were all going it blind, as it were, with bad 

 trees, badly selected, together with the army of in- 

 sects, borers, curculio, &c., and if any good 

 fruit was obtained, it was at the expense of con- 

 tinual vigilance, and by not knowing what va- 

 rieties to select, we have freely thrown away our 

 money, and manj of us ten or twelve years' 

 watching and hoping, which can never be brought 

 back lo us. I have suffered enough for one man. 



I have a piece of ground well prepared for a 

 small fruit garden, to be planted next spring, 

 and among other trees, I had proposed to myself 

 to plant one hundred dwarf apple. Now, then, 

 you have knocked all my hopes into a cocked hat, 

 although you at the same time tell us that the 

 fools are not all dead yet. 



Now, sir, one other thing, the plat of ground 

 aforesaid is white oak land, and never had but 

 one crop taken from it, and that potatoes. It is 

 protected on the northwest and south by a second 

 growth of timber from fifty to sixty feet high, 

 quite dense on the north and west, moderately so 

 on tho south, and open on the east, with a slight 

 eastern exposure. 



If I understand you correctly, you would not 

 wholly condemn such a location for dwarf apples. 

 I would be pleased, if convenient, for you lo 

 write me and say yes or no. 



By-the-by, those long rows of dwarf apples in 

 your nursery, how much for half a hundred or 

 80. Yours, &c., 



8. Wood, 



— According to thedescrip tionof thesoil, aspect 

 and shelter, you have a most excellent location 

 for an apple orchard, and if dwarf apples will do 

 well in any part of Central Illinois, they should 



