1862. 



THE ILLINOIS FARMER. 



363 



Sugar Beet and Sorghum. 



III. Central R. R. Peesident's Office. 

 Chicago, Oct. 20th, 1862. 



Wm. II. Van Epp3, Esq., President State Agri- 

 cultural Society, Dixon, Illinois. 



Mt Dear Sir ; — I presume that you are not 

 unmindful of the efforts now in progress 

 to produce the sugar beet in this State. 

 Mr, William A. Belcher of this city distributed 

 in the spring the best quality of seed, which was 

 imported by him from Germany for the purpose, 

 and given out to some fifty or sixty dilferent par- 

 ties. Some of the beets have already been sent 

 in, and his chemists have analyzed one or two 

 parcel?, which yield eleven per cent, of sugar 

 (sacharine matter ) 



I believe when the First Napoleon directed the 

 attention of the agriculturists of France to the 

 importance of extracting sugar from beets, th it 

 the percentage of saccharinejmatter then obtained 

 was only three per cent. After many years' ex- 

 perience in the culture of the beet, the most 

 careful selection of seed from the beets that con- 

 tained the most- sugar, the average has been 

 brought up to twelve per cent., while in some 

 special and extraordinary instances, a yield of 

 seventeen per cent, has been obtained. I think 

 we have every reason to be gratified with the 

 first result of Mr. Belcher's interesting and most 

 important experiments, and I hope that your So- 

 ciety will communicate with Mr. Belcher, and 

 lend hiiu your valuable aid in giving to our farm- 

 ers judicious and active information about the 

 cultivation of the sugar beet. A German gentle- 

 man who is cognisant with the sugar refining in 

 Germany has just come out at our suggestion, 

 pronounces the beets which he has seen at Mr. 

 Belcher's the finest he has ever seen, and that 

 he is persuaded that the properties of these beets 

 will produce as fine sugar as any raised in Ger- 

 many or France. 



Mr. Belcher's chemist is so much occupied that 

 he has not time to give proper attention to an- 

 alyzing samples of Sorghum sent him by a widow 

 in McDor.ough county, which yields eight per 

 cent, more sacharine matter than any other Sor- 

 ghum which has ))een heard from as raised in 

 this State, crystalizing into a very fair article of 

 sugar. It seems to me that this investigation is 

 of the very highest importance, and that if you 

 have a State chemist, he could be employed to 

 the utmost advantage for a couple of months an- 

 alyzing products, samples of sorghum and beet 

 root, in various parts of the State. 



This Company has offered free transportation 

 for all sugar beets which parties may wish to 

 send to Mr, Belcher, and we hope at least to 

 have a hundred tons. 



Yours truly, W. H. Osboen. 



"We learn that the result of this year's experi- 

 ment with the sugar beet is so favorable that 

 large amounts will be planted next season. With 

 the Sorghum for sirup and the beet for sugar, we 

 are like to be independent of our neighbors down 

 the river. 



What action the State Agricultural Soeiety 

 will take in regard to the enterprise we cannot 

 say, but with the crippled condition of their 

 funds they cannot do much. The State had 

 ought to place in the hands of this Society at 

 least ten thousand dollars a year to further the 

 interest of agriculture. 



The Illinois Central Railroad has always taken 

 a commendable interest in all that pertains to 

 the introduction of new products. Since Mr 

 Osborn the President has taken up his residence 

 with us, he has let no occasion slip without giv- 

 ,ng it his aid. It is true that this Company have 

 a large amount of lands to sell, and all these 

 things go to enhance their value. Yet it is so 

 seldom that our corporations who have lands to 

 sell do more than to jeceive the money, that we 

 attribute no small amount of the interest to them 

 by ofiicers of the road to forward the cause cf 

 agriculture, to a personal love of it, anJ a desire 

 to be generally useful. 



The State Society has not as yet fully appre- 

 ciated the motives of these men, as they ought to 

 have done and met them in the spirit of mutual 

 aid to the good cause, but rather in a dictatorial 

 tone, ignoring their suggestions and and demand- 

 ing of them material aid to use according to their 

 own notions of propriety. With an election of a 

 new Board we shall hope for some change in this 

 respect, and a more efficient programme of ope- 

 rations. The frittering away of means, has not 

 done much to inspire confidence in its officers, 

 and some forward move must be made to rein- 

 state them in the public confidence — strategy is 

 "played out." Ed. 



—9*- 



From the Country Gentleman and Cultivator. 



A Good Substitute for CoSee- 



The Garbanzo — Cicer arietinum — I have 

 grown the past season, a quantity of the above 

 species of plant, of which I first obtained the 

 seed of Judge A. N, Morin of Quebec, Lower Can- 

 ada, he recommending it as a good substitute for 

 cofifee. 



The plant attains the height of about 18 inch- 

 es, and branches very much. The seed pods are 

 very numerous, being thickly set throughout the 

 plant, and is altogether quite an ornament io the 

 garden. The seed somewhat resembles the "Ja- 

 va" coffee, and when prepared the same as the 

 latter, it is considered by many nearly equal in 

 its quality. We have given it a fair trial, and 

 deem it a rich, pleasant and healthful beverage 

 — superior to any of the other "substitutes for 

 coffee," 



It being very productive, it will require but a 

 small space of ground to produce enough to last a 



