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- r>r7,-T-TOT"^-# J-i',!f3A--aBa 



1863. 



THE ILLINOIS FAEMER. 



133 



per acre, which is only two and a half cents per 

 gallon. Gathering and manufacturing is very sim- 

 ple and easy with the improved machines, and only 

 costs five cents per gallon. The sirup after it is 

 refined, brings the highest price, or more than the 

 foreign article of sirup. There is no crop raised 

 that pays better, and there has never been a failure 

 of the crop when well cultivated. Any good up- 

 land or dry soil will grow it. Stable manured 

 lands injure the quality of the sirup. The soil 

 should be pulverised very deep, as the roots are 

 very strong and penetrate to the bottom. The 

 ground should not be prepared until just before 

 planting, so that the weeds will not get the start 

 of the canes. The easiest way to raise a large 

 crop is to drill in the seed. A corn planter, with 

 a drill attached, did good business last year. Set 

 them to drill very shallow, not over one inch deep. 

 Roll the field as soon as planted. Be sure and 

 have pure esed if possible, as it is no more work 

 to raise a full crop than half a one. Put the seed 

 in a bag and soak in warm water over night, then 

 bury in a warm soil, or straw pile, untU the sprouts 

 start. Drill in rows about four feet apart east and 

 west, or the heavy west winds may blow it down 

 before ripe. Put about two pounds of seed per 

 acre. If the seed is very plump use more. Do 

 not plant in this way until warm weather. Seed 

 planted, last season, from the 15th of April to the 

 15th of May, did not ripen as soon as seed planted 

 from 15th of May to 15th of June. 



We generally have a cold rain about the first of 

 May, that injures the cane, and if the seed is just 

 germinating, it will kill it. When the canes get 

 up about two inches high, harrow the ground over 

 crosswise of the drills. The roots are so strong it 

 will not injure the canes, but will kill all the weeds ; 

 and when the canes are up four to six inches high, 

 harrow with the row, with a two-horse harrow, 

 knocking out the forward tooth ; then plow or 

 cultivate once, and the cane will take care of it- 

 self. Another good way to raiae it and plant ear- 

 ly, is to plow the soil deep, then take a stirring 

 plow and throw two furrows together, and plant on 

 the ridge, two and a half by three and a half feet. 

 It can be planted earlier this way than the other, 

 as the cold rains do not affect it, and the seed be- 

 ing up high and dry, the water settles between the 

 rows. It can be plowed out when the canes are 

 small, as they are not liable to get covered up, be- 

 ing so high. Plant ten to fifteen seeds in the hill, 

 as there is as much saccharine matter in a small 

 main stalk as in a large one ; consequently we can 

 raise three times as much per acre as when plant- 

 ed thin. Do not get humbugged with some new 

 variety of seed with a great name, as I do not be- 

 lieve we will all get rich raising sugar, but may 

 raising sirup. The canes should not be plowed 

 among late in the season, as the the roots that take 

 the saccharine matter will be cut off, and the cane 

 ruined for sirup. The seed from the cane will pay 

 for growing the crop if well secured. It weighs 

 about 42 lbs. to the bushel, and makes good feed 

 for hogs or cattle, and yield about 25 bushels per 

 acre. Sorghum has had to stand on its own mer- 

 its. There has no article come into general use in 

 so short a time, that has had so much to contend 

 with_ as the sorgho. Mention it as a table sirup 

 and it was sneered at by almost everv one, espec- 

 ially grocery gentry, stating that it' would never 

 come mto general use, as it bad such a peculiar 



taste. Did they not know that it was in its crude 

 state and in its infancy, and that we live in an 

 age of improvement ? This same sorgho is now 

 refined and on their tables branded as golden and 

 amber sirups, and admired by every one, when it 

 should be marked Western cane sirups, but such 

 are the prejudices of some of our people. Take 

 the crude Southern sirup, before it is refined, and 

 how much more palatable is that peculiar taste, 

 where the slaves have run over, through and into it 

 waist deep ? Has it a better flavor than the sor- 

 gho made by our Northern brothers ? I think the 

 peculiar flavor is in the sorgho's favor. Some may 

 try to keep it from the being introduced to meet 

 their trades and purses, but it is bound to succeed 

 and come into general use, and drive all other 

 sirups out of the market. Thousands of dollars 

 are now being expended in sorgho machinery; 

 which calls for a great numbei- of mechanics, and 

 gives them the benefit instead of sending it to 

 other countries for sirup to benefit the few. In 

 fact the machines are so thoroughly simplified 

 through Yankee ingenuity, that every farmer can 

 become an independent sugar planter if he wishes. 

 The coming year every farmer should raise some of 

 the sorgho, it is taking the place of sugar — it be- 

 ing a good substitute for brown sugars in cooking. 

 Families formerly using five gallons of sirup for a 

 year now use forty gallons of the sorgho. Farm- 

 ers of the Northwest do your duty, and we will be- 

 come independent of any foreign powers for sugar 

 or sirup, and keep our money at home, and be a 

 more independent people than ever before. 



0. N. Braineed, Chicago. 



Coal Oil for Fruit Trees. 



A gentleman formerly connected with the coal 

 oil business in this city, tells us that several years 

 ago in taking a lot of sample bottes of oil on a 

 journey for exhibition, accidentally had a bottle 

 broken, saturating the sawdust in which the bottlea 

 were packed. When he arrived at his stopping 

 place, he put the sawdust at the foot of a plum tree 

 it being about the blossoming of the plum trees. 

 The result was watched, and it turned out that the 

 curculia which ravaged the other plum trees in the 

 orchard, gave this one a wide berth, and the plums 

 were saved to ripen. 



This circumstance led to further experiments, 

 with like favoraible results. The sawdust thus sat- 

 urated — which can be with the cheapest kind 

 of coal oil — retains the odor for a long time, which 

 is offensive to the fastidious tastes of the little 

 Turk. The borer also will not put his gimlet into 

 the trunk of a tree which is encircled with this,*. 



stuff ; ;?, : 



The above we cut from the " Ohio Farmer," and ^ 

 give it for what it is worth, at the same time would 

 caution our readers against a too free use of this 

 oil. It may prove valuable in small doses. Last 

 year we saturated cotton with this oil and. placed 

 it about the hills of our Hubbard, but without the 



slightest advantage. Ed. 



.«•. ■ 



See advertisement of the Genuine Tree Cotton 

 Seed, in another part of this month's Farmer: will 

 be furnished on application by Edward Tatnall, jr., 

 Brandywine nurseries, Wilmington, Delaware. 



