BWIv^t^rr' ' 



1864. 



THE ILLINOIS FAKMER. 



67 



These different stagos may not be 

 necessary in tlie progress of introduc- 

 tion, but there is a class of men who 

 never let an opjDortunity pass, and like 

 the loafer who hangs around some re- 

 cruiting station, watching his opportu- 

 nity to introduce some new recruit to 

 the ofiicer, in hopes of obtaining the 

 coveted fifteen dollars ; so this class of 

 men, wait around the nucleus of some 

 new enterprise, in the hopes of sharing 

 in the money that may be expended to 

 develop it, or to place ii among the ne- 

 cessities of the ao-e. 



Sorgho has been the child of fortune, 

 since its first introduction ; a perfect 

 godsend to this class, who yet run it 

 with cheap rollers, wonderful evaporat- 

 ing pans, sell seed of unquestioned pu- 

 rity and of surpassing virtues. 



It is time we had a chano-e of base, 

 so as to place this valuable staple in its 

 proper relation to the producer and the 

 manufacturer. 



In the first place, when the seed of 

 this cane was presented to the people 

 of the West through the Patent Office, 

 the first idea promulgated in regard to 

 the making of sorgho syrup was that 

 each farmer should own a crushing and 

 boiling apparatus, so as to work up his 

 crop. Fancy soon built , fortunes, and 

 a grand rush was made, that put the 

 enterprise back at least three years. 

 From a hundred shops came these do- 

 mestic fixtureSjStamped as patented, and 

 of course supposed to be useful, Wood- 

 en rollers or cheap, light cast iron ones 

 M^ere used for crushing, or rather capa- 

 ble of wringing out half the juice, with 

 pans of the one horse kind to reduce it 

 to syrup, all of which were valuable as 

 a six dollar cider press, or a garden 

 engine at a village fire. 



It is a well attested principle, that a 



farmer should only be a producer of 

 farm products, and not a manufactur- 

 er in the'general acceptation of the term. 

 It is true that during the leisure of win- 

 ter that he might make a few dozen 

 broomp, repaii his implements, or get 

 up his beehives, but to attempt to man- 

 ufacture his raw products on a large 

 scale — to work up his wool, to reduce 

 his corn to meal, or wheat to fiour, is 

 simply absurd. With no more proprie- 

 ty can he work up his sorgho crc>p, the 

 cost of which is equal to producing and 

 delivery at the mill. And yet the in- 

 terested pan men and the roller men 

 have generally fugled him into the idea, 

 that this is the only true road in which 

 to succeed. 



At an early day we saw the absurdi- 

 ty of this plan, and have advocated the 

 policy of sorgho mills on a large scale, 

 at points where steam or water power 

 could be cheaply applied. 



At all stations where corn is shelled, 

 the cobs supply an excellent and cheap 

 fuel for either the fire pans or steam 

 boilers. A thousand bushels of corn 

 will furnish five tons of cobs, equal to 

 the same weight of IlHnois coal. This 

 source of fuel has been nearly overlook- 

 ed, and thousands of tons of cobs thrown 

 out to rot in the streets. During the 

 shelling season these should be stored 

 in sheds from the weather. 



The slack or coal screenings of our 

 coal mines, are another source of cheap 

 fuel, where the cost of transportation 

 is not large. To use this coal the fines 

 and fire grate require a little more space. 



The farmer should either sell the 

 cane to the manufacturer at the market 

 price, or have it worked on shares. At 

 present the the latter plan is gradually 

 adopted, but will undoubtedly give 

 place to the former. The manufacturer 



':ny_ 



