100 



THE ILLINOIS FARMER. 



April 



fed to Morking teams, and is considered 

 as valuable, bushel for bushel, ss oats 

 for this purpose, while the frosted, im- 

 iiKirure cane is fed in place of hay and 

 oats. Teams thus fed are in tine order 

 and have every appearance of doing as 

 vx-ell as those fed on hay and oats. 



The cost of the crop, including rent 

 of land ut four dollars an acre, was 

 about ten dollars. The average yield 

 was twenty gallons of sirup and nearly 

 two bushels of seed. Estimating the 

 sirup at sixty-five cents per gallon, and 

 the seed at the same price per bushel, 

 tliis crop, which came near being a 

 failure, shows a respectable profit. — 

 Hero is four dollars an acre rent and 

 four ilollars profit to the acre. 



Pj-evious to the past season but lit- 

 tle use has been made of the leaves or 

 seed ; now both are found valuable. 



THE LEAVES. 



If these are stripped and laid on the 

 grouTul to cure they become worthless, 

 but if put at once into stack or barn to 

 cure, are equal, if not superior, to Tim- 

 othy hay ; the whole value depending 

 on the mode of curing. "When sown 

 for f >dder and cut at the time of head- 

 iv'j; out, it is also considered very valu- 

 able. 



TIME OF PLANTING. 



Seed that has laid on the surface of 

 the ground during the winter, comes up 

 early and makes the best stand. It is 

 therefore reasonable to suppose that 

 the fall preparation of the ground and 

 jjlanting v/iil answer an excellent pur- 

 pose, if not proved to be the very best. 

 The shell or outer covering of the seed 

 is hard, and if planted in its dry state 

 in rather dry soil, will be tardy in 

 gerraiuating. Soaking the seed for 

 Bpring phmting is therefore advisable, 

 unless planted very early in the season. 



There is no danger of the seed rotting 

 near the suriace ; it should, therefore, 

 be covered very lightly and the earth 

 pressed on it with a roller. 



If planted in hills three feet and nine 

 inches apart, as is usual v/ith cane, a 

 dozen seed should be put in each hill, 

 otherwise there will be an abundance 

 of suckers. Some plant three to four 

 seed, putting the hills about eighteen 

 inches apart in the row, and the rows 

 as above stated. 



HARVESTING. 



In harvesting various plans have 

 been pursued, but that which is best 

 now in use, is a machine that cuts the 

 cane by horse power and deposites it 

 in bundles for loading. The tops are 

 cut off and the leaves stripped by hand 

 either standing cr at the mill. A ma 

 chine is patented to cut the cane, strip 

 off the leaves and do the topping, at the 

 rate of six acres a day, by the use of 

 tw-o horses and one man. Should this 

 expectation be realized it will material- 

 ly lessen the am.ount of labor required, 

 but we have little Jiope that it ^ill be 

 so perfected as to be of much value to 

 the incoming crop. 



For sirup, the Louisiana cane can ne- 

 ver compete with the sorgo, especially 

 that used in its raw state. Labor will 

 always be much cheaper here than in 

 the lowlands of the south, among the 

 swamps and bayous of the sea level. — 

 The cost of food for both man and ani- 

 mals is here less than half that of the 

 sugar plantations ; and although a less 

 quantity is produced per acre, yet the 

 yield per man or the net cost per gallon 

 must be less. Plantation molasses has 

 been sold at about 20 cents per gallon 

 before the war, but that was also before 

 it became a necessity among all classes 

 of people, and the price had gradually 



