174 



THE ILLINOIS FAKMEK. 



June 



From the "Sorgo Journal." 



Clyde, Sandusky County, 0.,| 

 March 25, 1864. j" 



Editor Sorgo Jouunal. — I want the Journal 

 and inclose one dollar. 



Mv experience in the Sorgo enterprise does not 

 suggest, any thing worth the notice of our readers, 

 but what has probably been frequently laid before 

 them. 



I would suggest, however, that all who are in- 

 structed in the matter, should impress upon their 

 neighbors the importance of cutting their cane 

 immediately after it is injured by frost, especially 

 if the cane is not ripe. Many persons let their 

 cane stand last year after the frost, supposing it 

 woulp ripen, by which they lost their crop. Sev- 

 eral lots were brought to my mill last year that 

 M-ere most disgusting to the taste and smell, and 

 utterly worthless. 



The seed of cane when green or soft is easily 

 injured by frost, even when the effect of the frost 

 is scarcely perceptible on the leaves of the stalk ; 

 and when the seed is so injured as not to receive 

 the juice which forms the seed, that juice lodges 

 in the stalk, in the upper part of it first, and im- 

 mediately commences the ruin of the stalk, as that 

 juice is entirely separate from the saccahrine and 

 is of itself very insipid and di.-gu-ting to the taste. 

 If the Ciine is cut up immediately it stops the flow of 

 this juice and the cane is as good as if cut without 

 the frost; if housed, or put in piles of half a wngon 

 load in a place, and covered with k aves, it may be 

 kept for weeks without injur)-. I keep my cane 

 from four to six weeks after cutting. 



In 186 1 I planted several different patches of 

 cane at different times, from the 3d of April to the 

 lith of June. The first plantings were twenty 

 days coming up. The best cane was planted about 

 the 9th of May. That planted on the 12th of June 

 got ripe. 



In 1862, I planted a patch of cane on the 13th 

 of May. At the same time I transplanted cane 

 that was an inch high, by the side of that just 

 planted. The transplanted cane was no earlier 

 than the other and of an inferior quality, a large 

 portion of the stalks having from one to four 

 branches and as many heads 



I have found no advantage in soaking the seed. 



Diff"erent kinds of boilers are used in this vicin- 

 ity, and all-made to do excellent work, if used by 

 an experienced operator. Most men, I find, are 

 best pleased with that kind which they arc most 

 used to. Tlie Idea that the peculiar construction 

 of the evaporator or boiler will insure granulation, 

 is, I think, an error. I have known granulation 

 to occur readily in sirups made on all the different 

 kinds of boilers used in this vicinity. Cane grown 

 on some soils will readily granulate more or less if 

 properly liandled, while that grown on other soils 

 will not granulate by any ordinary process. 



The pan that I use I think is the best I have 

 ever seen ; it is S^- feet wide, 9 J- feet long, but it 

 should be 11 feet'long. Over the fire is a division 

 three feet long into which the juice runs continu- 

 ally, and in which most of the skimming is done ; 

 a valve at one corner admits the juice to the other 

 parts of the pan ; at the opposite end is another 

 similar division, with a damper or apron under it 

 lo shut the fire off at any time. In this divi.>iion I 

 finish sirup continually, from three to four gallons 



at a time. I dip the juice into this division with a 

 dipper; the juice becomes quite sweet by the time 

 it works to this end of the pan. I aim to boil 

 about two and a half inches in depth of juice, so 

 that the juice is not kept upon the pan but a short 

 time. 



The sheets of iron are placed cross-wise of the 

 pan ; I use those two feet wide. Two inches of 

 each edge of these sheets are turned up, riveted at 

 the upper e ge and soldered. These form ribs 

 that keep the surface of the bottom level ; they 

 also remove the soldering from the fire. An inch 

 of the end of these ribs is turned down to admit of 

 the flow of juice. 



I have no exclusive property in my pan, nor do 

 I follow making them for sale ; hence this will not 

 be looked upon as an advertisement. 



Yours, T. J. CARLETON. 



Care of Young Stock. 



By 0. N Bement. 



Nothing is more important to the successful 

 rearing of stock, than that the young animal should 

 receive a good start in life, and it is idle to expect 

 a profitable return from an animal which has been 

 half starved and uucared for during the first few 

 months of its existence. 



When we look into a farm yard and see the 

 young calves cringing and shivering in the corner, 

 their legs drawn tog> ther under them as if they 

 were huddling together for synipathy, their long, 

 rusty, staring, lifeless looking hair standing at right 

 angles with the body, their paunches stuff'ed with 

 coarse and unwholesome or innutricious food until 

 they are swelled to an enormous size, their eyes 

 dull and dreamy and listless, and the whole general 

 appearance impressing one vividly with the idea 

 that there is indeed such a thing as a state of semi- 

 existence, we do not i-equire to be told that the 

 owner is a p;>or man. Such management will 

 make any man poor in a short time. 



When in a state of nature, the calves are nour- 

 ished during this period almost entirely by the 

 milk of the datns, and there can be little d(mbt 

 that when the health and growth of the calf is the 

 principal object with the breeder, it should be 

 allowed to run with the cow. But to most farmers, 

 the milk is of too much value to permit this, and 

 the calves must be artificially reared. When this 

 is done the calf should not be taken from the cow 

 until four or five weeks old. We are aware that 

 many breeders advise taking the calf from the cow 

 before it is allowed to suck, urging as a reason that 

 the calf will much more readily be taught to drink 

 if it is never allowed to get its food in the natural 

 way. — This may be true, but we have found very 

 little trouble in teaching the calf to drink after it 

 has been allowed to run with the dam two or three 

 days, and there is a very important reason why 

 this should be done. 



The faeces that accumulate in the intestines dur- 

 ing the latter months of the portal state are dense 

 and adhesive, and avoiding the excrement is at 

 first, often attended with some difficulty. By a 

 wise and admirable provision of nature, the first 

 milk of the cow possesses certain laxative properties 

 which materially assists in establishing the healthy 

 action of the intestines, and it is very important 

 that milk should constitute the first food of the 

 calf. 



