SOUTHERN CULTIV ATOR. 
TEXAS COTTON EANOS. 
46 
CHINESE SUGAR CANE SYRUP. 
Messrs. Editors: — Having been at the State Fair, and 
there exhibited some Syrup made from the Chinese Su- 
gar Cane, and being there requested to give my process 
of manufacture by some members, I said that I would do 
so through the Wisconsin Farmer at my earliest conven- 
ience, although many others have had much, while I have 
had but little experience in the manufacture of Syrup 
from Cane, The fact that others have had more expe- 
Tience than I, will not deter me from giving my mite for 
the benefit of those who may be aided thereby. I will 
here state that before this year I knew nothing of raising 
Sugar Cane, or of its manufacture into Sugar or Syrup, 
excepting that I saw some last year while growing, and 
the little that I read upon the process of its manufacture 
This year I have taised some of the Sorgho Sucre, and 
experimented a little in Syrup making. • 
I will here state that the planting and cultivation of 
the Cane was about the same as though it had been In- 
dian corn ; the ground was ridged four feet apart, and 
planted so as to be about four feet each way. It was 
planted from the fifteenth to the twentieth of May, culti- 
vated and hoed twice. From the calculation that I have 
made upon its yield of Syrup per acre, and I have had no 
other means of knowing than by calculating and com- 
paring the number of hills it required for one gallon, with 
the number of hills upon an acre — the cane used for the 
gallon being about an average of the acre. In this way I 
calculate that one acre of good cane will yield about 200 
gallons of good syrup; this 1 think is a safe calculation. 
If our seasons hereafter prove as favorable to the growth 
of the Sugar Cane as this has, the State of Wisconsin 
need not be wanting in the production of her own sweets 
The process of the manufacture of the Syrup exhibited 
by me at the State Fair was as follows : The Cane was 
cut, (such as was ripe or nearly so,) the leaves stripped 
off, the top also taken off, and passed through a mill, hav- 
ing three cast iron rollers, an upright shaft and sweep 
power, the rollers standing in a horizontal position in the 
machine. This machine we had made by Winchester & 
DeWolf, White-water. In expressing juice it will do a 
business of from 30 to 40 gallons per hour. 
After straining the juice, which was done through a 
linen cloth, I take a gill of the milk of lime and the white 
of two eggs to each five gallons of the juice. After beat- 
ing the the eggs well, I mix with the milk of lime, and 
put the mixture into the strained juice. I then place the 
boiler over the fire, or the fire under the boiler, as the 
ease may require, and bring the contents to a boil, when 
a thick green scum will have arisen, which I immediate 
ly take off, taking care not to let it boil in, after which I 
let it boil until one- half its quantity has been evaporated, 
then strain through a thick flannel strainer while hot, and 
then place over the fire and boil down to the consistency 
of Syrup, taking off the scum as it arises, throughout the 
process of evaporation. I find that it takes about seven 
gallons of the juice to make one of good Syrup. — Wiscon- 
sin Farmer. 
Improvement in the Barometer — A very marked 
improvement has recently been made in the mercurial 
barometer, which can scarcely fail to bring it into more 
general use than it has enjoyed hitherto. The new in- 
vention renders it portable — so that it may be carried 
about in any position without in the least impairing its 
reliability. It is also made so much cheaper than hereto- 
fore, that it will be brought within the reach of farmers 
and all others who have constant occasion to consult in- 
dications of the weather in advance. If this improvement 
works as well as it promises, it will be one of very great 
practical importance. 
The San Antonio Ledger takes up the cudgels for 
Texas, as follows : 
We observe an article in the N. Y. Journal of Com- 
merce of the 18th ult , upon “ Cotton Lands,” which we 
are of opinion does Texas great injustice. 
In speaking of the Cotton lands of the South, it does 
not refer to Texas in any manner. Now Texas possesses 
a scope of country, running from the^Tth par dlel to the 
35th, and extending from the Sabine to the Rio Grande, 
which for Cotton, is unsurpassed in a world And in 
Texas the producer is not liable to be troubled, as the ar- 
ticle in question seems to infer planters from off the Mis- 
sissippi, Red and Arkansas Rivers, are, by the soil be- 
coming exhausted. In Texas our soil extends various 
depths, from two to twenty feet, and no soil of such depth 
can be exhausted by cultivation. Good judges have es- 
timated that Texas alone is capable of producing 10,000- 
000 bales of cotton annually. We think therefore, that 
the planter will not require to go to Africa,. India or 
South America, to produce ; let him come to Texas, 
when he finds his soil exhausted, and our word for it, he 
will not be disappointed. The Southern States can al- 
ways supply the demand, if our planters will only awak- 
en to the importance of properly cultivating their home 
lands. 
CORN STALKS — CUTTING, CURING, AND 
I Feeding. 
My plan is to cut twenty- four hills to the shock. 1 use 
a stay post with two arms, made from a light piece 
of wood, two and a half inches square, four feet long, with 
a pointed socket on the end I bore two inch holes cross- 
wise through it, near the top, put a couple of good rods 
two and a half feet long through the standard, making 
four arms. Set the post in the ground, cut the corn, and 
set an equal number of hills in each square. Bind the 
tops, withdraw the arms, reach in the hand, turn the post 
a little, and lift it out from the shock. By this operation 
1 have no hills of green corn to hinder the curing process; 
no hills to cut off when husking and drawing in. Stocks 
set up in this manner stand firmer than any other way I 
ever tried. 1 usually cut up corn the last of September 
and first of October, husking as soon as dry enough, in 
the field, putting four shocks into one, until finished I 
draw in on a damp day, and instead of packing or laying 
down in the mow. Island them upas closely packed as 
possible, buttsdown,and never have a mouldy corn stalk. I 
cut them forfeeding, cutting a wholeday at a time, sprink- 
ling them occasionally with weak brine. When feeding 
milch cows, I put on a little bran, or mix a few turnips 
or carrots I have no weste, no long stalks in my manure 
and my stock do full as well as on hay, especially my 
cows. They give milk of better quality than when run- 
out on late frosted feed, or fed on dry hay. Some say 
cut stalks make their cattles’ mouths sore I never feed 
cut stalks in hard frozen weather, but only when it is 
warm and moderate; and never had cattle troubled with 
sore mouth. I also feed them moist, and change to hay 
when cold, or cattle seem tired of them I never confine 
cattle to one kind of feed more than five or six days at one 
time, if possible to change. Dayton Sigler. 
[in Genesee Farmer. 
Sensible Negro! — “ Csesar,” said a planter to his ne- 
gro, “ climb up that tree and thin the branches” The 
negro showing no disposition to comply, and being 
pressed for a reason, answered : “ Well, look heah, Mas- 
sa, if I go up dar and fall down and broke my neck, dat’ll 
be a tousand do'lars out of your pocket. Now why 
don’t you hire an Irishman to go up, and den if he falls 
and kill himself, dar won’t be no loss to nobody.” 
