SOUTHERN CULTIVATOR. 
113 
^aold on the maw and c.oinmence eating it, and sometimes 
in a few hours will entirely des roy it and death follows to 
the horse as tlie consequence. And there, is but little 
doubt but nine out of ten horses, die in the United States 
by this f ttal disease. Persons who own horses ought to be 
very particular and scrape off the nits when discovered on 
their horse’s legs or body, and grease well the places so as 
to prevent others from sticking. By taking a nit in your 
hand and wetting it, then rabbing it with your lingers, you 
can hatch the worm from the nit in fifteen seconds. The 
horse is a valuable animal and pays well for every atten- 
tion paid him; if properly cared for, and well treated he 
will do good service until he is thirty years old. 
Symptoms op Botts. — The horse become restless; 
stamps with his feet ; switches his tail ; will lie down 
and wallow frequently, and look back at his flank. When 
this is the case you may be sure it is the Botts, unless the 
horse is greatly .swelled in body, from the cholic. The 
above remedy wdl euro in thirty minutes, if properly ap- 
plied. I have knewn it to cure in ten minutes. 
Wm. B. Trotter. 
Pehruary^ 1857. 
THE COTTON GIN— ITS ORIGIN, &c. 
EctTORs SocTHHR?r CuLTiTATOR — In a back number of 
your valuable journal, over the signature of “Antiquary,” 
is an article puporting to give the origin of the Cotton Gin ; 
which, upon reading, “leaves one in doubt whether the 
«take that m\Ae the track was going in or coming out.” 
The writer urges Boll’s claim to the invention, but before 
he closes his communication he tells us that Whitney 
actually commenced suits against Bull and others who 
were using in the United States Court. And he 
states, furthermore, “whatever doubt may exist in relation 
to Boll’s claim to the invention of the gin, there is but 
little doubt but that ho is entitled to the credit of the first 
packing screw.” 
Now, if “ Antiquary’^ entertains doubts in reference to 
Bwll’s claim, why longer fail to give credence to the tes- 
timony of so many dituinguished witnesses in favor of 
Whitney 1 Whal unproclaimed revelation is there, that 
we should discard iho testimony of such men as Edward 
Everett, and the pul)lic generally 1 Our great solicitude 
to bestow Uie merit of die invention upon the true dis- 
coverer ; and to see the same recorded on the pages of 
history by the free historian of free America with thegold- 
deo j^en of Truth, so that our history may be what all 
kist-iry ought, tlml in which virtue, merit, and genius may 
stand out in their own unfading beauty, the admiration 
a«d model ofthe world I A discovery which has caused 
the Guhuie of this beautiful staple, cotton, to rise from its 
languishing condition (owing to the great difficulty of 
separating the seed from the fibre) to be the sole mono- 
poly in the Southern States, ‘should be treasured up by the 
r«ing genraiion as a happy epoch in the progress of 
science- The name of the inventor of such a machine 
should not be of d‘>ubiful memory with us (who arc the 
recipients of the manifold blessings arising from such 
invention.) If Bci.i, was the inventor of a machine, the 
prototype of our pre^nt Cotton gin, let us all unite in 
vindicating his cause. And to prove to “Antiquary” that 
I am like a thousand others only anxious to stop the cavil- 
ing on tills matter and to bestow the honor on the meri- 
torious, 1 would say that I am as willing to see the laurel 
wreathed about the memory of Mr. Bull as Mr. Whitney, 
provided it be due. But until “Antiquary,” of Pike, 
has adduced facts to substantiate Bull’s claim, we 
shall continue to bestow the honor upon Whitney — where 
we believe the rising generation will accord it. 
Respeetfviily, J. C. R. 
O.iaioiia, DTiss , 1 357. 
CHINESE SUGAR CANE — SORGHO SUCRE. 
TRANSLATED FOR THE “WORKING FARMER,” BY M. S. OLCOTT. 
During the past year, I have made the public acquaint- 
ed with the various products obtained from the stalks of the 
Sorgho Sucre, and have shown how this plant should be 
cultivated. I think it well to enumerate the results which 
have been arrived at since that time, to say a word con- 
cerning the causes of the failures related by various ex- 
perimenters, either in culture, extraction of sap from the 
stalks, or distillation of (juice that runs from the 
crushed canes.) 
The trials made in the middle and Southern provinces 
of France, have confirmed my previous assertion that the 
cultivation of the Sorgho and that of Indian Corn, were 
strongly analogous. Nevertheless, several agriculturists, 
unwisely thinking to sensibly increase the yield of stalks, 
have practiced numerous floodings of the field. The eonj 
sequense has naturally been, that the sap yielded by the 
stalks under such circumstances, has only given on dis- 
tillation three per cent, of alcohol, in place of the 
five per cent, usually furnished. This unpleas- 
ant result is due entirely to the too great quantity of wa- 
ter contained in the stiilk at the time of cutting. I repeat 
here, what I have previously urged, that if irrigations are 
necessary when the soil is dry, we should not ab»se this 
nor practice it too late. 
The experiments have proved, contrary to what I have 
maintained, that the stalks should be gathered when th^ 
seed is first ripe. In the South (of France) it is done i® 
September. If the stalks are cut too soon, the juices they 
contain are proportionately less saccharine ; if they are cut 
too late, they yield a smaller quantity of sugar. 
At various depots, the alcohols arising from the disfel- 
lation of the expressed juice of the Sorgho, have been re- 
jected because they had an unpleasant taste. This is 
solely due to the crude methods of manufacture. Thus, if 
in place of crushing the stalks with an ordinary wiate- 
press, they had used a regular eane mill similar to those 
in use in the colonies, and which M. Cail, of Paris, ex- 
hibited at the World’s Exposition, the yield of sap, in- 
stead of being 35 or 40 per cent., would have been iaa- 
creased to 50 or even 60 ; if instead of leaving the to 
remain undisturbed fiDrseveral weeks after expression, k 
were at once submitted to distillation, they would never 
have had cause to complain of its having passed from the 
saccharine to the acid fermentation. 
But it is not sufficient to crush the canes, or to have a 
special crushing mill ; it is likewise necessary to submit 
the do^asx (crushed stalks) to the action of an hydraiflac 
press. 
Finally, to sura up, the stalks must be cut when the 
grain is ripe, crushed as soon as possible, and the distil- 
lation of the v^so^u (juice) speedily attended to with sttiG 
able aparatus ; those used by the farmers who have ob- 
tained their alcohols with bad flavors, being very far ftrom 
complete. The stalks may also be dried, for the sugar 
is well preserved in the medullary structure. 
The facts gathered this year concerning the produete 
yielded by the Sugar Sorgho, enables me to state that we 
can rely upon 60,000 kilgrammes per hectare of stalks, 
30,000 Llegrammes sap, and 1,500 litres of alcohol at 50 
“centes” of very fine flavor, and without essential oik. 
In Champagne even 3,000 litres were obtained fast 
autumn. 
The da^asiS (crushed eanes) may be fed to horned cat- 
tle. 
As to the yield of seed, it varies from 40 to 50 hectolkres 
per hectare. 
Ail other things being equal, the Sorgho Sucre is kova 
this time forth destined to assume an important mak 
amongst the crops of the South (France) and Algeria. I 
