SOUTHERN CULTIVATOR. 
24i 
SORGHO SACCHAR0:>1ETERS. 
Editors Southern Cultivator — I take the liberty of 
sending you, by mail, one of my Sorgho Saccharometers, 
the object of which is to determine with ease and certainty 
the proper degree of concentration for the Sorgho (or 
Chinese Sugar Cane) Syrup, 
The juice is placed in the kettle, clarified according to 
directions, (or in the usual way), and boiled until the 
operator thinks it nearly done. The saccharometer is to 
be immersed, for a few minutes, in a pan of warm water, 
and then placed in the syrup. The fire is to be moder- 
ated until active boiling ceases for a moment, and the sur- 
face cleared of scum, when the depth of the instrument 
may be observed upon the stem. If it sinks greatly be- 
low the syrup mark, remove it ; boil on for a while 
longer, and repeat the test. When the stem shall not 
sink more than, say, one inch below the syrup mark, 
allow the instrument to remain, and by a gentle fire sim- 
mer the syrup until the precise point is reached. On the 
other hand : if the boiling shall have been carried too far, 
slowly add water, (or juice, as you may prefer,) until the 
instrument shows a proper density. It will be borne in 
mind that the saccharometer sinks too low in a thin 
syrup, and rises too high in one too thick. 
The advantages of the instrument are : 1st, The cer- 
tainty of its indications. Being unaffected by weather; 
and every one having been tested and proved as to its 
correctness. 
2d, Ease and facility in its application : used, as it is, 
in the kettle, and while the syrup is nearly boiling hot— 
thus requiring little or no interruption in the evaporating 
process. 
3d, Its simplicity, having but one point of graduation. 
It would seem that a boy, of twelve years of age, could 
use it with as much certainty, as to the result, as I could 
myself. 
I think you will agree with me in the opinion that my 
instrument greatly simplifies the process of syrup boiling, 
and enables every farmer to carry on the operation with 
ease and certainty as to its results. 
Should an opportunity offer, I would be pleased to have 
you test the instrument during the syrup season. 
Respectfully, Robert Battey. 
RomCy Ga.i Jxine, 1857. 
[We thanik Dr. Battey for the very ingenious, though 
simple, instrument, which he has sent us, and would re- 
commend it to the attention of all who may desire to make 
syrup from the Chinese cane the present season. It will 
save a world of trouble and disappointment. Dr. B. has 
been identified with the Sorgho and its products from its 
first introduction among us, and the public are much in- 
debted to his reseaixhes for valuable information. — Eds.] 
OSIER OR BASKET-WIEEOW IN TEXAS. 
Editors Southern Cultivator — My object in ad- 
dressing you is to elicit information in regard to the Osier 
Willow. 
I wish to know if it was planted upon land liable to oc- 
casional overflow what injury would ensue 1 For I think 
we have the greatest willow fields in the world upon our 
Red river; provided, an occasional overflow will not in- 
jure it. The common willow is indigenous, and flour- 
ishes rernarKably well — the soil being entirely alluvial, 
and producing, when in a stale ol cultivation, enormous 
crops of corn and cotton. vVould the osier willow be 
likely to do as well as the common willow in an over- 
flowed condition 1 
If you think the lands I speak of would be favorable to 
the cultivation, then upon your opinion I will base my 
future operations, and would enjoin upon you to secure 
for me some of the cuttings, to be shipped in time for 
planting next winter. 
It may be that I have not been concise enough in the 
description of our lands, and, also, from ray entire ignor- 
ance of the plant and its cultivation, there is much infor- 
mation I may not have asked for ; which may readily 
suggest itself to your mind; for such information and 
for information upon the points above referred to, I would 
very respectfully ask your opinion. While I would at 
the same time ask pardon for trespassing upon your time, 
but I think you will excuse me when I say you are the 
only acquaintance 1 have that can inform me. 
Our acquaintance is limited, but to me, in one respect, 
very pleasant, viz ; through the Cultivator. 
Allow me to subscribe myself, ' 
A Friend, 
P. S. — What is the machine for peeling worth 1 — and 
where can it be procured ? 
Boston i Bowie County, Texas, May, 1857. 
[The lands of our subscriber are exactly the thing for 
the growth of the Osier, and if he will cultivate the best 
Basket and Hoop Pole varieties, he can undoubtedly sell 
them to a great profit in New Orleans. The Basket vari- 
eties may be cut the first year, but the larger kinds for 
Hoop Poles must be allowed to stand two years to attain 
the proper size. We believe that forty thousand of these 
hoop poles may be cut from an acre of good, rich, bottom 
land, every two years, and the culture and management 
(which has been heretofore (Jescribed in the Cultivatox^ 
is very simple. We will ascertain the price of Mr. 
Colby’s Peeling Machine, and will write our friend. — 
Editors.] 
PORTABEE SAW MIEES. 
Editors Southern Cultivator — “A Subscriber,” ia 
the July No. of the Cultivator, wishes to know some- 
thing about the cheapest and best Portable Saw Mill. 
There was a Yankee here at the time of “ Old Buck’s” 
inauguration that could have “fixed him out” exactly. 
He had a Mill of his own make put up, on the common, 
near the Capitol, which he worked with two horses ; and 
when I saw the Mill at work, he had on a log 18 inches 
thick and about 16 feet long, and the two horses sawed it 
through at the rate of one foot per minute, timed by my 
watch,* and he said that after he was done sawing all 
the timber in a neighborhood, the same two horses could 
haul the whole concern, complete, to any other neighbor- 
hood at one load. The price for the Mill complete was 
S‘300. Respectfully, &c., M. Garrett. 
Washington, D. C. June, 1857. 
Striped Bugs. — “ Dr. Hull, of Newburg, raised a large 
crop of melons by the following process : ‘ Bugs were 
completely expelled by watering the plants daily with a 
strong decoction of quassia, made by pouring four gal- 
lons of boiling water on four pounds of quassia, in a bar- 
rel, and, after twelve hours, filling the barrel with water. 
The intolerable squash or pumpkin bug was thoroughly 
driven off by a decoction of double strength, containing a 
pound of glue to ten gallons, to make it adhere. The re- 
sult was, a product of sixteen hundred superb melons, on 
less than one-sixth of an acre of ground.’ ” — Horticidtu- 
rist. 
* I think four horses could nearly have doubled the 
task in the same time. 
