378 
SOUTHERN CULTIVATOR. 
though it likes a hot, bright summer ; that two crops a 
year may be harvested in our Cotton States and one in any 
part of our country south of 45° ; that it does not require 
replanting ofiener than the Hop, (say four times a century) 
and that it will yield three to four thousand pounds of 
choice sugar to the acre at each harvest. A plant similar 
in species but inferior in kind has recently been brought 
hither from Northern China, and is doing well. The ex- 
pressed and boiled juice of this plant has hitherto been 
supposed incapable of granulation, but Mr. W. has dis- 
covered a process which obviates this difficulty. I hearti- 
ly trust this subject will I'eceive due attention in America, 
and I think Mr. Brown, in the Agricultural Department 
of our Patent Office, can give further information with re- 
gard to it. 
Mr. Wray is also confident that the Date Palm may 
and ought to be naturalized and extensively grown in our 
Southern States. He says it begins to produce five years 
after planting, (the ground being devoted to corn, cotton 
or other crops meantime,) and that, with very little at- 
tention thereafter, it will yield five tons per acre of fair 
sugar. Will not the South look into this % 
The Boston Transcript, of a late date, contains the fol- 
lowing : 
A New Sugar Plant. — The forthcoming Agricultural 
Report of the Patent Office, will contain an interesting ac- 
count of a new variety of sugar plant, which, it is thought, 
may be introduced with advantage into our country. The 
plant is called the Sorgo Sucre, and has been cultivated to 
a considerable extent in France. Under the auspices of 
the Patent Office the seeds of it have been distributed in 
various parts of the United States. The Sorgo Sucre grows 
very much like Indian Corn, and in rich lands attains a 
height of from two to three yards. It is an annual in 
France, but it is believed that in the Southern United 
States its roots would survive the winter and send up new 
shoots in the spring. 
The juice which is contained in the stalk of the plant 
furnishes sugar, alcohol and a fermented drink analagous 
to cider. The proportion of sugar contained in the juice 
is from 10 to 16 per cent., and about one- third part is un- 
crystalized. Although in a Northern climate this last pro- 
perty would be an obstacle to the extraction of the crys- 
talized part of the sugar, yet it adds much to its facility of 
readily fermenting, and consequently to the amount of 
alcohol which may be produced from it. In a Southern 
climate the proportion of uncrystalized sugar would be 
less. 
It is thought that the Sorgo may take the place of the 
sugar cane in the more northern of the Southern States, 
where the latter is annual. Its molasses is identical with 
that manufactured from the eane, and its stalks and 
leaves furnish nutricious forage for animals. In the 
manufacture of brandy or alcohol the uncrystalized sugar 
can be turned to excellent account. Experiments have 
shown that the central part of the stalk contains the 
greatest amount of saccharine matter, and that the best 
time to cut it is when the seeds are in a milky state. The 
ripeness of the seeds, however, does not appear to lessen 
much of its productions of sugar. 
Remarks. — We raised several stalks of Chinese Sugar 
Cane, the past season, in our garden. They grew to the 
height of 10 or 11 feet, bearing large panicles of seed, some- 
what similar to Bioom Corn. The stalks contained a great 
quantity of very sweet cane-like juice, of a very pleasant 
vinous flavor. That it would make a large per cent, of 
excellent sugar, we have no doubt — the only difficulty, as 
above hinted, being in the granulation. This process 
will soon be understood, however; and in the meantime 
the juice can be converted into fine syrup or molasses. 
We shall continue the cultivation of this plant as green 
forage for stock, li not for sugar making. From some 
partial experiments, we are inclined to think it will bear 
repeated cuttings, like Millet, but we await another season's 
trial before pronouncing fully on this point. — Eds. So. 
Cult. 
THE STANWICK NECTARINE. 
The sensation created in England and France by the 
introduction of the Stanwick Nectarine in 1846 has had 
few parallels ; but it has subsided on discovering that the' 
climate was not entirely favorable to its perfection. In 
our own country, however, sufficient time has not elapsed 
fully to test its capabilities ; it is still hoped that it may 
succeed on the walls of open gardens. At its first appear- 
ance it was supposed it was “destined to thow out of cul- 
tivation most of the stone fruits so highly prized by Euro- 
peans ; also, that the Peaches of Paris, as well as the 
Nectarines of the island of Jersey, were tasteless and 
worthless when placed by the side of the Stanwick Nec- 
tarine.” 
We have received a single fine specimen this season 
from Mr. Caleb Cope, successfully fruited by his gardener, 
Jerome Graff, and present an outline of the fruit. 
This Nectarine fruited for the first time in the United 
States, at Mr. Cope’s, a year ago. The fruit was exhibit- 
ed at a stated meeting of the Pennsylvania Horticultural 
Society, but the committee on the fruit failed to give a des- 
cription, though the curiosity of our horticulturists was 
excited to know something respecting it. The only notice 
taken was the award of one dollar Mr. Cope’s gardener. 
It seems to do well hei’e, except its liability to crack — a 
feature from which it may be exempt when allowed to 
mature in a cold house: this will be soon tried, as two 
plants are now growing in Mr. C.’s cold vinery. The 
plant from which our figured specimen was plucked is 
small, growing in a ten inch pot. Last year it had five 
beautiful Nectarines upon it, some of them slightly crack- 
ed ; the present season it produced but three, two of which 
decayed before maturity. The plant has labored under 
great disadvantages, in being forced two successive sea- 
sons, and without being shifted. In the flavor of the fruit 
we think it far surpasses any previous variety known to 
our cultivators. It has nothing of the insipidity of the 
Nectarine, and less than usual of its peculiar odor ; it may 
be pronounced a smooth skinned Peach of the most deli- 
cate character, exceedingly tender, rich, juicy and sugary, 
without the slightest trace of the flavor of prussic acid. 
When we speak of the odor of the common Nectarines, we 
