158 
THE SOUTHERN CULTIVATOR. 
pie — the use of the Roller. A very little care 
and observation at that season of the year, when 
the farmer expects its appearance, will discover 
its p esence ; and then is the time, whether 
it be spring or fall, to roll the wheat fields } the 
weight of the roller not only destroys the insect 
itself, whose size and shape prevent escape, but 
destroys also the tender egj, whether deposited 
in the wheat or elsewhere. I have used the 
roller for six years, and I have never seen the 
effect of fly in my wheat, while crops around 
me have been partially destroyed by it.” 
A week or two before the whea: begins to 
head, the bushes and briars being then covered 
with leaves, and readily seen, should again be 
cut down. A narrow tool should be used, as it 
will damage the crop least. All which may get 
tall enough after that time, to meet the scythe in 
cutting the grain, will be so tender, as not to be 
in the way. 
The heads should be ripe before the harvest 
commences. At that period, a careful hand 
should go through the best spots ol wheat, before 
cradling, and cut off, one at a time, the largest 
and best heads, gathering in ihis way when 
sown, to produce seed for a crop. This, they 
think, should be sown at the rate of half a bush- 
el per acre, on land well manured with cotton 
seed By this means, not only the size of the 
head, but the size and quality of the grain may, 
in a few years, in their opinion, be greatly im- 
proved, and the wheat clear of mixture. The 
cutting and binding should be done with a view 
to .saving all, which may very nearly be accom- 
plished, for the foregoing suggestions have been 
strictly followed. If the wheat is intended for 
the thrashing machine, and can be thrashed 
when hauled, the sooner it is hauled the better : 
by being left out, the straw becomes trash, and 
(if not hauled in when damped by rain) the head 
is likely to pull off when entering the machine, 
and pass through with the grains in it. If the 
grain is intended to be trod out by horses, the 
oiier it can be got in the better. Wheat should 
never be hauled in, and packed away with the 
straw damp, to remain more than a few days, or 
the weavel will destroy a great deal of it. Af- 
ter the wheat is thrashed, it should have one 
thorough sunning, if not already very dry, be- 
fore grinding ; if not ground shortly, the sun- 
ning should be repeated once or oftener, and put 
up as warm as the sun will make it. The wea- 
vel may thus be prevented from injuring it in 
the least after thrashing. 
If these suggestions are carried out, — keeping 
in mind all the while the truth contained in the 
following homely sentences, so applicable to 
every pursuit connected with Agriculture, viz; 
“whatever is worth doing, is worth doing well,’* 
your Committee believe, that a failure in a 
wheat crop, with those who sow, would happen 
but seldom. 
W.^'her^ert, I Committee. 
S. C. Temperance Advocate. 
Corn Stalk Syrup. — Mr. H. J. Chalmers, 
of Monroe county, has politely left at our of- 
fice, a bottle of syrup, made from the common 
Com Stalk. We have tested its quality, and 
can pronounce its saccharine flavor to be mild- 
er and richer than any of the Louisiana Syrup 
we ever tasted — it has nothing of the acidity 
often detected in other Syrups, and particularly 
in molasses; but leaves upon the palate a pleas- 
ant and agreeable sensation, that irresistibly 
makes you smack your lips. 
Mr. Chalmers refers us to a communication 
he sent the Messenger, shewing his experiment- 
al operations in making the Syrup, but as it has 
not yet appeared in that paper, we are deprived 
for the present, the gratification of presenting it 
to our readers. 
Mr. C. informs us, that he is perfectly satis- 
fied he could have made Sugar; but he had no 
shallow kettles for the purpose, nor could he 
procure any. He is so well pleased with the 
little experiment he has made, that he intends 
going more extensively into the ,business next 
year, andjpatriotically exclaims, “I trust the day 
is not far distant when the Planters of Georgia 
will become independent of the West Indies and 
Louisiana, for their Sugar and Syrup.” Let 
our Planters but enter upon the busine.ss with 
the same spirit and zeal that actuates Mr. Chal- 
mers, and the day will not be far distant when 
his hopes will be realized — may he live to see it. 
Macon Telegraph. 
Corn Stalk Molasses. — Mr. H. J. Thomp- 
son, a thorough going, enterprising planter of 
this county, called at our office a few days since 
to exhibit to us a specimen of molasses, made 
by himself from the common corn stalk. We 
have given the article a fair test and do not hes- 
itate to pronounce it equal, if not suj erior to the 
best “sugar house molasses.” It is equally as 
transparent, and in flavor resembles very much 
the “Florida Syrup,” an article which is manu- 
factured from the juice of the cane, and which, 
where it is known, is esteemed superior to any 
other for table use. Mr. Thompson informs us 
that he was induced to make the experiment 
from reading an article in our paper last spring. 
It was then too late to plant for the purpose, and 
he resolved to set aside a small patch which 
had been planted in the ordinary way, for the 
purpose. From this he removed the ears as 
they put forth, and allowed it to stand until the 
fodder was ripe. Having constructed a mill 
for the purpose, he expressed the juice from the 
stalks and boiled it in a common kettle, reduc- 
ing about seven gallons to two, which produced 
the fine specimen of molasses which he has ex- 
hibited to us. Not having planted his corn for 
the purpose, Mr. T. is unable to come at any 
thing like a very nice estimate of the amount 
which any given quantity of land would yield 
— but he assures us that the test which he has 
given the matter, in the manufacture of the 
twenty-five or thirty gallons which he has made 
this year, has not only satisfied him that the 
best of molasses can be made from corn stalks, 
but that he can obtain a better return for his la- 
bor from its cultivation than from any other 
crop. ■ A specimen of the molasses made by 
Mr. Thompson may be seen at this office. 
We have been informed by Col. Jno. B. 
Walker that he is now making some experi- 
ments in the Com Sugar and Molasses. The 
Colonel is desirous of ascertaining the yield, 
and with this view has scarcely measured the 
ground planted for this purpose. We hope to 
be able to give our planters the result of Col. 
Walker’s experiments in a few days. 
Madison Miscellany. 
Cornstalk Molasses. — We acknowledge 
the receipt of a bottle of what we should have 
pronounced, had we not been informed to the 
contrary, first quality Sugar House Molasses, it 
having the appearance of that article. It was 
manufactured from com stalks, by James S. 
Pope, Esq., an enterprising planter and farmer 
of this district, who has spared neither pains nor 
expense in bringing to perfection an experi- 
ment, which has so often been tried, but we have 
never heard of its having been brought to so 
successful an issue in this district. We wish 
him success in his future experiments. The 
following explanatory note accompanied the 
bottle of molasses . — Edgefield Advertiser. 
Mr. W. F. Durisoe — Dear Sir— I take the 
liberty of requesting you to publish for the in- 
formation of the public, an experiment which 
I have lately made in extracting syrup from the 
com stalk. I allotted about seventy hills square 
lor my experiment, from which I made about 
twenty-five gallons of syrup. I present you 
with a specimen, which will enable you to 
j udge of its quality. I deferred too long in strip- 
ping the shoot from the stalk. I think if the 
shoot had been stripped in time, the yield would 
have been increased. I am inclined to think 
that an acre, if in a high state of improvement, 
and well cultivated, can be made to yield at 
least seventy five gallons. The corn should be 
drilled, and the drills about three feet apart.—- 
Planting in this manner, will prevent the com 
from shooting (so it is said,) and will enable the 
stalk to retain the juice. It is evident that the 
shoot should not be permitted to remain on the 
stalk until the grain begins to form. 
Yours, respectfully, 
James S. Pops. 
IMPORTANCE OF AGRICULTURAL ASSOCIA- 
TIONS. 
Again, as agriculturists, we have been remiss 
in associated etlbrts for the advancement of our 
calling. When acting as politiciams, we axe 
sufficiently awake to the importance of concen- 
trated efforts. On moral and religious topics, 
none of us lorget “in union there is strength.” 
The benefits arising from agricultural associ- 
ations, experience has demonstrated to be — the 
more general attention to the subject of agricul- 
ture, which they are the means of exciting 
through the entire mass of the farming commu- 
nity where they are situated; the emulation 
which they excite among members to excel; the 
means which they are ot introducing improved, 
varieties of animals and products, and improved 
processes of breeding and cultivation ; and, fi- 
nally, in the information which they diffuse by 
actual inspection and comparison of animals 
and products, which their fairs call together. — 
We have only to refer to sections of country 
where properly constituted societies have been 
in efficient operation, to witness the existence of 
these effects. The Highland Society of Scot- 
land has been founded a little over half a cen- 
tury — 59 years, if we mistake not — and it is 
not too much to say, that it has revolutionized 
the agriculture of that whole country. An 
inhabitant of the more fertile sections of New 
York, where nature repays the least and the 
most indifferently directed efforts so bounte- 
ously, can scarcely conceive the disadvantages 
under which the agriculturists of the Scotch 
Highlands (if the recently disarmed retainers of 
the Highland chiefs, whose hands were far more 
familiar with broadsword and firelock than with 
the reaping hook or plough handle, could be 
termed agriculturists) labored filly years since. 
Sterile mountain and unprocubtive moor, ex- 
tensive marshes and wet cold clays, occupied a 
greater portion ot the country; but now Judge 
Buel states, on the authority ot Sir John Sin- 
clair and Professor Lowe, that the acreable pro- 
ducts of Scotland double those of our Atlantic 
States, and he assigns the principal part of this 
change to the agency of the Highland Agricul- 
tural society. England, too, has derived im- 
mense benefit from similar associations, whose 
history and progress would be highly interesting 
and instructive, did time admit of the examina- 
tion. The Berkshire, Worcester, and Essex 
Societies, in Massachusetts, have met with the 
most decided success, and annually increase 
in numbers and in spirit. Each pay out an- 
nually, in premiums, upwards of a thousand 
dollars, half of which is drawn from the State 
Treasury; and we have the best authority for 
stating, that these sums would not pay 3 per ct. 
on the increase of agricultural products which 
they have been the means of occasioning. 
The increased interest to the subject of agri- 
culture, and the spirit of emulation exciteci by 
these associations, never fails to exhibit itself 
in the most marked manner. There are few 
neighborhoods where there are not one or two in- 
dividuals who will attempt to keep pace with 
the advancing march of their profession. Oth- 
ers are gradually incited by their example, or 
the fear of being surpassed by them, to similar 
efforts. Improved breeds of cattle, sheep, swine, 
horses, &c., as well as improved processes of 
cultivation, gradually extend. 
New Genesaee Farmer. 
Ladies, vxil not your paces. — A celebrated 
writer on sight, says that the wearing of veils 
permanently weakens many naturally good 
eyes, on account of the endeavors of the eye to 
adjust itself to the ceaseless vibration of that 
too common article of dress. 
