303 
AMERICAN AGRICULTURIST. 
[JULI, 
which, if let alone, will rapidly increase in size 
and number. They are caused by the tobacco 
worm (Sphinx quinguemaculatus) and if its rav¬ 
ages are not checked at once, there will be little 
left of the tobacco field. The eggs which pro¬ 
duce the worms are inconspicuous, and usually 
the first that can be seen to indicate the pres¬ 
ence of the rascals, are the little holes in the 
leaves. The small green worms might easily 
escape observation, they are so nearly the color 
of the leaf, hence they should be sought for in 
broad daylight, every leaf being turned up 
and examined, and the worms killed or bagged 
to be fed to the poultry. A dock of young tur¬ 
keys are useful, and may safely be allowed the 
range of the field, if they will go no farther. 
The surest way to prevent the annoyance of the 
tobacco worms is to destroy the moths that lay 
the eggs; this is not very difficult. In common 
with many other sphinges or liawkmoths, the 
parent of the tobacco worm flies at night, or at 
least in the evening and morning twilight; by 
its proboscis, which is 6 inches in length, it is 
enabled to reach the sweets away down in the 
throats of many tubular flowers which other 
honey suckers can not get; such flowers there¬ 
fore as are large, showy, and have long tubes, 
like the morning glory, evening primrose, and 
stramonium (described on p. 148, April No.,) 
are particularly attractive to them. If now we 
pick some of these flowers, particularly the 
stramonium, place a drop or two of poisoned 
honey or syrup in the throat of the flower, and 
put the flowers about both upon'the plants 
where they grew and also in various parts of 
the field, the “ hornblowers” will find them, and 
many will take their last repast. To poison the 
honey take a few grains of arsenious acid, cal¬ 
led “ white arsenic” by the druggists; pulverize 
it, and put it in a half-pint phial with some hot 
water, after a little while add two-thirds as much 
honey or syrup, and shake all well together; 
apply by using a glass tube or an ear syringe. 
The hoeing of the tobacco should be done 
much like that of corn or potatoes, but more 
carefully, and more frequently, avoiding much 
hilling. Topping is to be done after the plants 
are pretty well grown, and the blossom stems 
shoot up above the mass of broad leaves—12 to 
18 on each plant. At a certain point the leaves 
diminish rapidly in size, and here the top¬ 
ping should take place. No matter how early 
this be done; if the proper place can be seen, 
the mere button or leading bud, may be nipped 
off, or it will do but little harm to wait until 
many of the plants have shot up quite tall. 
This stopping the upward growth makes the 
leaves grow larger and of better quality. At 
the same time suckers will start from the buds 
at the bases of the leaves, which must be re¬ 
moved, as they withdraw strength from the leaf. 
Pick off the Stones. 
There is a prevalent notion founded on some 
interesting facts, that land is often damaged by 
the removal of stones, notwithstanding the 
fact that most land is greatly benefitted by the 
operation. There is no doubt of the fact that 
stones warmed by the sun, impart the heat to 
the soil after the sun is off, and essentially modi¬ 
fy the temperature of the soil. They also fur¬ 
nish drainage in some measure; bedded in the 
soil, they prevent washing; by their decomposi¬ 
tion they furnish slowly some elements of nutri¬ 
tion, especially during their exposure to the 
frosts and thaws of winter, and so in various 
ways they are of some considerable advantage 
to untilled land. Where, however, such land 
is brought under judicious culture, the stones 
removed, the soil deepened and drained if nec¬ 
essary, not only are they of no use, but they 
.are of positive disadvantage, even though not 
large enough to interfere with culture in any 
way. The advantage gained from their remov¬ 
al may not be sufficient to warrant picking up 
stones of such a size tha. they are not in the 
way of the plow, hoe, or mowing machine; for 
where the roller is used in seeding, and upon 
mowings, all the small stones are cheaply and 
easily put out of the way, and the injury to the 
crop is not sufficient ordinarily to become a 
matter of calculation. Nevertheless they do oc¬ 
cupy the place of just so much soil, and we 
argue therefore, they are better off the field alto¬ 
gether. When buried in masses, the soil over 
them if it be of a good loamy or clayey charac¬ 
ter, will show from afar as the best in the 
field, unless a very thorough system of drainage 
be pursued, which would make it all alike. 
Sorghum—Make Syrup, not Sugar. 
The very high prices at which all sugars, mo¬ 
lasses, and syrup are sold, have given an impulse 
to the growth of the Sorghum Sugar-cane which 
it could hardly have received in any other way. 
Sorghum raisers should early plan to secure in 
their neighborhoods one of the best mills for 
expressing juice, and evaporators for concen¬ 
trating and purifying it. From all we can learn 
it is not at all worth while to attempt the pro¬ 
duction of sugar. That which is produced has 
not a market value so high as the syrup which 
it will make, or which it would have made, if 
concentrated to the crystallizing point. The su¬ 
gar is a gummy mass, some of which may be 
washed so as to leave crystals pretty much 
free from this sticky, cakey quality, fit, perhaps, 
to be used in the family, but not marketable. 
Let the effort of every syrup boiler be to pro¬ 
duce a light colored sugarless article, of proper 
density, and free from any flavor. It is not ad¬ 
visable to have it too thick. At a temperature 
of 60° the syrup should flow like good molasses, 
and it is easy to judge of the density by putting 
a little dipped from the boiling pan into a table¬ 
spoon, or even letting it cool upon a stick after 
dipping it into the pan. 
In purchasing cane mills, be sure that they 
are very strong, and of a larger capacity than 
will probably be needed. See that t&fe journals 
of the rollers are large and strong, and the boxes 
strong, and both boxes and gearing easily oiled, 
without danger of greasing the face of the rolls, 
or the juice. The juice should be exposed to 
the air as little as possible before it reaches the 
boiling pan, and the process of condensation 
should be completed without interruption. 
There is a vast difference in the qualities of 
juice from various localities, as well as in that 
from different varieties of cane, or that grown 
under different circumstances, so much so that 
it is not likely that any set of rules can ever be 
laid down so that syrup of the same quality 
may be uniformly produced; certainly this can 
not be done at present. There is a notion quite 
prevalent among those who have had but little 
experience with making syrup, that no foreign 
substance should be added to purify it. Milk 
of lime neutralizes the acid, and if only just 
enough be used, the product is not likely to be 
darkened. By means of blood, skim-milk, or 
white of egg, many impurities are quickly re¬ 
moved. These substances are stirred (the blood 
1 and white of egg after being diluted with water) 
into the hot syrup, and rapidly coagulate, form¬ 
ing a heavy scum, entangling impurities, and 
enabling the operator thus to remove them 
when he takes off the scum. The use of albu¬ 
men of milk, eggs, or blood, is only desirable 
in the case of very impure juice. 
The impurities usually present are: 1st, * 
green scum which rises just before the juice 
reaches the boiling point, or when boiling be¬ 
gins, and this is very easily removed by skim¬ 
ming. 2d, are earthy deposits upon the pans, 
which collect in the form of a hard incrus¬ 
tation, doing little or no harm until it interferes 
with the evaporation. 3d, a sticky mass of 
slight cohesion when hot, but gummy when 
cold, which rises like cream on the surface, but 
which is difficult to skim off entirely. It has a 
disagreeable taste, and imparts it to the syrup, 
and is apt to adhere to the pan and scorch. It 
often remains suspended in the syrup and is 
long in settling. Points to be especially noticed 
in evaporating sorghum juice are: 1st, clean¬ 
liness. 2d, no delay in conveying the juice from 
the cane mill to the evaporating pan. 3d, the 
greatest possible celerity of evaporation. 4th, 
completeness of skimming. 
We have never seen any records of the used 
vacuum pans, such as are used for the concen¬ 
tration of beet and cane juice, for concentrating 
the sorghum juice, and at any rate the expense 
would deter most sorghum raisers from employ¬ 
ing them. In evaporating in open pans, it is a 
prime necessity to be able to evaporate very 
quickly, hence, very shallow pans must be em¬ 
ployed, and this gives but a slight depth for tbs 
impurities to rise through, and a better opportu 
nity for the deposition of the earthy matter. 
Syrup quickly evaporated in shallow pans is al 
ways of better color and flavor than that 
“boiled down” in kettles, which indeed, is al¬ 
most worthless. Of course, great care must be 
taken not to burn the syrup toward the last. 
Making and Saving Manure—Night Soil. 
Whoever cultivates any soil but the virgin 
loam of the West, or that which gets an annual 
deposit from some river, precluding the necessi¬ 
ty of manure, should at all seasons plan with 
reference to increasing his stock of fertilizers, 
and preserving their valuable qualities. It is 
important to remember that all vegetable growth 
of not more than one year, readily decays, and 
if it decays under proper circumstances, con¬ 
tributes some value to the manure pile. All 
kinds of weeds, reeds, sedge, brush of one sum¬ 
mers’ growth will rapidly decay—and compost¬ 
ed with dung, or thrown to be -worked over by 
hogs, add greatly to the bulk and the value of 
the manure crop. The value of night soil col¬ 
lected about the city or village, is /by no means 
so great as if the original materials were com¬ 
posted in a fresh state. The poudrette compost, 
therefore, made upon the farm, when care is 
taken to attend to it semi-weekly or even oft.cn- 
er if necessary, is worth a great deal more than 
that collected in the way described by our cor¬ 
respondent in the following letter, especially it 
we regard the number of persons contributing 
to the supply. “W. H. W.” -writes to the 
American Agriculturist from Hartford Co., Conn.: 
“As any information in regard to fertilizers is 
important to all cultivators of the soil, I propose 
to tell the readers of the Agriculturist how fer¬ 
tilizing materials are collected in the vicinity of 
Hartford, Conn. After making all the manure 
the stock ordinarily kept on the farm will pro¬ 
duce, aided by composting -with muck, peat. 
