224 
AMERICAN AGRICULTURIST, 
the weariness, arid give them leisure for social 
enjoyment. 
This is indeed “ a working-day world,” but one 
not alone for work for the body. It must he cared 
for, but the mind, the heart, the soul, must not be 
neglected. Every IVi other lias a higher duty to 
perform than to fee and clothe her children. 
They are to be educaied, and to be educated for 
Heaven, and whatever will enable her to give 
more time to this nobler work is to her and hers 
no small blessing. What if Sewing Machines are 
expensive 1 They are no more so than Mowers 
and Threshers, and money should not be weighed 
in the balance against time , for on one depends 
only the lower needs of this life, while on the 
proper use of the other depends our eternal des¬ 
tiny. Next to the gospel, I consider the general 
introduction of the Sewing Machine the best gift 
to woman, for it gives her time to cultivate her 
own higher nature, and to devote herself more 
fully to the best interests of her children. 
Anna Hope. 
LIEBIG’S LAST LETTEE ON 
MANUEES. 
T 0 the Editor of the American Agriculturist. 
In Liebig’s third and last letter on Agricultural 
Chemistry, lately published, he says: “It is 
therefore impossible to attribute the effect of stall 
manure to its combustible elements; if these have 
any good effects it is of a subordinate nature. The 
effect of the stall manure rests, without the least 
doubt, upon the amount of the incombustible ele¬ 
ments of plants which it contains.” If this doc¬ 
trine is true, it is folly for a farmer to save his 
stable manure from the waste of firefang, and 
too rapid decomposition, as the ashes of the ma¬ 
nure contain the only elements of much value to 
vegetable nutrition. But every farmer’s experi¬ 
ence and experiments in manuring and culture, 
disprove this darling theory of the great Chemist 
ef Giessen. A conclusive proof of the fallacy of 
this mineral theory, is found in the very thorough 
experiments of J. B. Lawes and Dr. Gilbert, on 
the experimental farm at Rothamsted, England. 
There, during five consecutive seasons, an acre 
plot of land destitute of organic matter, was 
treated with all the mineral elements sufficient 
for a maximum crop, and sown with wheat. An¬ 
other acre of the same soil, treated in the same 
manner, received an addition of 300 pounds of the 
sulphate of ammonia: when, at harvest, this plot, 
thus treated with ammonia salts, produced double 
the number of bushels of wheat contained on the 
other plot; like experiments afterwards produced 
the same results. 
It is true that the atmosphere will supply grow¬ 
ing plants with carbon, in the form of carbonic 
acid, enough for the structure of a maximum 
crop, but if the soil is deficient in nitrogen the 
crop will invariably be short; this is not only in 
accordance with repeated experiments at Roth¬ 
amsted, but with every farmer’s experience, which 
teaches him that a manure heap that has not lost 
its ammonia by firefang, or combustion, is a 
much better manure than the ashes of the burned 
pile. 
It is no reason, because growing plants receive 
that which forms their principal bulk from the at¬ 
mosphere, carbon and the elements of water, that 
they also receive from thence a sufficiency of ni¬ 
trogen in the form of ammonia. True, nitrogen 
forms but a small part in the composition of a 
plant; but its office is mainly as a solvent of sili¬ 
ca (1) and preparer of other matters in the soil, 
into soluble plant-food, irue, no plant can grow 
without the elements ofits ashes, hut the mineral 
soil is composed of these elements, and it gives 
them up by disintegration, long after the organic 
or combustible matter of the soil has been ex¬ 
hausted by growing crops. Again, those mineral 
elements are never lost in the decaying vegeta¬ 
ble ; the falling leaf, and the decaying thistle, 
may die and lose their organic matter in the air, but 
the ashes remain to form the mineral basis for 
new plants. S. W. 
Waterloo, Sept. 11, 1857. 
The above cut represents a simple apparatus 
which may be used in shocking corn. The pole 
a is three or four inches in diameter, and say ten 
feet long. Its size may vary with the weight of 
the wood. It is supported on two legs, which are 
simply round sticks fitted into auger holes. A 
round stick b, three or four feet long, passes loose¬ 
ly through an auger hole, say 1£ feet from the up¬ 
per end of the pole a. The whole is made suffi¬ 
ciently light to be taken up in one hand and carried 
from place to place. As the corn is cut up it is 
placedinthe four angles formed by the pin b. When 
the shock is of the desired size it is tied, the pin 
6 drawn out first, and then the pole a. It will be 
seen that the whole thing is exceedingly simple ; 
with only an ax and an auger any one could go 
into the woods and make one in less than an 
hour. 
CHINESE SUGAR CANE, 
HINTS UPON SYRUP-MAKING, ETC. 
We have not much to add to last month’s sug¬ 
gestions. Many persons have applied to us to 
procure them a simple, low-priced mill for press¬ 
ing out the juice on a small scale. We have 
spent considerable time wdth several mechanics, 
trying to contrive some simple apparatus, which 
could be sold for $12 to $15, and yet suffice to 
extract tlie juice from a few thousand canes. In 
this effort we have thus far been unsuccessful. A 
mill with iron rollers 3£ inches in diameter was 
tried, but when these were brought together near 
enough to press out any considerable proportion 
of the juice, they would not feed or draw in the 
canes freely, and if they did this, it was next to 
impossible to turn the crank when a cane-joint 
passed in, even with a multiplying wheel to in¬ 
crease the power. 
A somewhat larger mill, made at the Speed¬ 
well Iron Works, Morristown, N. J., which we 
found on sale at R. L. Allen’s, in this city, was 
tried with unripe canes from 'pur field. This 
has rollers 8 inches in diameter, with cogs work¬ 
ing into each other at one end, and a large cog¬ 
wheel, pinion and crank at the other, all set in a 
strong iron frame. This presses out the juice 
finely, but it requires more force than man-power 
to w'ork it. If attached to a horse-power, by a 
large band-wheel, as they are now being made, 
this is the best mill we have seen at so low a 
price as $75. For our own user we have calcu¬ 
lated that, in the end, it will be cheapest to pur¬ 
chase a regular sugar-cane mill, of large size, 
which can be used the piesent year, and if not 
wanted afterwards, be sold to some one going 
into the business largely, at the South if not 
North. We expect before closing this number to 
receive a description of a rude mill being erected 
in Ohio—if this arives it will be given at page 237. 
It will not be difficult to get up an extempore 
wooden hand-press, where only a few dozens or 
hundreds of canes are to be tried, for the curiosi¬ 
ty of the thing. We suggest the following : Take 
a round, smooth, hard-wood log, 10 or 12 inches in 
diameter, and saw off two rollers 10 inches long, 
set these between two planks supported or kept 
apart at each end by heavy blocks cut 10^ inches 
long, to allow an eighth of an inch play for the 
rollers. Hoop the rollers at each end with strong 
iron bands, put on like wagon tires, by the black¬ 
smith. For axles, take an iron rod 16 inches long 
and at least 1£ inches in diameter, and drive it 
firmly through the center of one of the rollers pre¬ 
viously bored with an auger, letting the ends ex¬ 
tend through the planks to form gudgeons. Put 
a similar rod through the other roller, but let it 
extend 5 or 6 feet above the frame, and bend 
it over at right angles for a lever to turn \yith. 
The rollers being put in place, spike the planks 
firmly upon the 10 inch blocks at each end. To 
prevent the crank rod from turning jn the roller, 
wedge it tightly, and also put a cross key or pin 
through it, at the points where it leaves the end 
of the roller, and drive these into the wood. 
Make a little duct in the lower plank to conduct 
the juice to one side, and into a vessel under¬ 
neath. To prevent the axles wearing into the 
wood, nail two or three pieces of flat iron around 
them upon the upper and lower sides of the plank 
frame. Anyone, with a little assistance from a 
blacksmith, can construct a simple apparatus like 
this in a single day, and the whole cost need not 
exceed five dollars. 
We recently conversed with Mr. A. Stouten- 
horough, of Dallas Co., Ala , who has been mak¬ 
ing syrup successfully this year, and we give his 
experience, writing from memory. He planted 
several acres of Chinese Sugar Cane, in drills, 
putting one seed in a place. Each seed produced 
one large central stalk with a number of suckers. 
The suckers not being so forward as the main 
stalks, lie commenced cutting out and grinding 
the latter toward the close of August, or as soon 
as the seed began to ripen. The suckers are to 
be pressed as they mature. He constructed two 
upright wooden rollers, of large size, putting an 
iron band around the ends of them, and fitting with 
wooden cogs to make them turn together. They 
were set into a strong frame, one of them pro¬ 
jecting up for the attachment of a lever for 
driving by horse. With this mill he pressed out 
about 70 gallons of juice in the fore part of the 
day, which was put into a 120 gallon cauldron, or 
iron kettle, and boiled down just as he would sap 
for maple sugar. The scum rising from time to 
time was skimmed off, and when it had become 
clear he added to it 14 or 15 tea-spoonfuls ol 
slaked lime, first stirring it in water to the con¬ 
sistence of milk. The boiling was continued, 
skimming when needed, and with a slower heat 
towards the close of the process. The result 
was, 12 to 14 gallons of thick syrup of very supe 
rior quality from each 70 gallons of juice. 
This experiment, on a rough scale, by one with¬ 
out previous experience in sugar-making, will be 
suggestive to others in like circumstances. In 
boiling down the juice, it is important to heat it 
soon after it is expressed. The heat should be 
kept just below boiling until most of the scum 
rises when it may be taken off, the lime added as 
previously described, and the boiling be continued 
as long as desired, removing from time to time all 
scum that accumulates. The syrup will be im¬ 
proved by letting it cool after boiling down, say 
one-half; then strain it through a woolen cloth ; 
stir in some whites of eggs ; hea tit again gradual¬ 
ly and skim, and then complete the boiling, 
