mr. Robinson’s tour.—no. 10. 
337 
f&des of small capitalists to embark in the cultiva¬ 
tion of cane, on small farms, as they now do with 
corn, oats, rice, potatoes, &c., and with a certainty 
that they would be amply remunerated. It would 
also effectually break up the aristocratic feature, 
which now characterises sugar planting, beyond 
any other agricultural pursuit in the United States; 
and it would accelerate and perfect this branch of 
our industry, and augment its product far beyond 
what is otherwise attainable. 
While on the subject of sugar making, we will 
add, that we have recently conversed with a man¬ 
ager of extensive mills in Cuba, who says, he has 
frequently extracted 75 per cent, of juice from the 
cane. This has been effected by diminishing the 
motion, and increasing the strength of his rollers; 
by which he is enabled largely to augment the 
pressure. He has now ordered mills, in this city, 
having rollers 30 inches in diameter, with wrought 
shafts 10 inches in diameter, which are to have but 
two revolutions per minute. These will bear a 
greater pressure than any hitherto used, and the 
motion will be so slow, that it is presumed the 
expressed juice will run entirely from the cane, 
instead of a portion being carried over and re¬ 
absorbed bjr the bagasse, which is generally the 
result, as now managed. 
It is believed that the late invention of purging 
the sugar by a centrifugal motion, by enabling the 
manufacturer to reboil the draining at once, will 
largely augment the most valuable product of the 
cane. 
Other important improvements, which are said to 
have been lately discovered, in Paris, by the Bel¬ 
gian, Melsens, are sought after with great interest, 
though their extent and merit seem not yet to have 
transpired. 
VALUE OF ANNEALED WIRE FOR FENCES. 
In a conversation with Mr. Grant, of fanning- 
mill notoriety, he remarked that annealed wire 
never rusts. He stated that he had now a wire 
screen to a cellar window, which has been very 
much exposed, on the north side of the house, for 
thirteen years, and until the chestnut frame is quite 
rotten, while the wire, although of No. 16, and 
never painted, is still sound and good. He remarks 
the same fact in regard to wire used for fanning- 
mill sieves. We also have some experience to the 
same point. 
In putting up some wire around a poultry yard, 
to prevent the fowls from flying over the pickets, 
(which, by the by, were only \\ feet high, with 
two wires above, and answered a good purpose,) 
we used bright wire. * This rusted off, and failed 
entirely in one season. We then used annealed 
wire, which, although much finer, is still sound and 
good, after three years’ use. 
Mr. Grant’s opinion, corroborated by our own 
experience, is, that annealed wire exposed to the 
atmosphere, does not rust, at least, not enough to 
destroy it, and that it is a better preventive than 
galvanizing, or any other process. 
This important fact should be borne in mind by 
all who are intending to build wire fence. We 
would remind our friends, that we furnish wire for 
fences, already annealed, as cheap as a good article 
can be purchased in the city. 
SABIN’S WASHING- MACHINE. 
This truly useful machine, the inventor claims to 
wash perfectly clean, clothes, fine sheets, linen, 
&c., in three minutes’ time, without the slightest 
damage. It 
is perfectly 
plain and sim¬ 
ple in its con¬ 
struction, not 
liable to get 
out of repair, 
and can be 
worked with 
ease by a 
child. Hence 
the ordinary 
washing of a 
private family can be done in about an hour, with 
a small amount of labor, and this, too, without in¬ 
juring the clothes even so much as when ordinarily 
done by hand. 
These machines may be had at the Agricultural 
Warehouse and Seed Store of A. B. Allen & Co., 
189 and 191 Water street, New York, at $7 each. 
MR. ROBINSON’S TOUR.—No. 11. 
Visit to the Plantation of Bishop Polk .—This is 
situated upon the right bank of the bayou La¬ 
fourche, about a mile above Thibodaux, and con¬ 
tains 2,500 arpents, 1,000 or 1,100 of which are in 
cultivation, and a portion of the rest cultivable. 
Of this, 600 arpents were in cane last year—358 
used for sugar, and balance for planting cane, it 
being the bishop’s intention, this year, to have 800 
arpents. Whether he will succeed in getting that 
amount in, I cannot say; but I learn that the terri¬ 
ble ravages of cholera upon his place, w r hich car¬ 
ried off above 70 of his people, has seriously 
injured his growing crop. From the 358 arpents 
last year, he made 510 hogsheads of sugar, and the 
usual quantity of molasses. The year before, he 
made from 470 arpents, 720 hogsheads. His 
usual crop of corn is about 200 arpents. 
When I was on the place, Bishop P.’s people 
numbered 370; but the effective force of field 
hands was not more than one third of that num¬ 
ber, owing to the fact that the stock is a very old 
one, and has been in the same family, (that of Mrs. 
P.’s ancestors, in North Carolina,) ever since the 
year 1697. Now, he has upwards of 30 entirely 
superannuated. There are, also, or were, at that 
time, upwards of 70 children under ten years of 
age. What a host to feed and clothe, and all to be 
looked after and provided for by the care of one 
man ! Quite enough to frighten a New-Engla#id 
farmer. 
The bishop is an experimenting and improving 
planter. He believes in good tillage and manure. 
He has one of the best fluke plows, made upon, 
the place, that I have seen anywhere. The beam 
is 5g feet long, 17 inches high—the handles fast¬ 
ened to the sides of the beam, and supported by a 
standard down to the centre bar, which bar is 29 
inches long. The moldboards are 10 inches high, 
and 27 inches apart behind, and are made of 
wrought iron. He tried an experiment, last year, 
of stripping the cane of leaves, to give it a better 
opportunity to mature, and thinks he found his 
