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THE CULTIVATOR. 
9 
mal, are often preferred. We consider the Devon as 
admirably fitted to cross, for working cattle, with some 
of our native breeds. The Devons were introduced 
into Berkshire county some dozen years ago by Col. 
Dwight; and at thelast fair in that county we thought 
the working cattle surpassed any we had before seen, 
and we attributed their excellence in a great measure 
to the Devon blood which we saw strongly developed 
in some of the finest individuals. We unhesitatingly 
recommend a cross of the Devons upon our native 
cattle, as a certain means of improving both their 
working and fattening properties. 
Beet Sugar. 
We have received several inquiries for information 
in regard to the manufacture of beet sugar, particu¬ 
larly the household manufacture. The sugar beet 
has been raised in various parts of our country, but 
we do not learn that any advances have been made 
in the manufacture of beet sugar. It seems to be 
well settled, that the manufacture is carried on more 
economically and profitably in large establishments, 
where steam power is employed, than it can be in 
small, and particularly in household establishments. 
The best directions we have seen for the latter, are 
contained in the report made to the French Royal So¬ 
ciety, translated by Dr. Spoor, and published in the 
last volume of the Cultivator. 
In general terms, the manufacture of beet sugar 
may be managed like the manufacture of maple su¬ 
gar, after the roots are rasped and the juice express¬ 
ed. The juice is to be boiled down, the syrup clari¬ 
fied, or defecated, and the process finished in the same 
manner that should be practised with the sap of the 
maple. The principal difference in the two operations 
is, that better materials are used, and more care em¬ 
ployed, in clarifying the beet, than is ordinarily used 
in the maple process. Animal charcoal may be ob¬ 
tained in any family, by charring common bones in 
an iron covered vessel, say a bake pan. Cream of 
lime is but another name for whitewash. These are 
the chief materials used in purifying the beet, which 
are not used in the process of clarifying maple sugar. 
It will be seen by a letter from A. Dey, Esq. in the 
extra which accompanies this, that a new process of 
manufacturing beet sugar has been patented in Great 
Britain, which promises important advantages. We 
are at the same time notified, through the National 
Gazette, that an important discovery has recently 
been made in the Duchy of Baden, for the desiccation, 
or drying the beet root, without impairing its saccha¬ 
rine qualities, by which means the manufacturing pro¬ 
cess may be continued throughout the year. The 
saccharine matter is besides in a double state of con¬ 
centration. One hundred pounds of the root (we pre¬ 
sume in its undried state,) are said to give, under the 
new process, ten pounds of sugar. The process has 
been examined by two commissions, one of Bavaria, 
and the other of Wurtemburgh. After six weeks la¬ 
bor in the manufacture, the two bodies declared as 
certain the advantages announced. Several compa¬ 
nies have been formed on the continent to profit by 
the improvement. Our late agricultural convention 
have charged a competent committee to investigate 
and report upon the subject of beet sugar, at their 
next meeting; and from the character of the gentle¬ 
men named on the committee, we anticipate an able 
and valuable report. 
While on the subject, we will repeat, what does 
not appear to be generally understood, that large roots 
do not yield near so much sugar, in proportion to weight, 
as roots that are of medium or diminutive size. And fur¬ 
ther, a fact that we have seen demonstrated by three 
years’ experience, after the beet has attained to ma¬ 
turity, which is known by the tops ceasing lo grow, 
and the under leaves becoming shrivelled and yellow, 
the roots deteriorate—the sugar is changed to potash — 
according lo the time they are left in the ground after the 
plant has ceased to grow. These remarks apply equal¬ 
ly to the sugar beet, common beet and mangold wurt- 
zel—whether raised for the table, for sugar, or for 
farm stock. 
Egyptian Wheat. 
This was spoken of, with the other varieties of 
spring wheat, in our September number, volume iv. 
Since that time our attention has been particularly 
turned to this grain, by the receipt of several parcels 
kindly sent us, and by repeated inquiries where the 
seed could be purchased, and at what price. It has 
also been highly commended in the news journals. 
This wheat is known under the various names of 
Egyptian, Syrian, Smyrna, many spiked, reed, and wild- 
goose wheat. It derives its latter name from a story, 
which is current in the north, that four or five ker¬ 
nels, from w T hich the American stock has proceeded, 
was found in the crop of a wild goose, which was shot 
about four years ago, on the west shore of Lake 
Champlain. It is called reed wheat from the great 
strength of its straw, which serves to prevent its be¬ 
ing prostrated in the field. 
The first notice we have of this species of wheat in 
the United States, is in the Memoirs of the Philadel¬ 
phia Society for Promoting Agriculture. A parcel of 
it was received in 1807, by the society, from Gen. 
Armstrong, then our minister at Paris. This grain 
was grown five or six years by Judge Peters, and 
proved to be very productive; a pint of seed, sown in 
drills and hoed, giving one bushel and a peck of grain. 
But we find the judge saying, after three or four years’ 
trial, that it had not “ thriven so as to encourage ex¬ 
tensive culture.” In a more southern latitude, he ex¬ 
presses a belief that it would do well. It was exten¬ 
sively distributed; but from our not having heard 
more about it in the last twenty-six years, we believed 
it had not proved a valuable accession to our husband- 
ry. 
We have seen beautiful fields of this wheat. We 
sowed a sample specimen two years ago, but on be¬ 
ing assured by a friend that it was inferior for flour, 
we gave it up. In the Philadelphia edition of the Do¬ 
mestic Encyclopaedia, printed in 1821, we find it stat¬ 
ed, that this kind of grain does not yield so much flour 
or meal as any of the other kinds of wheat, and that 
“ the flour is scarcely superior to that obtained from 
the finest barley.” 
Having said thus much, which we felt bound to say 
in the line of duty, as to the character and introduc¬ 
tion of this grain into our country—it remains only for 
us to add, that the seed may be procured of our friend 
Mr. Thor burn, at five dollars a bushel. 
Harrowing Grain .—This is the proper season to 
call the attention of farmers to this subject, as the ope¬ 
ration should be performed as soon as the ground is 
sufficiently settled to bear the cattle. We have pub¬ 
lished several articles, showing the manifest utility of 
spring harrowing winter grain, and explaining the 
why and the wherefore. The harrow should be light, 
and if the teeth are long, it is well to intertwine a few 
branches of pine or other wood among them, to pre¬ 
vent them cutting too deep. The operation closes 
the fissures caused by the earth contracting as it 
does, pulverizes and opens the surface to the genial 
influence of heat and moisture, and, by covering the 
crowns of the plants, causes them to tiller more abun¬ 
dantly. We advise, that in every case, eight or ten 
pounds of clover seed be sown to the acre before the 
harrow is introduced. It will more than repay the 
expense of seed, in the fertility it imparts to the soil, 
to say nothing of the value of the herbage for farm 
stock. 
Trimming Hedges. —Anderson, who is good autho¬ 
rity in agricultural matters, makes this an essential 
rule in clipping hedges : not to cut the top of the stem, 
until it has acquired sufficient stability lo resist even a 
bull. The sides are of course to be clipped, in a slop¬ 
ing direction, so as to give the hedge a conical form. 
Meteorological .—The mean temperature at Albany, 
from Dec. 26, 1887, to January 24,1838, was32 p ,96'. 
During the same period in 1836-7, the mean tempe¬ 
rature was 14°, 96',—showing the remarkable diffe¬ 
rence of 18 degrees in the temperature of the seasons. 
On referring to the meteorological tables for the eleven 
years previous to 1837, it appears that the mean tem¬ 
perature of 1836 was about two degrees colder than 
that of any of the other eleven years, and eight de¬ 
grees colder than the mean average of the whole pe¬ 
riod. We have not seen noted the mean tempera¬ 
ture of 1837, but it was probably lower, some two or 
three degrees, than even that of 1836; or this at 
least must have been the case during the summer 
months, as many garden productions, as melons, egg¬ 
plants, grapes, &c. were more backward in ripening, 
and even indigenous seeds, as the butternut, walnut, 
three thorned locust, &c. did not attain to that matu¬ 
rity which they reached in 1836. On consulting the 
meteorological tables for past years, there appears 
much to warrant the opinion, that we have had a suc¬ 
cession of cold, and afterwards of comparatively warm 
seasons. We had a succession of cold seasons sub¬ 
sequent to the great solar eclipse in 1806; another 
succession of them in 1816 and the following years ; 
and the last few years have been progressively grow¬ 
ing colder up to the present period. Whether the 
present mild winter is indicative of a favorable change, 
we do not pretend to conjecture. We give below the 
mean temperature of the last eleven years, as copied 
from the Academic Report of 1836 : 
1826 ..51.07 
1827 .. 49.62 
1828 .. 51.36 
1829 ..48.20 
1830 .. 50.65 
1831 .. 49.15 
1532 ..48.10 
1833 .. 47.62 
1834 .. 48.53 
1835 .. 46.17 
1836 .. 44.73 
The conversion of Winter into Spring Wheat is ef¬ 
fected in this way : When sown in the spring, win¬ 
ter wheat is said to send up only a comparatively few 
seed stocks, the lateral shoots will be weak, and the 
crop consequently light. If the seed from this, how¬ 
ever, be sown the next spring, it will throw out strong¬ 
er stems, will tiller with more luxuriance, and, if the 
operation be repeated in the following year, it will 
then be found converted into summer wheat. 
A sample of the products of the New Husbandry.-—- 
“In the year 1810,” says the late John Lorrain, in his 
System of Husbandry, “besides soiling forty head of 
cattle and seven horses, the following products were 
obtained from eighty-five acres of land, to wit: 
1750 bushels of potatoes. 
817 do. Indian corn. 
222f do. barley. 
60 tons of hay. 
1391 loads of manure, of 32 cubic feet each. 
The manure, however, was the product of winter as 
well as summer feeding. The above product, with¬ 
out enumerating the value of the dung, was estimat¬ 
ed at 2,799 dollars ”—p. 312—equal to an average 
product, lacking a fraction, of $33 the acre. 
Dutton Corn .—There is nothing good and com¬ 
mendable but what has its counterfeit; and we regret 
to notice, that some late agricultural writers would not 
only make us answerable for the faults of the coun¬ 
terfeit, but responsible for the impositions which have 
been practised upon Mr. Thorburn, our worthy seeds¬ 
man. Having cultivated the Dutton corn eighteen 
years, without having it once materially injured by frost, 
we ventured to recommend it as an excellent and ear¬ 
ly field variety for our latitude—but not as the earliest 
variety of corn. But it seems our neighbor Thorburn 
has sold seed, as Dutton corn, which was not early. 
It is proper to say, that our seed forms but a small 
portion of what Mr. Thorburn sells—and is generally 
off’ his hands early in January. Mr. Wm. Thorburn 
has been imposed upon, and has bought and sold seed, 
as Dutton corn, which was not such—and which he 
afterwards ascertained either did not grow, or did not 
ripen early. We have nothing further to offer in sup¬ 
port of our opinion in regard to this variety of corn, 
than the numerous testimonials in its favor from our 
correspondents, published in the volumes of the Culti¬ 
vator. 
Baden Corn .—To those who have applied to us for 
Baden Corn, we remark, that the seed is not to be 
had in this neighborhood, and probably not north of 
Philadelphia or Baltimore. We cultivated a few hills, 
but it lacked some weeks of coming to maturity when 
the frost killed it. It will not ripen, we think, in New- 
York. 
Texian Corn .—We have received samples of this 
from Harrisburgh and from North Carolina. Each 
kernel is enveloped in a husk—the grain is hand¬ 
some, but light. We have tried it. It will not ripen 
in our climate. 
Deterioration of Soil. 
Our misfortune has been, and still is, we do not pro¬ 
perly appreciate the exhausting influence of our-sys¬ 
tem of husbandry upon the fertility of our soil. There 
are many in the fertile west who alfect to believe, that 
their lands will bear constant cropping with wheat, or 
wheat and clover alternately, and who hence disre¬ 
gard their manures, the primary source of fertili ty.— 
The pioneers in the valleys of the Hudson andfitfollaw'k 
once, rio doubt, thought the same, and acted, or prac¬ 
tised upon this belief, till made sensible of their error 
by the contrast in the products of old and new lands. 
Although many have now become sensible of the ru¬ 
inous effects of the old system, but few, as yet, have 
commenced the needed reform. 
In regard to West New-York, where we admit 
the soil is naturally more fertile, and more abiding in 
fertility, than the lands originally were in the eastern 
part of the state, we have pretty good evidence that 
the fertilty is diminishing, especially where wheat is 
made the continued object of culture. Thomas Bur- 
rall, Esq. has a most excellent wheat farm in the neigh¬ 
borhood of Geneva, which he began to clear and im¬ 
prove twenty-one or twenty-two years ago, and on 
which he has made and applied much manure. Mr. 
Burrall informed us, in the summer of 1836, that he 
had noted down the average product of his wheat 
crop every year; that dividing the 20 years into three 
periods, he found that his wheat had averaged 29 bush¬ 
els per acre during the first of these periods, 25 bush¬ 
els the acre during, the second, and but 20 bushels the 
acre during the third' period —ih showing a dimi¬ 
nished fertility of nearly one-thir?q under what may 
there be denominated a good system of husbandry_ 
We do not precisely know what Mr. Burrall’s prac¬ 
tice has been; but we presume that if it has been 
faulty, the fault has consisted in making wheat the 
great and primary object of culture, thereby impair¬ 
ing the amount of its specific food; and that a reme¬ 
dy for the evil would be found, in cultivating other crops 
more, and wheat less. At all events, his experience 
admonishes wheat growers, that their lands will dete¬ 
riorate, if they return this grain too often to the same 
field. 
