26 
THE RURAL NEW-YORKER 
JAN. io 
Amber Cane. 
Malcom Little, Wayne County. N. 
Y.—In a recent number of The R. N.-Y. 
Henry Stewart says that the crushed stalks 
of Amber Cane are of no use except for fuel. 
This may be the case in the South, but in 
western New York they are found to be 
excellent food for stock. They have been 
used for several years on this farm and 
when the cane is crushed with the leaves 
on, it is excellent fodder in connection with 
hay. Animals eat it up clean with apparent 
relish and do well on it. For the benefit of 
many who may desire to cultivate and 
manufacture cane another year I will give 
the process which has been used on our 
farm for several years with excellent re¬ 
sults. 
Cane is raised exactly like corn except 
that the seed must not be planted deep, or 
it will not germinate. Well drained land 
is best for either corn or cane. When the 
sap runs from the mill it contains a consid¬ 
erable amount of cerosine, cellulose, starch, 
pectine, albumen and chlorophyl, and all of 
these must be removed without heat, else 
they will leave a disagreeable taste in the 
syrup. This is done by sulphurizing. The 
mill on our farm is nine feet above the 
boiling house. The juice is conducted from 
the mill to the sulphur box through 1% 
inch gas-pipe. The sulphur box is built of 
inch boards; it is 10 by 12 inches and 6 
feet high. It has 12 shelves inside, 6 on 
each side, which slant towards each other. 
In passing from shelf to shelf the juice is 
broken into spray and the sulphur fumes 
from the bottom come in contact with 
every part of it. The sulphur box stands 
perpendicularly on a second horizontal box 
made of similar lumber and four feet long. 
The lower box is filled two-thirds full of 
water. There is a hole in the bottom of 
the box to let off the water, one two- 
thirds of the way up to show when there is 
water enough, and one at the top to admit 
the water. At one end is a small tight box 
in which the sulphur is burned. Common 
roll brimstone, costing from two to four 
cents per pound, is used and it is burned in 
an iron pan admitted into the burning 
box through a sliding door at the end. A 
two inch tin tube admits the sulphur fumes 
into the water box, where they give up 
their sulphuric acid; they pass thence 
through a similar tube into the bottom of 
the sulphur box and escape—after having 
passed through the juice—through a three- 
inch tin tube which passes out through the 
roof of the building. The juice flows out 
of the sulphur box through a rubber hose 
pipe into a small tank, from which it is 
pumped into a large tank above the level 
of the pan with a common boat pump. 
Here it is allowed to settle for at least 12 
hours. It may remain several days if 
more convenient, as the sulphur destroys 
all germs which would cause fermentation. 
Sugar has been made from juice which 
had stood six days. The settling tanks are 
arranged so that their contents can be 
drawn off from the bottom into the heating 
tank through 1% inch gas-pipe with a fine 
sieve hung at the end. The first quart or 
more drawn is caught in a pail and thrown 
away ; after that the juice will run clear to 
the top of the sediment. When the dregs 
begin to come out close the pipe, add one- 
third the bulk of the settlings to them, stir 
them, allow them to settle and draw off the 
clear liquid as before. The remainder 
makes good food for pigs with the addition 
of a little bran and meal. If making mo¬ 
lasses for sugar add a little milk of lime in 
the heating tank. Enough lime is used to 
turn blue litmus paper to a neutral tint— 
about one pint of milk of lime to each bar¬ 
rel of juice. For syrup no lime need be 
used, for the product is lighter colored 
without it. 
From the heating tank the juice passes 
through a filter into the evaporating pan. 
The filter is of oak, 30 inches high, 16% 
inches in diameter at the bottom and 20% 
inches at the top. It is very strong. In the 
bottom there is a chamber four inches deep 
with a false bottom above, perforated with 
three-quarter-inch holes. In the center of 
the false bottom is a two-inch hole into 
which a tin tube 30 inches long is closely 
fitted. There is a gate at the bottom of the 
filter through which impurities are drawn 
off. A thin layer of straw is placed on the 
false bottom, and it is then filled with 
sand and fine gravel which have been pre 
viously washed. The filter holds about 
two bushels. The juice flows from the 
heater into the tin tube in the filter, passes 
to the bottom and filters up, passing out at 
the top through an inch hose pipe into the 
coolest part of the evaporator, in a constant 
stream. 
The evaporator used is the American No- 
5% and the mill the Pearl No. 4, both made 
by Geo. L. Squier of Buffalo, N. Y. The 
evaporator has two dampers near the center 
and there are two flues in the arch from the 
dampers to the rear of the pan. The arch 
burns either wood or bagasse, the latter is 
preferred if the weather is favorable for 
drying. One day will dry it sufficiently 
for burning if the air is right. The arch is 
built of brick and stone. The fire pot is 
eight feet long and four feet four inches 
high from the bottom of the ash-pit. It has 
an iron door and frame. The arch proper 
is 16x20 inches at the door, and 18x30 inches 
at the rear. It is built of fire-brick, but 
any good brick will do. It is covered with 
stone and clay. Three strong posts are 
securely planted on each side of the stone¬ 
work and three-quarter-inch iron rods 
across the top of the arch connect them 
in pairs. They are fastened with heads and 
nuts. All the work must be thoroughly 
done, as the heat is intense. 
The grates are three feet long and three 
feet from the door. From the back of the 
grates there is a rise of one-third pitch 
(eight inches), then it pitches the other way 
down to the ground, where there is a hole 
left through the wall to clean out the 
ashes from under the pan. This is stopped 
up with loose bricks and plastered with 
clay. From this point there is a gradual 
rise for about six feet to the dampers. 
The flues are eight inches deep behind the 
dampers. The flue leading up to the heater 
is eight inches at the bottom and 11 inches 
at the top. It is the whole width of the 
heater. As it passes under the latter the 
flue is about six inches deep. It enters the 
smoke stack at the end farthest from the 
fire. The arch is raised 2% feet at the rear 
to accommodate the heating tank, which 
is made of 1% inch pine plank, put together 
with white lead and griped and furnished 
with a No. 16 iron bottom. The settling 
tanks are made in the same way except 
that they have wooden bottoms. They are 
all painted with red lead and oil to prevent 
leaking. I have gone into exact details, 
remembering the long hours of anxious 
study which were given to the' subject be¬ 
fore this arch and accompaniments were 
planned. 
The use of sulphur is a great convenience, 
as it is not necessary to work nights unless 
there is a great amount to be done. The 
juice will not sour after the sulphur bath, 
and if fermentation has begun the sulphur 
will stop it. 
The evaporation of syrup must be very 
rapid, and hot syrup should be cooled in 
tanks of cold water to attain the lightest- 
colored product possible. Syrup should be 
boiled to 224 degrees Fahrenheit and drawn 
into the coolers through a strainer. Fre¬ 
quent skimming is required while the juice 
is boiling, but the “ green scum ” which 
gave so much trouble years ago is left in 
the settling tanks. 
We have made a small quantity of raw 
sugar on several occasions by boiling 
the molasses in an iron kettle on the kitch¬ 
en stove to from 230 to 235 degrees Fahren¬ 
heit, leaving it in an earthen vessel in the 
warming closet of the stove till crystallized 
and then draining it in a bowl through 
which a few small holes had been drilled. 
We sometimes pressed the molasses from 
the crystals in a muslin bag. All sugar, 
except maple, requires expensive machinery 
but it is more than probable that much of 
the bounty on sugar will be paid for on 
that made from sorghum. Beet sugar 
making was not profitable at the beginning, 
and I am told that some molasses made 
from Southern cane is less rich in sweets 
than others. The Amber Cane industry is 
in its infancy. The syrup sells readily in 
this section for 50 cents per gallon. If the 
government would allow a small bounty on 
every gallon of molasses made at the 
North, a sugar industry would be developed, 
for molasses enough would be produced of 
a required grade to make sugar-making a 
necessity. At present the syrup is worth 
more than the sugar would be. 
Since writing the above, I notice that the 
Annual Report of the Chief of the Chemical 
Division of the Agricultural Department 
gives an account by which $84 worth of 
alcohol used in connection with molasses 
will increase the product of sugar from 
1,000 gallons of molasses from 10,000 pounds 
to 21,997 pounds. 
The Stock Does Not Change the 
Flavor of the Fruit of the Graft. 
W. C. Cusick, Union County, Oregon. 
—In The R.N.-Y. of December 6, page 835, 
Mr. Mulloy, of Ky., speaking of grafting 
cultivated grapes on wild stocks, says : 
“ I thought they (the fruit) had a little of 
the strong taste of the Winter Grape, but 
suppose I am mistaken, because I have 
never heard of the fruit of a graft par¬ 
taking of the nature of the stock in which 
it has grown,” and in a note below The 
Rural indorsed the opinion. Allow me to 
give a little of my own observation. 
About 25 years ago I was teaching in the 
western portion of this State; some of my 
pupils, one morning, brought me some 
Golden Sweet Apples. So far as outside 
appearances went, they were perfect speci¬ 
mens of that variety in every respect, but 
when tasted they were so sour and bitter 
as to be quite worthless. The statement was 
that the fruit was from a Golden Sweet 
that had been grafted into a wild (Oregon) 
crab (Pyrus rivularis). I did not see the 
tree, I am sorry to say, but have no doubt 
of the correctness of the statement. The 
fruit of the Oregon crab is small, a little 
larger, but of the same form as the Eastern 
Black Haw, growing in the same umbel- 
like clusters. It is very sour, but pleasant. 
Nitrogen In Stable Manure. 
T. H. Hoskins, M. D., Orleans County, 
Vt.—I notice on page 880 the R. N.-Y.’s 
quotation from Mr. Bowker, in which he 
says that an admixture of a portion of 
phosphatic material In the form of Carolina 
floats with stable manure causes a loss of 
value in the compost rather than a gain, 
because the carbonate of lime in the floats 
acts so as to free the ammonia. I noted 
also on the same page, in “Brevities,” the 
suggestion to readers that they should try 
keeping the hen manure wet, with the view 
of retaining its ammonia. It seems to me 
that the same remedy is as good for stable 
manure. But I think this whole matter 
of ammonia in manure is misunderstood. 
There is no free ammonia, or but a minute 
quantity, in fresh stable manure. Its ni¬ 
trogen exists in its effete organic com¬ 
pounds, which are not volatile, and there is 
no “ammonia” in the manure untilde- 
composition has commenced. Unless the 
change in the manure is accompanied with 
considerable heat the ammonia formed 
does not escape from the pile, but is ab¬ 
sorbed by the water of the manure. Even 
when it is escaping so that it can be 
smelled, the quantity is often almost infini¬ 
tesimal. I should like to have the experi¬ 
ment carefully repeated at one or more of 
our experiment stations. If Mr. Bowker’s 
fears are justified by the results in the case 
of Carolina floats, let fine bone be tried, or a 
plain superphosphate in place of floats. 
An easy remedy (if the evil really exists) 
would be found in wetting the pile, and if 
the water used had, say, an ounce to the 
gallon of sulphuric acid in it, so much the 
better. 
(Continued on next page.) 
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