473 
MARCH 12 THE RURAL NEW-YORKER. 
10 or 12 inches, and had no suckers and the 
cane was large. On one acre he had 160 gal- ( 
Ions—mother planted 3J feet apart, and had SO 
gallons. 
Mr. Hampton, of Hastings, had HO gallons 
from one-h&lf acre, and 10 bushels of nice seed; 
this year but 8* gallons, on account of Buckers. 
The President in his address said *‘VVe are 
making progress. The work of refinery has 
told us that there is as rich a miue of wealth 
in Minnesota as in any State in the Union. Oar 
business is to help develop that wealth. As 
long as so much sugar and glucose are sent 
here I think our chances are good. 1 wish to 
speak of the average yield in gallons for 1879, 
which was Jo38 than 89 gallons per acre. This 
is but a small per cent, of the product saved. I 
bought and weighed at my sugar works in Mor¬ 
ristown 973 acres of cane. It averaged 10 tons 
per acre aud 14 gallons per ton. I also worked 
about 20 acres from which I did not strip the 
leaves, as it was getting late in the season and 
the leaves were in fine condition. This cane 
was cut, moat of it, from September L5 to 18, 
and piled in the field, where it lay nntil I used 
it; it had dried out some. I estimated the 
weight of it at eight tons per acre, making in 
all 1,133 tons used at my works. This pro¬ 
duced 10.100 gallons, or an average Of about 14 
gallons per ton. The actual time in making 
the above was 39 days of 24 hours each. I lost 
some time through the working season, which 
reduced the average yield veiy much. In one 
case 1 obtained 76 gallons from a quarter acre 
of caue. If my caue would average 140 gal¬ 
lons, aud the 8.ate at large only S9 gallons, it 
is evident some of the cane is worked at a 
great loss. The cost of manufacturing the past 
season, to me, was tix cents per gallon, not 
•counting interest on investment—only labor 
and luel being taken into account. If the cane 
had been as good as iu 1879, it would have re¬ 
duced the cost at least ont-fiflh. If the crop 
.ould have beeu worked 39 days from Septem- 
oer 1, instead of being delayed into November, 
a much better yield co*uld have been shown. 
There were produced 7 317 acres of cane. If 
the yield is based on last season's average, we 
would have 549 3S3 gallons. But as better 
machinery is fast being introduced, it is pre¬ 
sumed the actual figures when obtained will be 
much greater. The q uestion now asked me is, 
1 What are the prospects for a market for an¬ 
other year ?’ If it was positively known that 
there would be a good, reliable market, the 
crop could be largeiv increased next season ; 
there is but one small refinery in ibis Slate, and 
a ready market cannot be obtained as soon as 
the sirup is produced. 
Many years' experience has satisfied me that 
three and one-half feet each way planted iu 
check-rows is the best way, and always plant a 
liberal supply of seed, aB it is much easier to 
thin out than to hunt for two or three scatter¬ 
ing stalks, especially if the land is weedy. 
Another thing; If the season is cold, with 
heavy rains, or if some hills are covered more 
than r.ne-half inch deep, if you do not have a 
good stand, you cannot raise a good crop. As 
soon as you can fol'ow the rows I think it pays 
to stir the 6oil close around the hill to give the 
small plant a chance, so that it does uot get 
choked with the weeds. 
In harvesting a crop of cane it is my opinion 
that all that can be used safely without freez¬ 
ing should be worked from the hill or within 
two or tbree days from that time. I have rea¬ 
son to believe that if the cane can be cut aud 
allowed to lie till the leaves are partly dried, 
on large mills a saving of labor can be made; 
but iu smaller operatious I should favor strip¬ 
ping if the cane is to be piled to remain, and in 
large piles stripping is absolutely necessary, as 
the leaves shut out the air and the cane will 
heat and mold. Cane stripped and bound in 40 
or 50-pound bundles, each tier crossed, and a 
space of two feet between piles, if piled pei - 
feetly dry, will keep a good many days with¬ 
out damage. For putting up several hundred 
tons near a mill this would be my plan every 
time. I found whatever damage there was 
this way was from two causes; First, if piled 
when wet; second, if piled nearer than two 
feet from other piles. A little practice will 
enable you to give the piles a little slope on 
the top. We fouud if the cane was stripped 
and bound the teams could haul twice as fast. 
To do a successful business the shed should 
cover the mill and the caue; in two or three days 
of rainy weather, if the works are of large 
capacity, the product will pay all the cost of 
the Bbed. 
Oant-juice contains a vegetable acid that 
en ibles the manufacturer to make a light-col¬ 
ored sirup, but the acid helps to hold quite a per 
cent, of vegetable matter that gives much of 
the stroLg cane taste. A sufficient amount of 
lime to nearly neutralize the acid removes most 
of the vegetable taste, which ariseB iu the scum ; 
the juice if left a little while settles tolerably 
clear, removing most of the cane taste. This 
treatment requires more skill and good Judg¬ 
ment. than all the rest, and the great luck in 
the North to-day is skilled labor .in this depart¬ 
ment. Ualess one has his 6irup contracted to 
responsible parties I do not think it a safe in¬ 
vestment for new beginners that have not had 
any previous knowledge. They can be more 
certain to make a crude article successfully 
the first season. If I were to advise new bc- 
ginuers I should say to them, better give some 
successful man yotir time, if need be, or em¬ 
ploy skilled labor to assist you, especially in 
the department of defecating. Evaporating 
requires the same or nearly as much skill. 
A good article of sirup will always sell as well 
as good coru or other grain. 
The past season I first tried the porous alum 
jelly, using it in the same proportions as gener¬ 
ally recommended. I do not like the results. 
I then tried lime alone, a trifle more than a 
quart of cream of lime and about as thick as 
cream, to 100 gallons of j nice; 1 boiled to about 
220° on a Cook evaporator, and finished the 
product with a steam-pan with a coil of inch 
pipe. I think one-aud-a-hait-inch pipe would 
be better, aud copper pipe is best of all. This 
sirup, if boiled for sugar, should uever be put 
hot in barrets. Remember in cooling the pro¬ 
duct, you cannot be too quick about it. Iu 
fact, the whole business requires dispatch to 
be successful. 
If the product weighs 11J pounds to the gal¬ 
lon this is standard weight at the Belcher re¬ 
finery, and ought to be in this State. Some 
of the product will graiu, if the cane is iu 
condition to make sugar, twelve pounds per 
gallou, if well defecated, aud I doubt if it is 
advisable to boil it heavier than that, as you 
will, with open pans, destroy more sugar than 
you will gain beyond that point. I have 
boiled it heavier, but do not advise it. Mak¬ 
ing sugar from amber sirup when the caue is 
in good condition with good defecation, with 
lime so the litmus paper will look nearly blue, 
and then the lime neutralized with porous 
alum, or, as some call it, sulphate of alumina, 
one pint of the solution to 200 gallons of juice 
put in after the treatment of lime, I have 
made sugar in paying quantities. 
I never have bad a doubt of the future of this 
industry. It waa 15 years after the introduc¬ 
tion of sugar-cane iu Louisiana before the first 
sugar was obtained. Two years ago the sirup 
granulated beautifully, which was my first 
knowledge of clarifying with lime. Although 
the past season I made no sugar, my season’s 
work paid me well. I paid $3 80 per ton for 
the cane delivered to the works in bundles. I 
think It can be delivered for $2 50 and be a 
profitable crop for the grower and manufac¬ 
turer. The expense of good works that will 
work 100 acres, with sufficient buildings, in¬ 
volves quite au outlay, and the manufacturers 
have to take many chances that the grower 
does not share in 1 think it better for the 
manufacturer to produce his cane, rather than 
pay more than 42.50 per ton, as he will then 
secure a profit in addition to the manufactur¬ 
ing. _ 
From the Scientific American we learn that 
Mr. William H. Older, of Packwaukee, Wis., 
has patented an improved construction of 
buildings designed especially for barns upon 
prairies aud other parts of the country where 
timber is scarce. A peculiarly constructed 
frame of limber and wire, the timbers being 
secured by bolts, is the principal feature of 
the invention. The outside may be covered 
with straw thatch, tarred paper, etc. A ser¬ 
viceable building can thus be constructed 
with little timber and at a small cost. 
Also that Mr. UraH. Palmer, of Elizaville, 
Ky , has patented a wheat heater for flour 
mills, in which the grain is heated by the di¬ 
rect contact of hot air, the air being heated by 
a lamp and circulated in currents through 
perforated tubes, among which the grain passes 
by virtue of its own gravity. 
Mk. Charles Niepekauek, of La Grange, 
Texas, has patented a cultivator iu which the 
standards may be adjusted to regulate the 
depih of the cultivators or plows to avoid ob¬ 
structions. Each cultivator or plow standard 
has attached to it an adjustable segment and 
the standards are ail operated together by 
lever and link connections. The plows are 
thus raised, while the main frame upon which 
the operator rides is not raised. 
Mr. Jtjlids Holekamp, ol Comfort, Texas, 
has patented a seed planter whereby corn, 
sorghum, beans, rice, cotton, etc., may be 
planted in hills or drills, and so constructed 
that the 6eed may be plauted in any desired 
quantity, and at any desired distance apart, 
and with the rows at any distance apart- 
The sample man of the Mark Lane Express 
says that when Judge Jones says there is noth¬ 
ing the matter with American cattle, it is no 
matter what Judge Jones says. He denies 
that foot-and-mouth disease exists iu the Uoi- 
ted States, though under the name of epizootic 
auhtha, it is spoken of as a common disease 
by United 8iates papers. He has even ques¬ 
tioned whether any cattle affected with con¬ 
tagious pleuro-pneuiuonia have been sent to 
Eugiaud. Like the ostrich he puts his head iu 
the sand and will uot see what he wishes to 
have ignored When in that country a short 
time back, he did not talk as he writes now in 
the Chicago Livestock Journal 
Now putting aside all claims to the superior 
nutritive value of ensilage over green fodder, 
the Maine Farmer contends that fine advan¬ 
tages are of sufficient importance to deman l a 
careful consideration before the process is 
condemned as of no value, ft is a very diffi¬ 
cult thing to dry green com fodder in the sun, 
and a rain storm will wash out. twentj-flve per 
cent, of its value very quickly, if packed 
away in the barn when too green, it heats and 
molds and becomes poisonous. If it grows 
stout and loug, like that, described by Whit¬ 
man and Burrell, 'out little more than half of 
it cau be eaten by ihe animals, whereas when 
cut up and ensilaged, it becomes soft and is 
easily masticated. 
The “Mammoth,” or “ Russian,” sunflower 
is one of those plants which are periodically 
“pushed” ana recommended as furnishing 
not ODly the best food for poultry, but also ex¬ 
cellent fodder lor cattle, and always reacy 
kindling material for the kitchen stove te- 
sides. Dr. H ■xamer tells the N. Y. Tribane 
that he has tried it, and would not take three 
acres of sunflowers for one of coin. His hens 
prefer the corn, bis cows the corn-stalks, and 
the cook the corn-cobs for kindling material. 
Farmers as a rule know a good thing when 
,jhty see it, and wbeu a crop has been recom¬ 
mended as persistently aud as long as sun¬ 
flowers, without finding more favor, there is 
generally some material defect about it 
Says the Indiana Farmer, “A Warrick 
county farmer recently lost eleven horses and 
mules from eating corn stalks, which being cut 
tip formed indigestible balls in their stomachs, 
producing death in a short time.” 
NOTES FROM THE SOUTHWEST. 
This immediate vicinity is beiug tram- 
formed by the vegetable business. I doubt if 
500 cars will measure the business this year. 
All round the city land is taken up in gardens. 
Potatoes,cabbages, peas, beans, lettuce, onions, 
etc., are raised. People from a distance are 
coming in. Our markets are St- Louis, Chi¬ 
cago, Louisville. Cincinnati, Indianapolis, etc , 
none of them 48 hours away by express, and 
within safe distance by fast freight. Up ihe 
Mobile and Ohio Railroad the. work of raising 
fruits aud vegetables has reached, in spots, as 
high as Meridian, Miss. Doubtless there will 
be a great business in this in the future, as 
there are millions of acres of Government 
laud homesteadible in a beautiful, healthful 
countiy, where there is an abundance of fine 
marl. 
In this pine-woods belt sheep raising is to 
have a great future. Most of the lambs have 
already been dropped. Sheep are wonderfully 
fecund, multiplying at the rate of 100 per ceut. 
per annum, veiy healthy, aud cost little or 
nothing for maintenance, there beiug millions 
of acres for range. There is a great, demaud 
for the wool, and, as it is of very fine quality, 
it sells as high as 60 cents per pound for un¬ 
washed Mcriuo on the spot where raised. Peo¬ 
ple from a distance are just beginning to ap¬ 
preciate this business. In the next few years 
the pint-woodsof Southeastern Mississippi and 
of Southern Alabama will be great sheep- 
waiks. 
In East Mississippi, in the superb prairie 
belt, stock raising is receiving a great impulse. 
Many parties, within the last two or tbree 
years, have sown grass aud bought stock. 1 ne 
fields ol clover, Blue Grass, Meadow Fescue 
and other grasses are to be found. People by 
the score are raising one kiud of stock or an¬ 
other. Tbree years ago you could have count¬ 
ed all the stock raisers in Eastern Mississippi 
oa the fingers of both hands; now there are a 
hundred, perhaps. The Stock Breeders’ Asso¬ 
ciation was organized there iu January, 1879, 
with 11 members. Even some of these had no 
stock. Now there i^re nearly 300 members. 
Borne of the most iuflaeatial meu iu the State 
are stock raisers. The cattle are Jerseys, 
Short-horns, Devons and Galloways. The 
sheep are mainly Merinos, Cotswolds aud 
South-Downs. Diversified industries seem to 
have been better illustrated in Eastern Missis¬ 
sippi than in any other portion of the Slate. 
Another novel industry, for the Sottlh, is the 
raising of peppermint lor distillation. The 
past year it has been proved by several trials 
to be a great success. Two gentlemen from 
Michigan tried the herb in five or six different 
localities. It proved so great a success that 
they are planting to their utmost capacity. It 
cau be cut twice a year, and makes as good oil 
as is to be fouud any where. The richest sort of 
black prairie soil is to be bad at from 48 to $10 
per acre, aud the mint raisers <>f Michigan say 
that the industry in Mississippi defies compe¬ 
tition. 
The planting of the Castor Bean is being agi- 
i tated, with expectations that in a year or two 
I It will be a most profitable and engrossing in- 
ustry. The plant is very prolific in the South ; 
its long season of ripening is greatly in favor 
of its cultivation in this section. It bears 
enormous crops and is wonderfully vigorous. 
A great feature is that the cottot:-?eed oil-millers 
will greedily buy up all the beans, to give em¬ 
ployment to their mills in the Summer and 
save them from being idle so long a lime every 
year, This gives a borne market, with active 
competition among the buyers. In a few years 
you may look for thousands of> acres. ave, tens 
of thousands, to be planted under this beautiful 
crop. 
Another very hopeful sign for that country is 
that immigration is beginning to come in ; not 
much just yet, but the iullnx has begun, and 
those who have come have come to stay. Men 
from Kansas and Michigan and. msybe, from 
other States, have come down and are well 
pleased, and their friends will soon follow. 
Almost every tbiog that is needed can he raised 
there. Wheat and cotton, corn and sugar¬ 
cane, rice and clover, rye, barley, buckwheat, 
all the vegetables and mauy fruits will grow 
side l y side in the richest of 6oils, a fine cli¬ 
mate and as healthy a count? y as is to be found, 
with land that once sold at 450 to $100 per acre, 
for sale now at $8 to $15. 
One of the mo-t gratifying of all demon¬ 
strations is the success of the Agricultural 
and Mechanical Uoltege of Mississippi. It 
has been open six months. No one ever 
suspect* d that it would have over 200 stu¬ 
dents, if that many, for years; yet. in less than 
three months, there have been over 300 matric¬ 
ulations. and I suppose over 200 have beeu re¬ 
pulsed for want of room. No college in this 
country can compare wiih it. A perfect craze 
for an agiicultural education seems to have 
seiz d the State. The most distinguished and 
wealthy men, from members 'of tbe United 
Stales Senate down, are sending their boys 
there to make farmers of them. At this col¬ 
lege compulsory farm labor is a part of the 
curriculum. Each boy must work three hours 
per day for five days iu the wetk. He must 
plow, harrow, dig ditches, hoe, fence, do any¬ 
thing that Is needed to be done on the farm—a 
farm of 800 or more acres, utterly poor and 
out of shape. Military discipline prevails, too. 
The boys have to rise early, make their beds 
and keep their rooms tidy. They have to drill 
evei y day. Tin y have to go to bed at a certain 
hour. They are under discipline most of the 
time. They study under the watchful rye of 
the “officer of the day.” At night they are 
under espionage in their rooms. The corri¬ 
dors of the dormitories are patrolled by stu¬ 
dents all night, as sentinels. sr. b. h. 
Mobile, Ala. 
♦ >» — ■ ■ 
RURAL SPECIAL REPORTS, 
Ark., Poteau. 8cott Co,, Feb. 31 —Since 
January 1st, there has been an unusual amount 
of snow here, but the weather has not been so 
cold as iu D'ceiuber. The ground has been 
entirely clear of snow only twice since Novem¬ 
ber. For the past few days the prospects 
have been good for some Spring weather (In 
fact, the maples arc in bloom) ; but at prestnt 
the outlook is good for a snow-storm. This 
Winter has been a very unfavorable one for 
farming. Mary who hadn’t their cotton pick¬ 
ed when the November “squall" came will 
have it to pick this Spring when they should 
be preparing tlieir laud for another crop. In 
this countiy we generally sow oats and break 
corn land iu this month ; but tbe weather will 
not admit of breaking land this year. It is 
feared that fruit is killed in the bud here, but 
as far as I have exaaiiucd, 1 find that it is all 
right, although some trees are winter-killed. 
h. c. B. 
Jll. Pana, Christian Co., Feb. 23.—We have 
had a long, steady, cold Winter. From Novem¬ 
ber 15, thiDgs have been frozen up solid, with 
but little snow; tbe depth of it has not ex¬ 
ceeded at any one time more than five inches. 
We have had only very little sleighing, but the 
best of wheeling, the ground being bare but 
frozen. Winter wheat is all right so far as I 
know, having given my personal attention and 
a close examination in 40 acres of my own, of 
which 28 acres were sown in due season and 12 
acres of such late sowing that it barely came 
up before Winter set in. I am satisfi d it is all 
good. Peaches are undoubtedly killed. As to 
apples and cherries, they are all right. 
D. B. P. 
III., Highland, Madison Co., Feb. IS.— 
Apples are sound yet, at least the buds I exam¬ 
ined were so. Peach trees are, 1 believe, frozen 
nearly to the ground. Among pears and sweet 
cherries the buds I looked at were all frozen. 
Of small fruits I can sey nothing; neither can 
I of grapes. c. L k. 
Iowa, Aplisgton. Butler Co., Feb. lo.-Wehave 
had a long, cold Wiuter, with plenty of 6now, 
Rail and wagon roads have been blocked badly. 
We have had 38 snowstoims already. H;g6 
are about all so <1, tint we have some beef cattle 
here yet. Not much wheat was rat-ed here 
iast year. Farmer- go in preuy heavy on fl ix, 
whicn is worih about 41 per bushel now for 
seed; oats, 2fe.; corn, 20c. l. e. c. 
