OCT. § 
THE RURAL NEW-YORKER. 
833 
A NOTE FROM THE RURAL GROUNDS. 
The extensive preparations which we are 
making for onr free seed distribution as well 
as sickness in the Bubal family, have prevented 
us from attending, as we had desired, to the 
promised Pelargonium present to our lady sub¬ 
scribers to whom alone the offor was made. It 
was our intention to require them to send 
stamps for the prepayment of postage. This 
will not now be required. We will send a few 
cuttings to applicants upon the receipt of their 
address plainly written. All applications must 
be received previous to Oct. 7. 
--- 
A NEW PROCESS FOR SUGAR-MAKING. 
We are always anxious to give our readers the 
earliest information on all subjects likely to 
affect their welfare. There have been very few 
inventions, of recent date, more likely to do this 
than a new process for cryatalizing Bugar from 
corn-stalks and sorghum, the discovery of which 
is claimed by F. L. Stewart, a chemist of Penn¬ 
sylvania, and which has recently been success¬ 
fully tested on a small scale by Professor Col¬ 
lier, chemist of the Agricultural Department at 
Washington. Professor Stewart claims to have 
discovered certain chemical preparations, by the 
use of which every farmer will be enabled to 
undertake the manufacture of sugar from his 
own corn-stalks and sorghum, without the large 
outlay necessary to produce sugar from sugar¬ 
cane. The nature of these chemicals, and the 
method in which thoy operate, are as yet secrets, 
and the inventor expects to derive his profits 
from the use of these articles, of which he has 
the monopoly. 
The following is a condensed account of the 
prooess of making sugar by this new method 
First—So soon as the j mca has been pressed 
out of the corn-stalks or sorghum, heat it in a 
copper or tin-lined vessel to a temperature of 
185° Fah., as shown by a thermometer, the bulb 
of which is immersed in the juice. 
Second—When the juice has attained this 
temperature, stir into it a fluid ounce of lime to 
each gallon of juice, or from five to seven pints 
of the former to each hundred gallons of the 
latter. 
Third—Then heat the whole rapidly to the 
boiling point. 
Fourth—So soon as it begins to boil, if heated 
by steam, shut off the steam, or otherwise re¬ 
move the juice from the fire, and when the 
sediment begins to settle, draw off with a siphon 
the clear liquid from the top until nine-tenths of 
the whole quantity of juice has been removed, 
leaving a thick, muddy sediment at the bottom. 
Fifth—Place this sediment in a bag and add 
the liquid that filters from it through the bag to 
the clean liquid which has been siphoned off. 
Sixth—The clear liquid which has been ob¬ 
tained by siphoniug and filtering should be al¬ 
lowed to cool to 150° Fah. and then there 
should be added to it Solution B,—one of Pro¬ 
fessor Stewart’s preparations—at the rate of 
one fluid ounce to a gallon of juioe, or from five 
to seven pints to a hundred gallons. Enough 
of the solution should be added to neutralize the 
lime in the juice, and this point can be deter¬ 
mined by dipping a piece of blue litmus paper 
into the juioe, when if enough of the solution 
has been added, the color of the paper will 
ohange to red. 
Seventh—The juioe must be rapidly evap¬ 
orated and skimmed frequently to remove any 
scum from the surface, while small quantities of 
Solution B. must be added, if the boiling jnioe 
will not tarn the blue litmus paper red. 
Eighth—When the boiling syrup has attained 
a temperature of 235° Fah., as shown by a ther¬ 
mometer immersed in it, it must be removed 
from the fire, and kept to crystallize in a room 
whose temperature should be about 80 Fah. To 
promote crystallization a few grains of granu¬ 
lated sugar may be added te the cooling syrup 
when it has reached a temperature of 100° Fah. 
Should this discovery prove as efficacious on 
a large scale as it is reported to have done on a 
small one, it will be of vast importance to the 
agricultural community, and consequently to the 
nation at large. The subject is, therefore, one 
in regard to which the Rural will keep its 
readers constantly informed of the latest devel¬ 
opments. 
TEA CULTURE. 
VIEWS FROM AN ADEPT IN BRITISH INDIA. 
We have just received from Gen. Le Duo, 
Commissioner of Agriculture, a copy of a letter 
treating on the prospects of tea culture in thiB 
country and written to him, ou July 14, by Mr. 
James L. Forbes, an ^extensive tea grower of 
Burlate Luckiopore, Bengal. From it we make 
the following extracts for the benefit of those 
interested in this prospective branch of indus¬ 
try, and for the satisfaction of those numer¬ 
ous newspaper Bcribes who have been oon- 
temptously scouting the idea of the possibility 
of tea culture in the United States. 
“As regards Tea cultivation in America, I 
believe from what I know of the oountry, and 
my experience as a tea planter that it only re¬ 
quires capital and enterprise to make tea mam 
ufaoturo one of the industries of America. 
There is no difficulty about the mere growing of 
tea. You have the climate, soil, rain-fall, and 
every thing favorable for the growth of the tea 
plant. The question is, can the produce be 
manufactured at a cost that will give profitable 
results ? America has a great advantage over 
India and China in the possession of skilled 
labor and mechanical appliances. Machinery 
can be applied to all departments of the man¬ 
ufacture and is working here with success. My 
rolling machine is worked by a twelve-horse¬ 
power engine and rolls off from 600 to 800 
pounds of green-leaf per hour. We also have 
curing and sorting machines, but the great 
difficulty is the want of skilled labor and intelli¬ 
gence on the part of the natives. There is also 
a vast field for improvement in the mechanical 
appliancos we have; and I have no doubt 
but that the inventive genius of the Americano 
would soon perfect a machine that would solve 
the labor question of tea manufacture. 
The only difficulty that remains is the one of 
cultivation and plucking. As regards the former, 
the plantB could be plauted in rows four by four 
that would give sixteen square feet for every 
plant and would admit of using the hand cul¬ 
tivators so common in the States. During my 
late visit to America I purchased one of Rue’s 
hand cultivators and, with a slight alteration, 
I And that it works admirably As regards the 
plucking, I do not see my way quite so clear ; 
every ouo hundred acres of full-bearing plants 
require fifty women or boys and girls, aud that 
number would have to be employed during the 
months of June, July, August and September; 
half that number would do for April, May, 
Ootober and November. We pay half a cent 
a pound for green leaf and the Coolies average 
from 35 to 40 pounds a day and a good plucker 
will bring in as much aB eighty pounds in a day. 
This applios to large plantations, Burlate having 
six hundred acres under the plant. Two hun¬ 
dred or this is quite young : the yearly product is 
about 240,000 lbs. per week. I think as you 
suggest in your circular on the China Tea Plant 
(page 12) that small patches of tea cultivated 
by the farmers throughout the district with 
largejcentral factories to purchase the leaf and 
prepare it for the markets, would solve the 
problem. As regards tea seed, we have the 
China, Assam, Indigenous and Hybrid. The 
China variety is much more prolific in seed than 
the other kinds, aud, as seed checks leaf, the 
China is inferior in this as in other respects. 
The China is by far the hardier plant; it is much 
easier to rear and it will grow in widely differ¬ 
ing climates, which the Indigenous will not ao. 
The plants between China and Indigenous are 
called Hybrid and are aoknowleged by all to be 
the best class of plants for tea manufacture 
both as regards yield and strength ; six to eight 
hundred pounds of tea is the yield per acre from 
Hybrid plants, whereas the China yield only 
from three to four hundred pounds per acre. The 
infusion of tea from the Hybrid species is far 
more rasping and pungent than that of the 
China plant and the tea commands a much 
higher price and is used in the English market 
for mixing with the weak China teas to give 
them strength and flavor. 
Had China never been introduced into India 
a very different state of things would have ex¬ 
isted now. The cultivation would not have 
been so large, but far more valuable ; all persons 
interested in the introduction of tea cultivation 
into the States, should profit by our experience 
and avoid the mistakes we made, and above all 
things select only the best class of Hybrid seed 
for the plantations. No one thinks of putting 
out China seed now, and in many oases planters 
have abandoned their China gardens for Hybrid 
ones. 
WHAT OTHERS SAY. 
A Nobth River Apple Obckabd.— We have 
recently had aH opportunity, says a writer in 
the N. Y. Times, of iaspeoting an orchard of 
about 30,000 trees, which is managed on busi¬ 
ness principles, is kept healthy, free from ver¬ 
min, disease, and any approach even to those 
defeots which detract so much from the ap¬ 
pearance and usefulness of the orchard as gen¬ 
erally seen. This orchard is situated on the 
banks of the Hudson River, between Hudson 
and Catskill, in Columbia County, and is owned 
by Mr. Richard MoKinstry, who has been en¬ 
gaged for 21 years in bringing it to perfection. 
* * * * It is a business orchard, run on 
business principles, and by no means for show. 
Indeed, any one visiting the place in the expec¬ 
tation of seeing anything but a wealth of fruit, 
borne upon healthy, vigorous trees, brilliant in 
depth aud warmth of color, and of unusual fair¬ 
ness in quality, will be disappointed. * * * 
A line over four miles long, or more than 2,600 
apple trees, standing each ton feet apart, mark 
the boundaries ; and within this there are vistas 
checkered by golden yellow, bright orimson, aud 
emerald green along the sides, aud lengthening 
out as one passes them, until dosed in by a 
pyramid of beautiful color from the laden, 
droopiog branohes of a King, a Wagener, or a 
Baldwin. There are about 100 varieties of ap¬ 
ples grown; but, like all wise and experienced 
pomologists, the owner is gradually reducing 
these varieties to not more than ten of the most 
profitable and popular ones. 
There sre 7,000 Greenings, 6,000 Baldwins, 
4,000 Kings, nearly as many WagenerB, (thiB 
apple has the merit of bearing every year,) 600 
Northern Spy, 800 Red Astrachan, 700 of a 
ohoice native variety known as “ Derrick's 
Graft ” or Richard’B Graft,” and almost as lus¬ 
cious at this season as a peach, and often 
measuring 13 inches around each specimen, with 
hundreds of Newtown Pippins and other favor¬ 
ite kinds. There are Pound Sweets that bear 
seven barrels to a tree, and Kings, of which 
only 60 oan be packed into a barrel. 
A great many of these apples are shipped to 
English markets, and are very popular there. 
It is hardly known to ns as yet what a vast 
opening iB there for our best fruits. A small 
export business has been done for many years, 
and American apples, chiefly Newtown Pippins, 
could be recognized in the fruit shops and 
markets by American travelers for thirty years 
or more; but Binoe 1865 the shipments have 
greatly increased. In 1875, 70,000 barrels wore 
sent abroad ; the next year nearly 500,000 bar¬ 
rels were exported, and last year, which was a 
poor year, the exports reached nearly 100,000. 
Bat this market is the most exacting in the 
world; only the best quality of the best varie¬ 
ties, free from blemish, and pnt up and packed 
by skillful hands, are wanted or can be Bold 
there ; so that this opening can only be supplied 
by those who grow their fruit in the very best 
manner. 
In addition to all these apples, there are 1,700 
pear trees, of which 500 are Bartletts, some 
thousands of Cherries, among which are 1.000 
Black Tartarian, 500 Governor Wood, and hun¬ 
dreds each of other valuable kinds. There are 
Peaches enough to make a decently large or¬ 
chard of themselves, and, modestly hiding be¬ 
neath the taller trees, are an immense number of 
red-ourrant bushes. The ground is plowed 
several times in the year, and when the wood 
growth promises to be excessive, the land is laid 
down to olover. That this management is suc¬ 
cessful is shown by the condition of the trees. 
It must not be supposed that the owner is free 
from the usual cares and troubles which beset 
mankind of the industrious sort; on the con¬ 
trary, many men would have made firewood of 
their orchards had they less perseverance than 
Mr. MoKinstry. One year over 8,000 trees, large 
and small, fell victims to the mice, and the dis¬ 
agreeable effect is still apparent in a large gap 
in the orchard not yet filled out. There are 
borers to pursue with wire, knife, gouge, and 
ohisel ; there are sun-scald and fungus to watch 
against; many trees are borne down with their 
loads, and crash into sad ruins. Storms may 
scatter the half-ripened harvest, and on the 
whole, “a heart bowed down with weight of 
woe " may very easily be found in a prosperous 
orchard as upon a farm where the bugs devour 
the potatoes and the sparrowB carry off one’s 
seed corn. The virtues of perseverance and 
patience, and a hopeful way of doing the best 
with things as they come to us, are certainly ne¬ 
cessary to make a frnit-grower a happy man, if 
they are needed by any one. 
Soda and Milk. — “ Jack reminded his mother 
that she had given him some tea instead of his 
usual allowance of bread and milk, and she ex¬ 
plained that the milk was just on the turn from 
the hot weather, and so he could not have it. 
On Mr. Nicholson’s suggestion, a few grains of 
oarbonate of soda were added to some m il k be¬ 
fore it was boiled, and Jack’s bread and milk 
was soon brought in as good as usual, much to 
the surprise of all. 
1 Well, Mrs. Forbes, that soores one for chem¬ 
istry, anyhow.’ 
‘ Yes,’replied Mrs. Forbes, ‘I must admit it 
does ; so now, Mr. Nicholson, do please explain 
the matter.’ 
He did so by showing that fresh milk always 
contained some soda, but as the milk became 
changed some milk acid was formed, and this 
made a sort of flirtation with the soda, so that 
the soda could no longer do her proper work j 
bnt by putting some more soda into the milk, 
there was some one else provided to attend to 
the work, and thus the milk did not curdle. 
“ Very good,’ said Mr. Forbes, ‘ but why can¬ 
not they do the same sort of thing with miik 
which is going to be sent away by railway.’ 
So they do,’ said Mr. Nicholson, * and it 
saves a good deal of milk from being spoilt.”_ 
London Ag. Gazette. 
Bone Meal fob Swine.— The Indiana Farmer 
says that most farmers have noticed that in fat¬ 
tening swine, especially when they are crowded 
rapidly, they always appear weak in their hind 
legs, and sometimes lose the use of them entire¬ 
ly. An intelligent farmer says that he and his 
neighbors have made a practice of feeding bon 
meal in such cases, and find that a small qa * 
•an 
tity mixed with the daily feed will proven’ 
weakness, and strengthen the animals sc, 
admit of the most rapid forcing. As > j0u ^ 
is known to be a preventive of orn j e ^ 1116 
weakness in cows, it looks reaf> fh ’ of 
confined S t° * VT 1° ^ which are ofte 
bone-making maLr ^ ^ Uttle ° r c 
Coagulation of Mxlk —The Italia Agricola, 
writing on the effect of thunderstorms on milk , 
states that it is a generally accepted belief that 
it is the lightning and electrical phenomena that 
accompany a thunderstorm, which cause the 
spontaneous coagulation of milk. Dr. Malhoern 
wished to test the idea, and for the purpose he 
filled a cylinder with freshly skimmed milk, and 
introduced into the same 100 centimeters cubes 
of pure oxygen, then allowing electrical sparks 
to pass into the apparatus for the space of 10 
minutes, by means of the Rhumkorff machine, 
the effect being that the milk quickly coagu¬ 
lated, clearly proving that an acid reation had 
taken place, and after 20 minutes a firm cheese 
was produced. 
Cobn Foddeb. —Where is the necessity of al¬ 
lowing corn to remain in shocks until the middle 
or end of November ? asks the Germantown Tele¬ 
graph. Corn should not be cut down until the 
stalks are dying and the grain is pretty hard, 
and then it should remain no longer in the field 
than is absolutely necessary for the drying of 
the grain. It should be husked as early as pos¬ 
sible, and the fodder tied up in bundles, and 
either carefully stacked near the cattle stables or 
put under Bhelter in sheds. 
Seedling Small Fruit.— The Fruit Recorder 
says: To raise gooseberries, currants, or any other 
of the small fruit family from seed, make a low 
frame like a hot-bed frame, fill it up with rich 
earth to within a few inches of the top, and on 
this put about one inch of clear sand, and sow 
seed on this. Sprinkle sand over the seed, and 
keep it watered sufficiently to keep the surface 
just moist— but not too wet. In a few dayB the 
seed will germinate, and when plants get so largo 
as to crowd, they may be transplanted. 
Chebbies. —The following is the list of cher¬ 
ries adopted by the editor of the Germantown 
Telegraph :—1. May Bigarreau ; 2. Belle de 
Choisy ; 3. Black Tartarian ; 4. Black Eagle ; 5. 
Black Hawk; 6. Elton; 7. Downer’s Late ; 8. 
Early Richmond; 9. Early Purple Gnigne ; 10. 
Del. Bleeding Heart. The ripening of the list 
will range from the earliest to the latest, thus 
carrying one through the whole cherry season. 
No one can go amiss in adopting this list. 
Only Two.—Professor H. Tanner, says: “ The 
truth should be boldly acknowledged that for 
the attainment of a full success in agriculture 
there are two essentials—a thoroughly practical 
acquaintance with the business, and a previous¬ 
ly cultivated mind, which shall enable the prac¬ 
tice of farming to be more accurately and per¬ 
fectly learnt." 
No Yellow Fevee in Flobida.— The Florida 
Agriculturist says, that in answer to several in¬ 
quiries, it oan assure those who wish to go there, 
that there has not been a case of yellow fever in 
Florida, and that the State has never been 
healthier than it is now. [We happen to know 
that this statement is correct.— Eds.] 
Mb. Josiah Hoopes, writing in the Weekly 
Tribune of "Hide-bound trees, says: “Like 
every other gardening operation, this too is 
liable to be overdone, but a slight out merely 
through the outer layer of bark, when the tree 
is suffering, will bring relief, and so far as I 
have observed, does no evil. 
Cusbant Cuttings.— Mr. Purdy says that cur¬ 
rant cuttings should be taken off as soon as the 
leaf drops and hurried a foot below the soil, in a 
sandy or dry place, with earth mixed all through 
them, and left there until early spring, when 
they can be taken up and set out in nursery 
rows. 
QUERIES ABOUT MALADIES OF STOCK. 
answered by d. e. salmon, d. v. M. 
Anon asks for some safe plan for removing 
from his horse’s leg, just below the stifle, a hard 
bunch on the bone, caused by a kick. 
^8.-11 the enlargement has been '-Jnanged 
into bone, it will be impossible to renr 0Ye it. If 
it still appears soft to the touch, a 'ohster, con¬ 
sisting of one part oantharides tq, f OQr 0 f lard, 
may be applied with a probably of improve! 
ment. 
J. C. Campbell, Lickir^ Co . f Ohio% say8) j 
ave a va ua e cow; intervals of two or three 
wee g one-quarter of. tier udder becomes swollen 
an i is wit d*£f\(julty a jj 6 oan ^ milked. In 
wenty-four or c hirty-six hours the sweHing has 
appeared ^ t,ut at iraegular intervals some 
ot er qu? ^ er w qj ^ & ff eo t ec i. She is to all ap- 
peai an- ^ Wealthy, has good pasture of timothy. 
an jlover, on dry, gravelly loam. W r hat is the 
08 .use, and what will cure. 
Ans. —The trouble is probably of a rheuinatio 
nature. Would advise you to give one-half 
ounce of potassa and thirty drops tincture of 
aconite root, three times a day, commencing with 
the first appearance of an attack and continuing 
a week. If this is unsuccessful, you may add two 
drachms of ohinoidine, or one ounce of tincture 
muriate of iron at a dose; or yon may replace 
the nitrate of potassa with one drachm of col- 
chionm. This disease sometimes readily yields 
to treatment, while in other cases it is very 
obstinate. 
