438 
THE BUBAL HIW-YOBKIB. 
JULY* 
Sorghum Experiments.— On the Experi¬ 
ment Farm of the Wisconsin University 
(Madison! a number of careful experiments 
nave been made as to the best time to cut the 
cane, method of defecation, etc. The devel¬ 
opment of the Early Amher cane raised on 
this farm may be seen from the following 
analyses, which were made during last Sum¬ 
mer and Fall: 
August 10—Cine sugar, 3.00: glucose, 4.f>0. 
September 5—Cane sugar, 9.22; glucose, 
4.20.. 
September 20—Caue sugar, 10.02; glucose, 
3.23. • 
September 22—Cane sugar- 11.05; glucose, 
2 60. 
Uncovered and Covered Cane.— Tn or¬ 
der to test, the effect of leaving cane cut in the 
field a number of stalks still in good condi¬ 
tion, the juice of which contained 9.50 cane 
sugar and 3.25 glucose, were cut and left in 
the field 10 davs, during almost constant rain. 
At- the end of the 10 davs the juice contained 
5.9S eane sugar and 6.15 glucose Some Early 
Orange cane was also cut September 20. when 
the juice contained 10 50 cane sugar and 4.05 
glucose, and was left in the field till Novem¬ 
ber 2, when the juice contained 13 80 glucose, 
while not a trie 3 of cane sugar was present.. 
These experiments show conclusively that if 
cane is cut or injured and left exposed to 
rain, the destruction of cane sugar goes on 
very rapidly, being in time entirely changed 
into glucose. The rapidity of the change de¬ 
pends, of course, in great degree on tb“ 
weather. In order to ascertain the effect of 
leaving cane undercover, two tons of Earlv 
A mber cane were cut. On“-half was topped 
and stripped and boHi lots were placed on ihe 
floor of the barn The change taking place 
may l>e se»u from the following: 
Sa n t«mber 20—When freshly cut, there 
was 10.02 cane sugar and 3 23 glucose; b, T>e- 
cemher 20 it had changed to cane sugar 8.45; 
glucose. 6.80, 
Defecation. —The juice after it l°aves the 
mill h is a more or less green color. du° to the 
presence of large quantities of cbloroplivl and 
other vegetable substances, which must be 
removed. This process is known as defeca¬ 
tion. The defecator, or the vessel in which 
this op a ration is conducted, may be of wi-od. 
Copper is perhaps the best material, but is 
much more expensive. The vessel should be 
furnished with a steam coil, with sufficient 
capacity to heat the juice to the boiling point 
in a short time. As soon as the ju ee is ex¬ 
pressed ifc should be removed to the defecator, 
where itshould be heated at once to about 175 
degrees F., or just about hot enough to enable a 
man to hold his hand in the juice without be¬ 
ing scalded. Milk of lime, freed from all 
coarse particles by straining, should then be 
added until a strip of red litmus paper be¬ 
comes oh inged ton faint purple when dipped 
into the juice. The lima should be added in 
small portions, the juice being vigorously 
Ptirred with a paddle after each addition. 
When the right quantity has been added, 
the juice must be heated as quickly as possible. 
A thick, green scum will soon come to tbesur- 
face. When the boiling point is reached — 
which is shown by the swelling and breaking 
up of th« scum—the heat should be stopped 
and the juice left quiet for five minutes. The 
gcum will then be quite hard, and may be 
easily removed from the surface of the clear 
liquid. Much will depend on a good defeca¬ 
tion. If the defecation has been properly con¬ 
duct sd the liquid will be dear, free from par¬ 
ticles and of a pale yellow color. I f the scum 
is of a light color and thin, while the liquid 
below is opaque and has a greenish color, it 
shows that too little lime has been added; 
while if the juice is very dark, too much lime 
has been used. Much nicety of judgment is 
required to make a good defecation, which 
can only be obtained by experieuce. 
Use of Pulphurous Acid. The clear 
juice from the defecator is now tolerably 
pure, most of the impurities having been 
eliminated. It contains, however, consider¬ 
able lime, which if allowed to remain will 
give us a dark sirup, and if present insuffi¬ 
cient quantities will impart a more or less 
bitter taste to the sirup. To avoid this we 
must neutralize the lime, just as before we 
neutralized the acid. For this purpose sul¬ 
phurous acid is much used. Ttils acid may be 
aide l to the j lice iu the defecator after re¬ 
moving the scum, or it may be added to the 
j lice in the evaporating pan. A suffi iant 
quantity should be added to give to the juice 
a distinct acid reaction, or until a slip of blue 
litmus pipor, dipped into the juice, is red¬ 
dened. To accomplish the same result, many 
preparations have been sold to the farmers 
and other simp manufacturers by agents and 
peddlers. We would here advise everyone to 
]“ave all such preparations alone. Most of 
them are either harmful or good for nothing, 
while others are but modifications of the 
methods which have been described and fer 
them the buyer pays an exorbitant price. 
Rules for Sugar Production —The con¬ 
clusions arrived at are that a good yield of 
sugar may be obtained if the following rules 
are strictly adhered to; 
First-—Do not cut the cane until the seed 
begins to harden. 
Second—Do not allow the caue to stand 
stripped in the field. 
Third—Work up the cane as soon as pos¬ 
sible after being cut, 
Fourth—Defecate the juice as soon as possi¬ 
ble after leaving the mill. 
Fifth—For defecation u E e milk of lime, 
freed from coarse particles by straining; 
add it gradually to the juice with vigor¬ 
ous stirring, until a piece of red litmus paper 
is turned to a pale purple. 
Sixth—Heat the Juice quickly to the boil¬ 
ing point, as shown by the swelling and 
breaking of the scum. 
Seventh—Remove the scum after allowing 
the juice to remain quiet for five minutes. 
Eighth—Drawoff the clear juice, through an 
aperture near the bottom of the defecator, 
into the evaporating pan. 
NinHi—Add sulphurous acid to the clear 
juice until a piece of blue litmus paper is red¬ 
dened. T iis step may be omitted if no ex¬ 
cess of lime has been add‘>d during defecation. 
It will have no effect ou the quantity of sugar 
obtained, but will make a lighter-colored 
molasses. 
Tenth—Evaporate down until it reaches a 
density of 45° B., or if boiled in an open 
pan, to a boiling temperature of 234 s F. 
Eleventh—Place in a warm room to crys- 
talize, and in about a week it will be ready 
to separate. 
Root Production in Rich and Poor 
Soils.—S ome affirm that rich soil is more 
productive of roots than poor soil, but in no 
case have we ever found this to be so. Large, 
strong roots are always formed in rich land, 
but in gritty and poor soil abundance of fibry 
roots are met with. 
In illustration of this subject reference 
may be made to vines grown in rich versus 
poor soil. The English KioristandPomologist 
knows two of the largest nursery firms in 
which the pot vines are established by meth¬ 
ods quite opposite to each other. In the one, 
after the plants are fairly into active growth, 
strong rich soil is used; and in the other, 
gritty and somewhat poor loam. The former 
plan producers stronger wood and larger 
roots, but the latter brings much better 
ripened canes, aud the pots are crammed 
with fibry roots. On several occasions 
when we have had to lift vines it has been 
a notable fact that the worst rooted plants 
have been iu extra rich siil, and the best and 
most Fibry roots have beeu found in sandy 
loam by no means rich. When roots are thus 
abundant, it is not at all difficult to give 
them good food suitable to their wants. 
Sir J B. Lawes. —'‘It is satisfactory,” says 
the London Gardener’s Curonicle “ to have to 
record that the life long services < f this emi¬ 
nent man to chemistry and agriculture have 
at length been officially recognised. Few 
men have rendered the State more service 
i ban he. His merits have long since been ac¬ 
knowledged by the scientific institutions of 
the country and of Europe, and the agricul¬ 
turists themselves have not been unmindful 
of the laborious experiments carried on for 
so many years with the aid of Dr. Gilbert. 
If we cannot boast many agricultural stations 
and experimental institutes, as they rmy do 
in Germany or America, at least we may 
boa 3 t of one wherein it is hardly too much to 
say that- the work done has exceeded in 
amount and intrinsic value that of all the 
rest put together. We could wish that the 
State coul 1 devise some special order of merit 
for such recipients as Sir John Lawes, and 
not put them oa a level with political parti¬ 
sans, municipal dignitaries, or successful 
traders. Meanwhile Sir Joan Lawes honors 
the baronetcy more than the baronetcy hon¬ 
ors him ” 
Silver hull Buckwheat.—W. A. Arm¬ 
strong of the Elmira Farmers’ Club, says that 
Silver hull Buckwheat appears to be a distinct 
variety. He procured a small quantity of seed 
several years ago from the Department of 
Agriculture at Washington, aud sowed in a 
field with the common gray buckwheat, the 
Silver-hull occupying a strip along the border 
of the field, all sowed at the same time, He 
observed when the Silver-hull Buckwheat had 
attained its growth it was considerably taller 
than the other kind and there was also an 
appearance of greater hardiness in the fact 
that less of the grain w as blasted. He had 
other trials of the two kinds and in every case 
it seemed to him that the Silver-hull was a 
more vigorous grower and more sure to resist 
the hurtful influence of excessive heat winch 
so often blasts the crop. He raised thi« kind 
for several years and was well satisfied with 
it. 
Mn. S. W. Carr saw a statement in the 
Husbandman long ago. that buckwheat sown 
on land infested bv Quack Grass, would in 
three or four successive crops smother out- the 
grass. He had a piece so completely occupied 
with Quack that it cost great trouble to u<=e it 
for anv ordinary farm crop: so he concluded 
tn test the value of buckwheat as an exter¬ 
minator of Quack Grass. He 'owed the pDcp, 
two years to hnckwheat, and at the end of 
that time the Quack Grass was very nearly 
exterminated so that he has been using the 
field for other crops. He thinks if he had 
sowed buckwheat one vear more, every vestige 
of Quack Grass would have been out of the 
ground. 
Mr. Hiram Kktchum knows a very good 
farmer who prefers in fitting land for wheat 
to sow buckwheat, take off a crop earlv, plow 
and then sow wheat, a better way, as he says, 
than to summer fallow. 
Experiments with Grasses— Mr. Camp¬ 
bell has experimented a good deal in grass 
crops and in many respects has been sucees-ful 
With Orchard Grass he has been experi¬ 
menting for years—ten years. The first ex¬ 
perience he ever hat! with it was the best. 
About teu years ago,he sowed it with Timothy 
and clover: when it came up and was estab 
li-hed, he did not think much of it the first 
year. It took three years before it did much. 
After the first year it seemed to spread and 
thicken every year for three years. The third 
year when he cut it it was so strong and so 
tall that when the horses were on one side of 
the field and he on the other, he could not see 
their hacks. He sowed another laige field, 
butt.be seed did not germinate. He sowed 
another field and the crop was Hie best the 
third year. He thinks Orchard Grass wants 
very good land, wants land well prepared, 
and it wants rich land. He has found it at all 
times good grass to retain its hold in the soil, 
it does not throw out, it will stand freezing 
better than any other grass he ever saw. 
Years ago Mr. Campbell cultivated 27 acres 
of laud so poor that he harvested but ten tons 
of hay. A little woe Timothy and the rest was 
daisies. He could not break up that meadow; 
the farm was so jmor that he had to plow a 
good deal. In the Fall he sowed ten bushels 
of lime to the acre, and was all he applied 
The next Spring Red Clover had come up in 
that field so thaL he could not put the machine 
through portions of it: he had to mow it by 
hand and filled a 80x40 b..rn completely aud 
had to make six stacks out. lie thought he 
had found a prize that would make all gr«ss 
grow; he thought there was no need of small 
crops, but he went ou a year or two and found 
his meadow nad failed. He put on lime again 
but it did not do. He carted manure out 
liberally aud did everything he knew how to 
do,but all did no good. He cultivated it three 
or four years ago, when he got to experiment¬ 
ing some with German potash salts. As the 
result of an application of German potash 
salts applied at the rate of 20<l pounds to the 
ae.re,th« crop was more than doubled the first 
year and it was fully half increased again last 
year. 
Mr Campbell further states in the course 
of his address that his experience has been, 
that the amount he can raise from an aerd 
depends very much upon how he supplies 
lands with phosphoric acid and potash. 
The San Francisco Chronicle notes the 
fact that the S mthero Pacific Railroad is car¬ 
rying breadstuffs—wheat and flour—from 
California to New Orleans at less than #20 per 
ton. At the same time, it is said, the Central 
Pacific is charging $134 40 per ton for hard¬ 
ware and all iron goods, fast freight, from 
New York to San Francisco. Prior to May 
24the rate was $89.60 per ton, so that the ad¬ 
vance amounts to #44 SO per ton. or 50 per 
cent. The Chronicle finds it difficult to see 
the justice of charging even $89.60—much 
less so $134.40—par ton on merchandise from 
New York to San Francisco unless the south¬ 
ern line is losing heavily by irs shipments of 
grain, etc, to Nsv Orleans at the rates 
named. It goes further, and characterizes the 
a:tionoftha northern transcontinental lines 
as little belter than downright robbery, aud 
won lers not that un ler such depletion, busi¬ 
ness iu California is cast down aud languish¬ 
ing- _ 
Benefits of Relating Agricultural 
Experiences. —Our relatives and rivals, says 
the Agricultural Gazette of England, are 
* evidently not indisposed to use the press as 
the best means of extending individual 
knowledge: although the average British 
farmer treats the agricultural literature of 
his time with something which is e"en more 
pronounced than supercilious indifference. 
Whose fault is it if British farm papers of the 
period are unpractical? It is the fault of the 
practical men who are content to hug. for 
their own pxcbi«ive nse, such facts as their 
own experience leads them to obtain, instead 
of putting out. their observations for the public, 
good, and to good interest for the investors ns 
well. We burv our talents in a napkin: and 
for the most nart in a very dirtv one. A man 
who records his own wav to snrcees ind ces 
others to do the same: whilst the whole com¬ 
munity becomes the het.ter informed through 
the communicativeness of a few. The few 
themselves find correction and extension of 
their knoxvledge by the comparative state¬ 
ments which their own letters elicit. 
Eggs as Food —L ; ke milk, an egg isa com- 
p’ete food in itself, savs the Journal of 
Chemistry, containing everything necessary 
for the development of a perfect animal, as 
is manifest from the fact that a cbi’k is formed 
from it. It is also easily digest'd, if not 
damaged in cook ng. Indeed, there is no 
more concentrated and nourishing food then 
eggs. According to Dr. Edward Smith, in 
his trenti-'e on “ Food,” an egg weighing an 
ounce and three-quarters contains 120 grains 
of carbon, and seventeen and three-quarter 
grains of nitrogen, or 15 25 per cent- of carbon 
an 1 two per cent, of nitrogen. The value of 
one pound of eggs, as fond for sustaining the 
active forces of the body, is to the value of 
one pound of lean beef as 1584 to 900. A lien 
may be calculated to consume one bushel of 
corn yearlv, and to lav 10 dozen, or 15 pounds 
of eggs. This is equivalent to saying that 
three and on’-tenth pounds of corn will pro- 
due®, when fed to a hen, five sixths of a poiin-l 
of eggs; but five sixths of a pound of pork 
requires about five pounds of corn for its 
production. Taking into account the nutri 
ment in each, and the comparative prices of 
the two on an average, the pork is about three 
times as costly a food as the eggs, while it is 
certainly less healthful. 
Oil on Woodwork —The Journal > Iso savs 
that carefully-conducted experiments have 
demonstrated the fact that seasoned wood, 
well saturated with oil when put together, 
wdl not shrink in the driest weather. Wheels 
have beeu known to run many years, even to 
wearing out the tires. Verv many dollars 
might, be saved annually if this practice was 
adopted. Bided liuseed oil is th - best for 
general use, although it is now known that 
crude petroleum on even old wheels is of great 
benefit. 
Stop cu'ting asparagus, if you would not 
weaken the plants. Rhubarb is 
generally not much used after berries begin 
to ripen, and goes to waste. D may easily be 
preserved, however, says Bliss’s Garden, by 
paring and cutting the stalks in small nieces 
as for stewing, and then stringing and drying 
them like apples. They mnv then be used, at 
any time, for pies and other purpose 0 , aud 
are almost as good as fresh stalks. They may 
also be stewed and preserved in jars like 
fruits. The flower stalks, although orna¬ 
mental, should be cut off whenever they 
appear. ..... Plant cucumber seeds 
for pickles. They require, says Dr Ilexamer, 
a naturally moist soil, though not too heavy. 
A drained swamp meadow with a mucky 
surface soil is desirable. We have about 10 
weeks from the sowing of the seed to th» last 
picking. An uninterrupted grow th i-> there¬ 
fore essential to a good crop. The land must 
be well plowed and mellowed. Furrow five 
feet apurt each way and at every intersection, 
dn p a shovelful of fine farm manure mixed 
with soil. Level the hill and pack it down 
slightly. Drop a dozen see ls and cover an 
inch deep firmly patting down with the blade 
of the hoe. In moist weather 
they will sprout in four or five days. As soon 
as well up, use a horse cultivator in both 
directions as often as need be until the growth 
of the vines prevents. As soon as the p’ants 
are in the third leaves, hand hoe thoroughly 
and remove all but four of the Strongest 
plants und hill up lightly. Begin lo pick as 
soon as the pickles are large enough, and thus 
save the vigor of the vines. We have used 
the Green Prolific Cucumber and agree with 
Dr. Ilexamer that it is the best kind for pick¬ 
ling being more productive and wi ll shaped, 
.For cucumbers we still prifir 
the “ Tailby’s Hybrid ” because of its lender 
flesh, and the few aud small seeds it contains. 
But it is not very prolific.. . 
Ea rly Men.—T oe Agricultural Gazette 
(London) says that he who intends to succeed 
in agriculture must be an early man, early 
in rising, early in getting in his crops, eaiJr 
in reaping them, early in meeting his men, 
early at fairs, early in markets, early at 
home, and early to bed. 
