230 
APRIL U 
somewhat darkened, but much more thorough 
ly clarified. As soon as the juice is drawn off 
into the receiving’ tank Professor Stewart’s so¬ 
lution (sulphurous oxide) is added in sufficient 
quantity to turn blue litmus paper rod when 
dipped into it. The action of this solution is 
threefold—it neutralizes the excess of lime, re¬ 
stores the color of the juice and acts as au im¬ 
penetrable shield protecting the sugars of 
both kinds while being cooked. All sorghum 
juice contains uncrystallizable as well as crys- 
tallizable sugar, differing iu this respect from 
that of tropical cane and of necessity requiring 
different treatment. By the process of defeca¬ 
tion iu use by us there need be no fear of using 
lime in excess in order to cause a thorough 
separation of the nitrogeuized substances, for 
by the addition of our sulphurous oxide solu¬ 
tion the lime is neutralized and both kinds of 
sugar protected from decomposition. 
That ripe sorghum juice is rich in sugar and 
second only to that of tropical cane, has been 
demonstrated beyond any question of doubt 
by more than (5,000 analyses made at the De¬ 
partment of Agriculture during the past few 
years. The question is how to get the sugar 
out. Old methods for the past 20 yeare having 
failed to produce sugar in paying quantities 
from this juice (rich in sugar) is conclusive 
evidence that it requires different treament. 
In order to produce gugar from the beet, the 
juice has to receive very different treatment 
from that of tropical cane, for the simple rea¬ 
son the composition of the juices is unlike— 
so with sorghum. France and Germany are 
successfully producing their sugar from the 
beet which contains less sugar, more impuri¬ 
ties that hinder crystallization and is more dif¬ 
ficult to grow than sorghum, which can be 
grown in nearly every section of this vast 
country of ours and at a comparatively small 
cost. In view of these facts and what has 
been already done and is now being accom¬ 
plished in the production of sugar from 
sorghum in the United States, we believe the 
time is not very distant when tins country 
will be independent of foreigners for its sup¬ 
ply of sugar. 
Canandaigua, N.Y. <T. B. Murray & Son. 
Handling Sorghum Juice. 
My sorghum w r orks cost SSOO to §1,000. 
The capacity is from 80 to 100 gallons a day of 
14 hours. First I have a two-horse mill, weigh¬ 
ing some 1,400 pounds. This I set in a hillside 
to have a fall fey the flow of the juice so as 
not to have to handle it. The pressed juice is 
run into a receiver near the hill; then, by 
means of a gas-pipe it is run into a large tank 
holding some 500 gallons. There are two of 
these near the evaporator, set up high enough 
so that the juice will run from the bottom of 
these tanks over the top of the evaporator. In 
these large tanks I treat the juice with lime to 
neutralize the acid, if I choose to. Some choose 
not to have the acid destroyed; but for sugar 
making it is indispensable. My evajiorator, 
which is 14 feet long by four feet wide, is in 
a building which is 10x24. The object of hav- 
i ug two tanks is to let all sediment settle in one 
while the other is being filled. I then draw the 
juice from the tank by a swing pipe, thereby 
always draining from the top whatever juice 
there is in the tank. The juice is strained at 
the receivers as it goes from the tank to the 
evaporator. 
Now we have the juice in the evaporator 
there are three essential things that one must 
have or observe in order to make a No. 1 ar¬ 
ticle of sirup; The first is a good fire , so as to 
get a great heat; rapid boiling makes good 
sirup if it is well tended while boiling, and 
here is the second point—thorough skimming. 
The third point, and one that requires the 
greatest care, is the finishing off to get 
good, heavy sirup and not scorch it. I have a 
bagasse burner attached to the end of my pan. 
which I made myself. The cane stalks, after 
they are crushed, are called bagasse. It makes 
excellent fuel, and saves a big expense for wood 
and coals. The bagasse burner is built like a 
baker’s oven; it is some ID feet long and re¬ 
quires a good draft. After the sirup is made 
it will not do to put it into a barrel or keg hot. 
I have a large pan which I call a cooler. Into 
this I run the sirup -some three inches deep; 
let it remain some 10 or 15 minutes; then put 
it into barrels, I will here say I have owned 
several mills and different pans and evapora¬ 
tors; but my latest and, I think best, mill and 
pan I purchased from Geo. L. Squire, of 
Buffalo, N. Y. My mill is called the Pearl 
No. 3. The evaporator is called the American 
No. the mill is made eery stroug—no 
danger of breaking by any fair means; the pan 
is very easily worked compared with many 
I have had. _ s. K. WYMA.v 
Waseca Co., Minn. 
- ■* ♦ ♦- 
Artificial Fertilizers on Sandy Land. 
IN preparing children’s gardens, Mr. Harris 
recommends sowing some commercial fertil¬ 
izer early in the Spring, and spading it into 
the ground. Now, if this is done in a porous, 
sandy soil, the rain will soon dissolve the fer¬ 
tilizer, and its best elements will be leached 
rapidly out of the laud before benefiting 
the crop. This I know from loug expe¬ 
rience with guanos, superphosphates, etc. 
The best way to apply such fertilizers ou sandy 
land is to spread them broadcast <>u top of the 
soil, between the rows of the crops, and then, 
as the rain dissolves them and they leach 
down, the rootlets of the crop will absorb the 
greater part of the elements of these fertil¬ 
izers. A better method for a sandy soil is to 
use well-rotted stable manure or its compost 
with turf, muck or peat. A. B. Allen. 
Citium cultural. 
FORESTRY No. 34. 
Forest Nursery. Part VII. 
DR. JOHN A. WARDER. 
Class 4.— Hu rd and obdura te seeds; Legumin- 
osce, Locusts, treatment, Honey-Locust, Cof¬ 
fee-\ ut; Virgilia, lied-Bud, Sophora . 
Peach, Plum cmd other stone-fruits. Thoms, 
Junipers. The Rot-heap, Gum, Dogwood, 
Sassafras, Holly, Grapes. Mr. G. W. Camp¬ 
bell's plan. 
Class 4.—Hard and Obdurate Seed.— 
This class embraces the seeds of species that 
belong to several orders of plants, but they 
have a common bond of similarity in their 
almost refractory character, and they often 
fail to germinate when approached by mild 
measures iu our treatment of them. Among 
the species that require harsh handling are 
some of the bean tribe, the Loguminosae, The 
Black or Yellow Locust (Robinia pseudacacia) 
is one of this character that Ls much cultivated, 
because it yields a valuable timber. This 
species produces seed abundantly almost 
every year: the p<jds bang well into the 
Winter and may be gathered at any time; 
when dried, the seed may lie thrashed out, 
cleaned and preserved for years without 
danger of spoiling. These hard seeds will 
require special preparation before sowing in 
the Spring; this consists iu scalding and soak¬ 
ing. When placed in a sieve or a colander, 
boiling water is poured over them, after which 
they are placed iu the fluid and kept, warm 
until they become swollen; at the end of 12 
or 24 hours they are passed through a coarser 
sieve to separate those which have not swollen; 
these are again scalded and soaked, and tills Ls 
repeated four or five times, or until all the 
sound seeds ha ve been swollen. Tlius prepared 
the planting in the seed drills must be done at 
once, and the process of planting is thus nec¬ 
essarily successive. 
The Honey Locust (GJeditseliia) is almost 
as obdurate a seed; the long, flat pods con¬ 
taining the beaus usually bang until mid- 
Winter; when fallen to the ground they are 
easily gathered and should he thoroughly 
dried, when the seeds can be thrashed and 
separated; they may be kept a longtime with¬ 
out spoiling unless infested with iusects. These 
seeds will vegetate more readily and will come 
up more regularly if they are scalded before 
being sowed. Where the pods are eaten by 
cattle in the pasture the partially digested 
seeds are found sprouting abundantly iu the 
droppings. 
The beaus of the Kentucky Coffee-nut, 
(Gymuoeladus) hang through the Winter and 
many remain on the trees until the buds swell 
in the Spring; they rnuybe gathered from the 
tree or from the ground. In the earlier part 
of the season the beans are imbedded in a 
viscid substance, so that these larger roundish 
seeds have to be separated from the pods by 
hand labor, though eventually this substance 
becomes dried up and the pods can be threshed 
with a flail. If left exposed upon the sur¬ 
face of the ground during the Winter the 
beaus w.ill grow readily, but if kept indoors 
they had better be scalded before planting. 
The Virgilia (Cladrastis), an ornamental 
tree of rare beauty and furnishing a handsome 
cabinet wood, has small, flat pods containing 
one or more little beaus; these fall or shed 
their seeds in early Winter, and they should 
be gathered soon after the leaves have fallen. 
When the pods are dried the seeds may easily 
be separated; these are very hard and may be 
preserved a long time but they wall need scald¬ 
ing to enable them to germinate satisfactorily. 
The seedlings are very delicate and should l>e 
grown in boxes and receive proper care in 
shading, sheltering aud watering. 
The Red-Buds (Cercis) have small, hard seeds, 
similar to those already named, and they may 
be subjected to similar treatment in harvest¬ 
ing, cleaning, keeping and preparation for 
sowiug. This genus is not usually recognized 
as a timber tree, but its fine-grained wood will 
become valuable iu turnery and fine cabinet 
work, or as parquetry, aud the plants will be 
found useful as undergrowth in mixed forestry. 
So also with the Sophoras, which we have in¬ 
troduced as analagous in several respects. 
Tlie beans, when matured, are each covered 
with a fleshy membrane which may be sepa¬ 
rates! by maceration, or rubbed off when dry. 
The seeds should be soaked when planted in 
the Spring. 
Reach, plum, cherry and other stone-fruits, 
already mentioned, are all benefited by ex¬ 
posure to dampness and frost during the 
Winter, as a preparation for their regular 
germination and an even stand, whether set 
in drills or sowed in beds. 
A correspondent of the Rural New-Yorker. 
writing froni Marlboro, N. Y., advises never 
to allow seeds of this kind to become thorough¬ 
ly dry, but to place them immediately in 
moist soil. If dried, he asserts that the freez¬ 
ing of the first Winter will not buret, more 
than half of them, so that cracking by hand 
becomes necessary and many are injured, for 
if the pits become dry they are impervious to 
water, he says, aud may require exposure to 
moisture and freezing from one to three years, 
as freezing will uot separate the shells until 
moisture has entered the seams. He advises 
planting in the Fall, but by this method we 
rarely succeed in getting so even a stand of 
peach trees as is desirable, hence nurserymen 
prefer to bod them in the ground with a light 
covering of soil, aud to transplant them as 
they grow in the Spring and set them in rows 
■with trowel or dibble. 
Seeds of most of the thorns, aud some other 
tree seeds, are so securely inclosed in their 
horny cases, and s< > protected from the action 
of the elements, that they are. often very dif¬ 
ficult to germ mate. Some will lie iu the soil 
for years without showing a plant. Iu Eng¬ 
land where thorns are much used for hedging, 
the haws are fed to fowls and other animals 
for the sake of the influence exerted by the 
gastric juices in the process of digestion. In 
this case the manure is saved separately and 
sowu in the drills. Another plan is to place 
such intractable seeds in the rot-heap, where 
they are mixed with femieutive matter and 
piled up to get the benefit of slow' fermentation 
and decay. This may take months, but the 
seeds should be examined from time to time in 
order to observe their progress. 
The Junipers, which belong of right to the 
class of Conifers, have their seeds enveloped in 
a protective pulp, like those of Class 2, aud the 
hard nutlets are so difficult to germinate that 
they are grouped here. They may be sub- 
jeofced to the fermentive action of the rot-heap 
or they may be sowed in beds that are allowed 
to lie over until a second year, when most of 
them will grow. 
The natural method for the diffusion of 
these species is their digestion aud scattering 
by our wild birds; this we may learn from 
finding the seedlings beneath .scattering trees 
from which the seeds have been dropped, and 
where the little seedlings have found favorable 
conditions of growth in the partial shade and 
subdued herbage. From this we may take a hint 
and feed these berries to our fowls und plant 
the (Hoppings. 
The seeds of Juniper may be cleaned aud 
separated from tbeir investing pulp by macer¬ 
ating them for some days in a vessel of water 
kept at a temperature of about 80 degrees 
Fahrenheit, when, with a little rubbing, the 
skin aud pulp can readily be separated. This 
soaking will ulso aid their germination. 
The Gum (Nyssa) Dogwood, Sassafras, Holly 
and other pulpy fruits with horny seeds, though 
more nearly allied to the pulpy fruits of Class 
2, may need a similar treatment to that recom¬ 
mended for the Junipers and may be allowed 
a second year in the seed-bed, as their nutlets 
are very hard. Mr. Jenkins, to whose kind 
assistance I have been indebted, advises mix¬ 
ing with sand aud out-door exposure to frost 
for the seeds of Sassafras, Sour Gum, Wild 
Cherry, etc. He puts the sand iu alternate 
layers aud plants iu tin* Spring. 
Grapes, though not forest trees, are often 
planted with the hope of originating new va¬ 
rieties of value; the seeds are very hard, and 
w'hen once dried they are very hard to grow, 
hence the introduction of expert, testimony* 
from a valued friend who has had much expe¬ 
rience iu the production of seed!jugs, most of 
which have been hybridized or crossed. 
“ Delaware, Ohio. 
“I have usually placed the seeds iu small 
bottles or vials immediately after they are 
taken from the grapes, labeling the bottles and 
keeping them corked and in a cool place until 
the approach of Winter, I then, take small 
flowerpots partly filled with damp sand, upon 
which the seeds are placed in the middle of 
the pot which is filled up with sand; each pot is 
marked or labeled. These are placed in a suf¬ 
ficiently large flower-pot and {jacked with 
damp sand among the small pots. The larger 
pot is then covered with glass or slate to keep 
out the mice and it is buried just below the 
surface of the earth, where it will be exposed 
to freezing during the Winter. 
“Early in the Spring the seeds are taken out 
and planted in pots of earth in one of my 
green-houses, and a large proportion of them 
germinate within three or four weeks. I think 
if grape seeds are allowed to get. quite dry 
they will never grow. I have several times 
planted two-year-old seeds that had been kept 
over one year, and then treated as above de¬ 
scribed. but never succeeded in making any of 
them Start. I have also several times taken 
seeds from fresh raisins and treated them with 
other seeds during the Winter, but they also 
failed entirely. 1 have nevprboen able to grow 
a seedling from a raisin, though 1 should not 
like to say it cannot be done. All the vines I 
have ever seen, however, that were reported to 
have so grown, have been unqustionably native 
seedlings. Geo. W. Campbell.” 
RAYS. 
As soon as the frost has 
left the ground and it is in 
mellow condition we should 
set out such trees ami shrobs 
.as wo wish to plant, or trans¬ 
plant. deciduous ones first, 
evergreens last. Prone in 
their tops iu proportion to 
the curtailment of their 
roots, pack the earth solid¬ 
ly about the roots at plant¬ 
ing time, aud if the plants 
are tall or top-heavy apply stout but neat 
stakes to secure them against being blown 
over in rain uud wind storms. Nursery-grown 
trees are generally pretty well rooted, but 
those lifted from the woods and wild places 
often have but few roots aud those few badly 
wounded. Such trees need extra eare in 
planting, shelter afterwards, aud a mulching, 
if available, over the roots iu Summer time. 
It Is often very difficult to transplant wild 
shrubs.successfully, the Wild Laurel (Kalmia 
latifolia) for instance, but if this be headed 
back to near the ground a stocky fresh growth 
may be expected. But in most cases, from the 
woods or the nurseries, small healthy plants 
are preferable to large ones. 
* * 
Hardy herbaceous plants, as Larkspurs, 
Phloxes aud Harebells, if left undisturbed for 
years become poor and impoverished: there¬ 
fore lift them, divide them, keep the vigorous 
outside parts, but throw away the dry, half- 
decayed. barely-living inside part of the old 
stools and replant iu freshly-dug and enriched 
ground. Some kinds, as Irises, Speedwells and 
Stonecrop, spread so much upon the surface of 
the ground that they should he dug in within 
bounds; indeed, if lifted, reduced and replant¬ 
ed iu freshly-dug soil they will grow far better 
tbau if left untouched. Loosestrife, Oriental 
Poppies and others spread by underground 
shoots and should be dug in accordingly. The 
frost is apt to “heave” such plants as Funkias, 
and in that ease lift them and set them back 
to their proper level. 
* * 
Except in the case of bulbous plants and a 
few early-blooming herbaceous ones I am uot 
much in favor of FallplauLing: certainly there 
are many things that grow well enough, no 
matter when they are planted: but, 1 am con¬ 
vinced. for the general ron of hardy plants, 
the Springtime is by far the most preferable 
season for planting. But it is uot always the 
best time for propagating by division, for in¬ 
stance, in the euse of Moss Pinks aud other 
creeping Phloxes, Hepatieas, Rook Cress and 
many other very early blooming plants, unless 
we are prepared to sacrifice the blossoms for a 
season. You may transplant your Primroses 
aud Polyanthuses in early Spring with no in¬ 
jurious effect Li their flowering; but if you di¬ 
vide them ut the same time, they will grow 
well enough but not blossom well; und if you 
lift, divide aud plant, them afresh, just as soon 
as t hey have done blooming, and which is the 
common practice, they will not do nearly so 
well as if you hud not interfered with them 
till August or September. 
jje * 
In preparing ground for a grass nlot first 
remove all rocks, stumps, bushes and whatever 
else may be iu the way, and fill up solid the 
holes that have boon made. Then go over the 
ground and give it a general rough leveling. 
Where there are hillocks or rolls, throw aside 
the surface loam and remove enough of the 
subsoil to bring it even with the rest of the 
plot aud return the loam. Then bring on a 
heavy dressing of well-rotted manure, spread 
it evenly over the surface and dig, or plow it 
in. Digging two spades deep or double plow¬ 
ing is of greatbenufit to the grass; the under 
soil should be turned over in the bottom with¬ 
out, mixing the surface loam and manure 
among it. Keep those at the top. When 
ground is thus prepared in the Full aud al¬ 
lowed to remain so over Winter, frost, snow 
and rain will compact it better than any arti¬ 
ficial treatment, and reveal every hollow and 
inequality, which, when plainly seen, are eas¬ 
ily rectified. But with Spring-prepared land 
