DEC 22 
lovely for anything.” Alfred Neuner is the 
double white, which is in full bud in my win¬ 
dow. The habit is precisely like the other. 
Both are very floriferous and should be in 
every collection. The pink is the newer, and 
in some localities not easy to obtain as yet. 
These alternations of freezing and thawing 
are trying to strawberry plants, especially 
where unprotected by any sort of covering. 
It is safer and better to give them a partial 
protection; evergreen boughs are doubtless 
best, except iu cases where the soil needs feed¬ 
ing, and then coarse horse manure and litter 
are the things. Don’t cover too thickly, at least 
over the crowns. Corn stalks, leaves or simi- 
ar matarials that are free from foul seed, are 
better than nothing. h. h. 
“NO G-REAT THINGS.” 
The new feature of the Rural. —the Eye- 
Opener—is admirable; at the same time, if 
restrictions are made in the matter of adver¬ 
tising. why not reject the pateut, or proprie¬ 
tary medicines, w'hich, at best, only propose 
to save purchasers a fee to the regular phy¬ 
sician. Then all the humbugs might be ex¬ 
cluded. (Some of the proprietary medicines 
are good; why object to make their merits 
known to the public? The Rural, has re¬ 
fused to advertise scores it, considered “hum¬ 
bugs. * 1 * * * ’ Ed.). 
I told you so. Mv first published impres¬ 
sions of the value of the Niagara Grape have 
been sustained bv almost all grape testers who 
have written about it since. Niagara will be 
sturdy stock upon which to graft more de¬ 
sirable varieties. 
No! the man who holds the grape between 
his thumb and dexter finger and squeezes or 
shoots the pulp into his throat, does not know 
how to eo joy the fruit, and is not likely to nj>- 
preciate the good qualities of a tine grape. Let 
the berries follow each other into the mouth 
in rapid succession until three or four are 
taken, while with each insertion the teeth are 
brought together upon the seeds without 
breaking them. The acid of the pulp is thus 
freed to mingle with the saccharine juice next 
the skin, and a slight manipulation by the 
tongue separates the seeds and skins from the 
delicious wlney juices; after this has tickled 
the palate, skins and seeds may be ejected to¬ 
gether. Close to the skin lies a large part of 
the good flavor in the grape. 
The Editor of the Rural finds himself in a 
numerous company when he declares that the 
Empire State is not the best of the Ricketts’s 
grapes. The Jefferson is far ahead iu every 
desirable quality. 
One of the Macomber Pears mentioned by 
Dr. Hoskins—The Grand Isle—proves produc¬ 
tive and very good at this distance from its 
native lioath. Grafts sent to Mr. Downing 
several years since are bearing beautiful 
fruit. 
The White Imperial Currant is less acid 
than the White Grape, and much more pro¬ 
lific, aud why it is not more extensively cul¬ 
tivated is past finding out. What do the 
many correspondents of the Rural know of 
it that is objectionable? a. a. b. 
THE EYE-OPENER. 
There is a good deal of talk just now in 
Ohio, Pennsylvania and Massachusetts about 
swindling by what is known as “grave-yard” 
life insurance companies. In these compa¬ 
nies the amount for which a “policy” is taken 
out is to be paid by assessments levied on the 
members who form the company, the officers 
collecting the assessments aud pocketing a 
good share of the proceeds. In ordinary cases 
of life insurance “good” lives only are in¬ 
sured, that is, lives which promise to be or¬ 
dinarily long; but the “grave-yard” insurance 
companies take risks on those whose feet are 
already in the grave. Indeed, the nearer a 
person Is to death i-he better; for each 
life is insured, not for the benefit of the 
friends or relatives of the person insured, 
but for the benefit of some speculative stran¬ 
ger or acquaintance who is rejoiced by the 
speedy death of the insured, for then the 
amount of the insurance can be collected In¬ 
deed. people on their death-beds have been in¬ 
sured, and there have been several cases 
where policies have bqen taken out on people 
who were actually dead; while in some cases 
where the insured lived longer than was ex¬ 
pected, it is more than suspected that foul 
means wore adopted to remove him or her. 
Little or no capital is required to start such 
outrageous swindles, aud those who get them 
up are rascals, whether they are recognized 
as such in the community or considered 
“lights of the church.” Founded on fraud 
trickery and all uncharitableuess, every one 
THE RURAL NEW-YORKER. 
841 
of the hundreds of such companies that have 
been organized has swindled its members in 
the end, and for ourselves we haven’t the 
smallest morsel of pity for them. The smart 
rascality of the managers and the stupid folly 
of the members are now being exposed in the 
law coitrts of the the three States above men¬ 
tioned. About two years ago there was a 
kind of mania for such fraudulent associa¬ 
tions, but the law sat heavily down on them, 
and for a time less was heard of them: but 
the cheats are again in vogue. Of course 
none of our friends are engaged in such ras¬ 
cally companies, either as promoters, agents 
or dupes; so a word of caution here is meant 
for any of their acquaintances who maybe 
inclined to meddle with such frauds. 
The Sheffield Cutlery Company, of Boston, 
if it isn’t a humbug, acts like one remarkably 
well. 
Results of Field and Laboratory Ex¬ 
periments with Sorghum for the Season 
of 1883.—We have received Bulletin XXX. 
from the New Jersey Experiment Station, of 
w'hich Prof. Geo. H. Cook is Director. 
The object of this Bullet in is : First, to show 
the effect of fertilizei-s upon the formation of 
sugar in sorghum. Second, to prove that by 
the present process of extraction more than 
one-half of the sugar formed in the plant may 
be wasted; that even when a mill yields 
from 50 to 60 per cent, of juice it may still 
have more sugar in the bagasse than it ex¬ 
tracts from the cane. 
The plots selected on the College Farm for 
this experiment formed a portion of a field of 
twelve acres, proved to be of uniform quality, 
which had been in grass during three previous 
years. Ten acres of this field, dressed with 
barn-vard manure, produced seven hundred 
bushels of shelled corn—an indication that the 
season was favorable, aud that the soil was 
extremely fertile. 
The sorghum ground was first prepared as 
if intended for Indian coni and then staked 
oat into sixteen plots, each one-tenth of an 
acre. The fertilizers were spread broadcast 
and harrowed in. The quantities and combi¬ 
nations used on each plot, as well as the cost 
of the material, can be found in the table. 
As iu former experiments, phosphoric acid 
was used in the form of bone-black, superphos¬ 
phate and nitrogpu, and in the form of nitrate 
of soda. Muriate of potash was applied to 
some of the plots aud sulphate of potash to 
others. T wo tons of yard manure were spread 
upon plot 11, aud 40 pounds of gypsum or 
laud plaster, upon plot 10. Two plots, 1 and 
0, were left without fertilizers in order to learn 
what the soil alone was able to produce. 
On the 10th of May Early Amber s< ed was 
planted in rows three foot eight inches apart. 
The plants were thiuned out as much as was 
necessary and cultivated twice during the 
season; late cultivation, however, was avoid 
ed, as this is believed to have prevented seed 
development in a former experiment. 
The fertilizers exerted no perceptible effect 
on the growth of the plants. Those upiu plots 
1 and 6 appeared at all times to flourish quite 
as well as any on the rest of the field. At 
the close of the expo imeut there were also 
no marked differences, except perhaps iu case 
of plot 11 on which the canes seemed rather 
unripe, although their seed was well devel¬ 
oped aud hard. 
Samples of cane for analysis were secured 
from each plot during the last week in Sep¬ 
tember. Some of these samples weighed 
nearly ninety pounds each; from two to three 
per cent, of the cane grows on a plot. To ob¬ 
tain such samples two average canes were cut 
from every row. In other cases the samples 
weighed about forty pounds, one cane only 
being taken from each row. 
After the leaves aud seed tops were removed, 
each sample was divided into two portions, 
one of which was immediately ground in a 
heavy mill and the weighed juice thoroughly 
mixed aud analyzed. The results are tabu¬ 
lated as extractable sugar per acre. The re¬ 
maining portion of each sample was passed 
though a Lion fodder cutter and carefully 
mixed. A sub-sample was then taken, dried 
as rapidly as possible aud ground to a fine 
meal, From this meal the sugar was extract¬ 
ed with boiling alcohol and determined by 
means of the poluriscopo. The results are tab¬ 
ulated as total amount of sugar per acre. 
Clerget’s method of using the polariscope 
was followed in all determinations of sugar 
published in this Bulletiu. The action of the 
fertilisers may be studied from these stand¬ 
points: First, What fertilizing element ex 
rted most marked influence uu sugar pro 
duction ? Second, For sugar development in 
sorghum, is the sulphate or muriate of potash 
to be preferred ? Third, Has phosphoric acid 
hasten 3d to any noticeable extent the ripening 
of the plant ? By studying in the table the 
total amount of sugar per acre, it will be seen 
that with one except ion , potash was present in 
every case where the yield of sugar was 
4,000 pounds or more per acre. The exception 
is found in the land plaster plot No. 10. The 
action of this material is believed by many to 
lie chiefly in its power of making potash, 
which is stored in the soil, available for plant 
food. If this field, therefore, had been defi¬ 
cient in potash, the plaster would probably 
have been less serviceable. 
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Potash 200 lbs. 
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Potash SO lbs. 
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Pbos. Acid IlV. lbs. 
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ST 
• Twenty<201 Tons Barnyard Manure. 
Potash used alone developed more sugar per 
acre than any other single material. Compare 
plots four and 12 with two and three. Potash 
combined with nitrogen gave in both cases the 
highest yields of sugar obtained: on plot seven, 
4.582 pounds, and on plot 14. 4,866 pounds per 
acre. The yield of sugar was relatively low 
whenever phosphoric acid was used, and its 
yield was considerably diminished when the 
amount of phosphoric acid was doubled. Com¬ 
pare plots 15 aud 16. The conclusion, then, 
from this experiment is, that potash was the 
element which influenced sugar production in 
sorghum most favorably, but that the high¬ 
est yield per acre was obtained when potash 
was used iu combination with nitrogen. 
In every case sulphate of potash surpassed 
muriate of potash iu developing sugar iu sor¬ 
ghum. Compare, under total amount of 
sugar per acre, plot four with 12; plot seven 
with 14; plot eight with 13; aud plot nine with 
15. That sulphate of potash is to be preferred 
in cultivating beets for sugar aud potatoes for 
starch has been known for a number of years; 
but if the same observation has been already 
made in the case of sorghum it has escaped 
notice. 
It was expected that the cane on the several 
plots would show marked differences iu the 
time of ripening seed. This was to have been 
the standard for measuring the power of 
phosphoric acid to shorten the period of 
growth of sorghum. Conclusions on this 
point, cannot, however, be drawn from this 
experiment, as the cane on all the plots ma¬ 
tured seed at about the same time. At the 
Rio Grande plantation, however, when the 
season has been wet and unfavorable, fields 
fertilized with phosporic acid matured earlier 
than those without it—an experience which 
corresponds with the practice in some sugar- 
beet districts, where land from which the 
crop is to be taken in September is dressed 
with twice as much superphosphate as that 
which is to be left until October. 
One point deserves notice in connection with 
studyof fertilizers: quantity of cane alone is 
no index to the value of a fertilizer as a sugar 
developer in sorghum. In this experiment the 
heaviest yields of cane were from plots 11 and 
four. 19 3-10 tons, and lfl 7-10 tons respective¬ 
ly, while plots 15 and 16 each gave three tons 
less per acre. In spite, however, of the 
smaller quantity of cane, plots 15 and 16 each 
produced from three to four hundred pounds 
more sugar per acre than plots 11 and four. 
Even when a mill expresses from fifty to 
sixty per cent, of juice from stripped and 
topped cane it may yet leave more than one- 
half of the sugar in the bagasse. This fact 
can be best shown by an example. The cane 
on plot 11 contained 4,119 pounds of sugar per 
acre. Of this the mill expressed 1,983 pounds. 
Laving in the bagasse fifty-two per cent, of 
the sugar which the caue contained. This re¬ 
sult is the most favorable in the experiment. 
The other extreme is found on plot 1ft, where 
nearly 70 per cent, of the sugar was wasted. 
In 11 other cases the loss exceeds 60 per cent. 
Apparently the greener the cane, the smaller 
the loss of sugar by the milling process. 
To explain this loss it is necessary to assume 
that a considerable portion of the sugar is 
stored in the cane in a solid state, either a 
pure crystallized sugar orin some combination 
easily decomposed or dissolved in water. It 
is claimed that the microscope has shown 
crystals of sugar in the cells of the sorghum; 
if this be true it is irrational to attempt the 
perfect separation of sugar from the cane 
fiber by mechanical meaus. For attaining 
this end the process of diffusion seems to be 
the most practical and promising method. It 
has been thoroughly tested and generally 
adopted by the beet sugar industry, and ex¬ 
periments thus far reported indicate that it is 
also applicable to the sorghum and tropica) 
cane. 
Mr. H. B. Blackwell states in the Boston 
Journal of Chemistry that by following this 
process he was able, without difficulty, to 
make 13 pounds of crystalized sugar and six 
pounds of good sirup from one hundred pounds 
of Amber cane. 
This process, as followed in the beet sugar 
industry, is explained in detail in Stohman’s 
Haud Book. In brief it is as follows: The 
beets cut into small strips are placed m a 
steam-tight, iron tank. Steam at a certain 
temperature is then allowed to act long 
enough to destroy the vitality of the plant 
cells, when a quantity of water about equal to 
the weight of beets taken is forced into the 
tank from below and kept in contact with the 
beet strips for about ten minutes. During 
this time two or more of the eleven other 
tanks in the battery are stocked with “strips' 
and steamed. The dilute sugar solution now 
in the first tank is next forced up through the 
beets in the second tank, where it becomes 
still richer in sugar. Iu turn it is pressed 
through eight other tanks, becoming more and 
more charged with sugar from repeated con¬ 
tact with fresh beets, and is finally forced 
into the defecator as rich almost as juice 
from t he same beets would be if expressed 
with hydraulic presses. The amount of water 
to evaporate is not, therefore, materially in¬ 
creased. 
When the dilute sugar solution is pressed 
out from the first tank, fresh water imme¬ 
diately takes its place, and w r hen the sugar so¬ 
lution is sent to the defecator the “strips” in 
the first tank buve been leached ten times 
w ith fresh water and practically all the sugar 
extracted. The tank is then refilled with 
fresh beets aud takes its place again in the 
battery, as No. 10. The process is thus made 
continuous. One tank is always being emp¬ 
tied and cleaned, another being refilled, while 
the remaining ten are in operation. One boy 
to manage the valves, two men to fill the 
tanks and two to empty and clean them is the 
necessary working force. 
Recently it has been reported that a careful 
test of this process on sorghum is now in prog¬ 
ress at the Department of Agriculture in 
Washington. The results, it is stated, will he 
published iu January. The yield of clean, 
dry seed has been unusually high, from 
twenty-five to thirty-nine bushels per acre. 
As feed for milch cows sorghum seed meal has 
been already "proven little, if any, inferior 
pound for pound, to corn meal. For growing 
aud fattening swine the boiled cone seed gives 
perfect satisfaction. Three hundred pigs and 
hogs are now penned on the Rio Grande plan¬ 
tation, and fed entirely on bagasse and boih d 
