1886 
THE RURAL «fW»¥©RS!R. 
tion of this very important crop is highly op¬ 
portune, particularly since importations have 
become so enormous, and the imported tubers 
are sold in our ports at such low prices as to 
greatly lessen the profit of our farmers in rais¬ 
ing the crop; and to render the thing still 
worse for the American cultivator, it is pro¬ 
posed in the new tarifE reported in Congress, to 
abolish the 15 cents duty per bushel now levied 
upon this vegetable. Instead of doing this, the 
farmers say that, in justice to them, the duty 
ought to be increased to 25 cents per bushel. 
It is reported that 149,000 bushels of potatoes 
were imported from Europe into the city of 
New York alone during four days early 
last January; how many more bushels have 
since followed them up to the present time, in 
this and other ports I am unable to say; but I 
see it stated that the enormous quantity of 
over two million bushels were imported last 
year. If this state of the thing continues, 
farmers will not be able to obtain over 25 to 
30 cents per bushel for their crop in the sea¬ 
ports, and after deduction for transportation 
aud all market charges, there will be so little 
left to pay over to them for their crop, that 
they will give up all production in disgust ex¬ 
cept for their own family use. Fifty cents per 
bushel is the least price that potatoes should 
bring in our seaports to realize a fair profit on 
them. 
By adopting improved methods of cultiva¬ 
tion the cost may be somewhat reduced, and 
no doubt those engaged in this industry will 
give heed to the suggestions appearing in the 
Rural. But in one thing writers on this sub¬ 
ject greatly differ, and that is in the choice 
and preparation of seed. Some say that if 
large whole potatoes are planted they are sure 
to give the largest crops; others contend for 
medium sized tubers down to the very small¬ 
est; again, others say that pieces cut with only 
one eye are the best and so on. If pieces or 
whole tubers with more than one eye are used, 
as many stalks spring up as there are eyes in 
the “seed,” and their roots interfere with the 
growth of each other, and this is the reason 
why so many small ones are produced, instead 
of a few of large or medium size, which 
would be worth double as much as the small 
ones. 
The agricultural colleges of the country 
ought to take up this subject and make a 
series of careful experiments as to the above, 
and in doing this they should note the kind of 
soil under cultivation, and the season—wheth¬ 
er too wet or too dry, or with just sufficient 
rainfall to insure a good steady growth of the 
crop. 
R. N.-Y. Remarks. —The R. N.-Y. humbly 
begs to remark that its own experiments,begun 
10 years ago and reported from time to time 
in these columns, ought to throw some little 
light upon this important question of the size 
of seed. As a result of these trials, our belief 
is that no one can say or ever will be able to 
say whether it is better to use whole potatoes 
or any given number of eyes or size of pieces 
as a guide for all potatoes. The number of 
sprouts desirable to have in a hill depends to a 
great extent upon the distance apart of the 
hills and on the vigor of the vines. That is 
the question which stations may well exercise 
themselves over. 
Within a few days the writer has been dig¬ 
ging up seed pieces of different varieties 
planted 10 days ago. Any one who will do 
this at such a time will find that the size of 
the seed must be determined by the number 
and vigor of the eyes. For example, the R. N.- 
Y. No. 2 has not only few eyes, but those of the 
seed-end alone were pushing, notwithstanding 
the seed potatoes had been exposed to the 
light and heat for a week or more previous to 
planting. Half-pieces of this variety were 
planted. The R. N.-Y. No. 3 has few eyes 
also, yet from every eye planted a strong 
shoot was growing. Does it not follow that 
smaller pieces of the No. 3 than of the No. 2 
should be planned? The Everitt Potato has 
many eyes, and a peculiarity is that all seem 
equally sensitive or ready to grow. 
Let us take 50 different varieties of potatoes 
—all of the same size—and cut them to two 
eyes. We shall find that some of the varieties 
will give a porfect stand, aud yield a large 
crop of marketable potatoes, while others 
will give a very imperfect stand aud a small 
yield. The same will be the case if whole seed 
bo planted. Some varieties will send up a 
dozeu shoots, others only a few. The yield of 
the one may be a large crop of small potatoes; 
of the other a large crop of large potatoes. 
The farmer can judge what sized seed to plant 
when he sees and knows his potato, how the 
seed has been kept, and how it will act in his 
soil, and not until then—and there is no ex¬ 
periment station that can tell him. 
Our experience has led us to answer all in¬ 
quiries : “Use large sized pieces containing 
two or three strong eyes," and that is the 
nearest we can come to any fixed rule. 
The advice to plant “whole seed” is very bad 
indeed. We feel assured that if followed out 
with certain varieties, a yield of small tubers 
will be insured every time , while with other 
varieties the advice may be as sound as a 
silver dollar. 
The result at certain experiment stations, 
which show that the best yields come from 
whole seed, prove simply that seed preserved 
in a certain way, planted and cultivated in a 
certain way and in a certain soil and situa¬ 
tion, will give the largest crops for the parti¬ 
cular varieties tried; and they prove nothing 
more, in so far as the R. N.-Y. may judge 
from its own experiments. 
FLAX CULTURE. 
The one thing absolutely necessary to the suc¬ 
cessful growing of flax is that the land should 
be free from weeds of all kinds. I am told 
that some crops will choke out weeds, but flax 
will not. For this reason it is best that flax 
should folio w corn, potatoes or some other hoed 
crop, or should be sown on summer fallow. If 
it follows some other small grain, and the 
ground is in good condition and free from 
weeds, a good crop may sometimes be grown 
by plowing very late in the spring and giving 
good deep and thorough cultivation. 
Flax can be grown most successfully on a 
soil with considerable clay in it; but when 
grown on the rich vegetable mold of our 
Northwestern prairies, deep plowing, which 
brings the clay subsoil to the surface, will put 
the ground in condition for a good crop. I 
sow flax in this latitude between May 20th and 
June 1st, using a broadcast seeder and sowing 
half a bushel per acre. It is ready for har¬ 
vesting about three weeks later than spring 
wheat, and I handle it in the same way, bind¬ 
ing it with twine and stacking as other grains 
are stacked Many here do not bind, and it 
can be handled very well in loose gavels, but I 
prefer binding. 
With proper cultivation, I have found flax 
as profitable as any crop I have grown, but it 
will not bear neglect or poor cultivation. One 
thing may be set down as certain in the cultiva¬ 
tion of flax; that is, an average c^op will never 
pay. With good cultivation it is easy to pro¬ 
duce double an average crop, and not difficult 
to run it up to three times the average, as flax 
responds most cheerfully to superior cultiva¬ 
tion. 
I have never found that flax exhausts the 
soil more than any other crop of small grain, 
but of course it will not do to follow flax after 
flax from year to year. But I al ways consider it 
bad management when I am obliged to sow 
the same crop on the same land twice in suc¬ 
cession, and always consider that I deserve the 
poor crop which almost invariably follows. 
Valley City, Dakota. n. r. 
SORGHUM SUGAR-MAKING. 
Bulletin No. 45 of the New Jersey Experi¬ 
ment Station is devoted to investigations upon 
the cost and value of sorghum as a sugar-pro¬ 
ducing crop and the production of sugar on 
the farm and in the sugar house, by Dr. Ar¬ 
thur T. Neale, Chemist of the Station. The 
investigations took place during the last sugar- 
producing season, in September, October and 
part of November, at the Hughes sugar-house 
at Rio Grande, Cape May Co., N. J., and the 
chemical work was afterwards done at the 
Station’s laboratory at New Brunswick. 
The Rio Grande Sugar Company, after six 
years of hard work, found that the sorghum 
sugar business was unprofitable, and therefore 
closed its factory and disposed of its machin¬ 
ery. Of the various causes assigned for this 
failure, the following are the most reason¬ 
able: 1. The small tonnage of cane per acre. 
2. The inefficiency of the cane mill as a ma¬ 
chine for separating sugar from sorghum. 3. 
The marked decline in the wholesale prices of 
raw sugar and molasses. 
It was believed that the two former causes 
could be overcome, especially after the suc¬ 
cessful application of the diffusion process in 
the government experiments, and the Hughes 
Sugar-house Company was organized and a 
sugar house built and equipped for this pur¬ 
pose, the Department of Agriculture paying 
a proportion of the expenses, as it conducted 
a series of experiments there. 
The average product of the cane per acre 
for four years was 7.3 tons. Last year the 
number of hills per acre was increased, more 
suitable soil was selected, and proper fertiliz¬ 
ers were used with the result that the crops 
raised by the farmers averaged 15 tons per 
acre, or more than double the average crops 
of the previous four years. Cause of failure 
No. 1 was thus avoided. 
In spite of low prices, it was believed that 
financial success could be achieved if 90 per 
cent, of the total amount of sugar in the cane 
could be secured in merchantable form. The 
advocates of sorghum sugar-making claimed 
that this could be accomplished by the substi¬ 
tution of the diffusion process for milling, and 
the entire season was spent in studying this 
problem, which was not solved until Novem 
ber 22, too late to secure, this season, positive 
results in proof of the financial success of the 
industry. Data were collected, however, 
which, we are told, “strengthen the convic¬ 
tion that sorghum sugar can be made with 
profit in New Jersey,” and if in New Jersey, 
then in many other parts of the country also. 
The report declares that farmers can average 
14 tons of cane per acre, at an average ex¬ 
pense of $2.46 per ton. At present market 
prices the available products from one ton of 
cane will average $6.36, one-half of which 
should go to the farmer in payment for his 
crop. With an income of $3 18, his profits 
would be 72 cents per ton, or $10.10 per acre, 
or 14 per cent, on an assumed valuation of $70 
invested in the land. 
Average cane contains 9 per cent, of sugar 
in its juice; cane containing 10 per cent., 
11 per cent, and 12 per cent, of sugar was 
grown by Rio Grande farmers during the past 
year, with yields ranging from 15 to 22 tons 
per acre. Profits, consequently, may be very 
much larger than 14 per cent.; for instance, 
one man’s possible profits last season were 
$46 71 per acre, or 66.7 per cent, on his invest¬ 
ment* and another’s profits could have been 
$25.67 per acre, or 36.7 per cent, on his invest¬ 
ment. 
From the manufacturers’ standpoint, the 
season’s work and investigations show that a 
sugar-house, such as the Hughes, costing 
$15,000, can work up 35 to 40 tons a day, at 
an expense of $2 39 per ton, including legal 
interest and taxes on capital, but excluding 
cost of superintendence. 
The manufacturer’s share in the products 
from one ton of average cane would be $3.18; 
his balance would, therefore be 79 cents, 
equivalent to $27.65 per day or $1,935.50 for 
the season. With due allowances for super¬ 
intendence, this balance would admit of the 
payment of a dividend of five per cent, on the 
capital. 
For each per cent, of sugar in the cane juice, 
in excess of nine per cent., an additional 
dividend of five per cent, on the capital can be 
declared on the season’s work. On such cane as 
some of that grown last year, a dividend of 20 
per cent, on the capital could be declared, in 
addition to the payment of legal interest and 
taxes. 
There is so much hope for farmers in the 
prospects for this new industry, and so much 
has been said about the diffusion process, on 
which its success will entirely depend, that we 
have thought it advisable to re-engrave, on a 
smaller scale, the illustrative cuts which ac¬ 
company the report. The engravings explain 
their own character and purpose so well that 
only a few words of explanation will be re¬ 
quired with each. 
At Fig. 172 is the Hughes sugar-house and 
Fig. 172. 
its machinery. The main building is 33 feet 
high and 30 feet square. Its walls for the first 
18 feet are built of brick, and above this point 
the entire structure is sheathed with corru¬ 
gated iron; fire-risks are thereby materially 
lessened. In plain view are the cane-carrier, 
the section-cutter, or leaf-separator, the 
shredding knife, and the two fans and 
shaking tables, which separate the leaves 
and dust from the cut canes by blow¬ 
ing the refuse matter into the leaf chute, 
while the sections of cane descend to the shred¬ 
ding knife, which cuts them into a mass of 
chips, splinters and pulp, from which the su¬ 
gar can be easily separated by means of diffu¬ 
sion. The shredded cane is taken to the dif¬ 
fusion battery, on the left, where the sugar is 
extracted. All of this machinery was devel¬ 
oped by Mr Hughes, and at present can be 
found only in his factory; hence the chief rea¬ 
son why it is pictured here. 
The cane is bundled in the field, drawn to 
the house on wagons, and unloaded upon an 
open platform. As fast as the bundles are 
needed they are hoisted to a door 25 feet above 
the ground, through which they are drawn 
into the house and immediately dropped upon 
the cane-carrier, shown at Fig. 173. This re¬ 
sembles a box 14 feet long and 24 inches wide. 
Its bottom is circled by two endless iron chains, 
which are connected at intervals of one foot 
by strips of wood called “lags.” These lags 
reach from one side of the box to the other 
and are constantly moving forward at the 
rate of 25 feet per minute. 
The diagram shows that the section-cutter 
C*tie Carrier 
rm m ■ m 
i 
1 
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1 arayr/y. 
Fig. 173. 
is placed directly across the end of the cane- 
carrier. This cutter has two fly-wheels, each 
three feet in diameter and 360 pounds in 
weight. The space between them, viz., 33 
inches, is spanned by two knife-blades, dia¬ 
metrically opposite to each other, each of 
which is therefore long enough to cut off a 
complete section of the cane-bed at every revo¬ 
lution. When the knives revolve 88 times per 
minute, the sections will bo an inch and two- 
thirds long. 
The way in which the seed tops escape 
the knife and are separated from the rest 
of the cane is clearly shown here. The 
space between the section-cutter and the 
end of the carrier is about nine inches wide. 
The weight of the seed-tops holds the heavy 
ends of the cane in position until they are 
pushed forward far enough to bridge this 
space and rest upon the cutting block; but as 
soon as the seed-tops are pushed from the 
cutter they fall into the chute, which leads 
them outside the house. This very simple 
contrivance saves all the expenses and delay 
caused by hand-topping in the field. 
The fans, Fig. 174, are supported directly 
under the section-cutter and revolve 300 times 
a minute. They winnow the sorghum, blow¬ 
ing the leaves and light refuse into the leaf 
chute, and dropping the cleaned sections of 
cane into the shredding-knife.—Fig. 175. 
Fig. 175. 
This is a steel cylinder six inches in diam¬ 
eter and 24 inches long. By unscrewing sev¬ 
eral heavy bolts, counter-sunk into its face, a 
section one inch thick and two feet long will 
be loosened and a knife-blade of the same 
length will fall out. When properly set, this 
blade protrudes slightly from the surface of 
the cylinder and closely resembles the cutting 
edge of the iron in a carpenter’s plane. This 
machine revolves 1,700 times a minute. 
Diffusing cane means extracting its sugar 
by means of hot water. A diffusion battery 
is an arrangement of tanks in which this 
work is done. Diffusion, therefore, is a sub¬ 
stitute for the well-known process of milling, 
or crushing cane between rollers. Its super¬ 
iority lies in its power of securing practically 
all of the sugar in the cane. Its principal 
drawback is the ease with which excessive 
amounts of water may be used, and unneces¬ 
sary expenses for evaporation thereby incurred 
