1858 . 
THE CULTIVATOR. 
85 
We only regret that the inventor has placed it in very 
inefficient hands for general introduction, and that the 
general agent or owner of the patent, requires such 
exorbitant prices for county and State rights as really 
to prohibit its introduction into most places. 
Can’t Afford to Stop it. —In any event, I cannot 
afford to do without the Country Gentleman, which I 
have found constantly a treat of good things, cautious 
in the advocacy of new and doubtful discoveries and 
inventions, conservative in matters of contested agri- 
cultural doctrine, never allowing the brilliancy of a 
novel idea to dazzle and blind the eyes of sound judg¬ 
ment, and in the right track as regarding labor as 
something more than the mere handmaid of science, 
but rather as the noble corner stone of all success in 
agricultural enterprise. “ Long may it wave! ” W. 
B. M. Cedar Lake, Wis. 
We are indebted to Hon. Samuel Dixon, our 
M. C., for the Ag. Report of the Com. of Patent Office 
for 1856—to Levi Bartlett, Esq, for Transactions N. 
H. Ag. Society for 1856 — to Wm. H. Starr, Esq , for 
“The Illustrated Pear Culturist,” a notice of which 
will appear hereafter. We have also received an 
“ Exposition of the Natural Position of Mackinaw 
City,” with maps, &c. 
Farmer’s Clubs —We find the following seasonable 
hints in the Ohio Farmer: “Don’t fail to get up a 
‘ Farmers’ Club’ in your circle. Or revive the old one 
if you have had one. You must do this or something 
like it, to keep up with the times. Hold a weekly 
meeting for mutual improvement in agriculture for the 
next sixteen weeks, and mark down the result, and we 
think you will be convinced that such an arrangement 
will be useful.” Such Clubs ought to be formed in 
every town in the country, where farmers could get to¬ 
gether and spend at least one evening in a week in the 
discussion of matters pertaining to their own particu¬ 
lar pursuits. Much valuable information could thus be 
obtained, and a spirit of inquiry and emulation would 
be awakened, which would exhibit its effect in the labors 
and profits of the coming season. 
Hog Cholera. —The hog cholera is, and has been 
very prevalent in this county, some five or six miles 
south of this place, many farmers having lost their 
entire stock. No cause for it can be found—no cure 
either, though several nostrums have been tried. I 
mention it to correct the prevailing impression that it 
is caused by poisonous whisky slops, as there are uo 
distilleries in the county, and hogs are seized with it 
in the range and in enclosures. Sydney Spring. 
White Co., III. 
Disease in Cattle — A neighbor of mine has lost 
two calves and one cow within a few months, by a dis 
ease which we suppose may be Murrain in the head. 
The symptoms are trembling, a yellowish discharge 
from the nose, and a “blood-shot eye.” If you or any 
of your readers have had experience in the disease 
described, and can give the symptoms more fully, the 
cause, preventive, and cure, you will much oblige A 
Reader. 
Good temper is like a sunshiny day ; it sheds glad¬ 
ness and brightness on everything. 
A good wood pile is one sign of a good home. 
Chinese Sugar Can© in Indiana. 
Editors Country Gentleman —You have, I per¬ 
ceive, many communications in regard to experiments 
with the Chinese Sugar Cane—mostly on a small scale. 
Experiments conducted in this way cannot be entirely 
satisfactory, for the cost of manufacture, (which is the 
principal item to be considered in determining its value 
as a staple crop,) cannot be truly estimated. Besides 
this, a wooden mill, or some more rude contrivance, is 
used for expressing the juice, and thus justice is not 
done to the capacity of this crop. 
Without burthening you with details, I will briefly 
state to you some facts gained by a pretty lengthy ex¬ 
perience. I used one of Hedges, Free & Co.’s vertical 
iron roller mills, which performed its work admirably. 
I used for boiling down, cast-iron pans—procured of 
the same—largo and shallow, and set in a brick range. 
I raised three acres of the cane, which did well—at¬ 
taining a hight of from II to 12 feet. Some was plant¬ 
ed in hills and some in drills. I worked up my own 
besides a great many small patches of my neighbors. 
I have learned as follows ;— 
1st. That it will make an excellent syrup, but that 
much depends on its manufacture. I have seen some 
of very inferior quality. 
2d. The best quality of syrup is obtained when the 
cane is fully ripe, and I think also, without having 
made accurate experiments, that the quantity to be 
obtained is greatest at that stage. 
3d. That our lands that have produced this year (one 
of our best seasons,) 50 bushels corn to the acre, have 
yielded 200 to 250 gallons molasses. With proper plant¬ 
ing and culture, I believe 300 gallons may be easily 
obtained. 
4th. That a greater yield of juice may be obtained 
by planting in drills 6 or 8 inches apart, keeping all 
suckers down. 
5th. That severe frosts injure the quality of molasses, 
whether the cane be fully ripe or not, and that there¬ 
fore, 
6 th. In our latitude it should be planted from 1st to 
15th May, that it may ripen by the middle or last of 
September. 
For the benefit of some who talk about its yield not 
exceeding 100 gallons to the acre, let me give you the 
product of a patch belonging to one of my neighbors, 
and worked up by me. He had five rows, 90 feet long 
and 4 feet apart, and the product was 19 gallons. This 
is at the rate of 460 gallons to the acre. It was grown 
on a piece of ground that had formerly been a barn¬ 
yard, and all the suckers were left to grow, and work¬ 
ed up. Had it been allowed to mature, I think it 
would have gone up to the rate of 500 to the acre 
The high value of this new plant is a fixed fact with 
us. J. A. Foote. Terre Haute, Ind., Lee. 1, 1857. 
Messrs. Tucker & Son —Last spring I procured a 
package of seed at Pittsburgh, of R. Peter’s raising, 
—half a pint, for which I paid one dollar. I planted 
it May 18. It was long coming np, and when up it 
did not grow two inches in two weeks. At the end of 
two weeks it began to go up, and by first of Septem¬ 
ber it had reached the height of 12 feet. I should have 
stated that my seed planted 51 square rods, six seeds 
to a hill, 3 1-2 feet apart each way. I took all the 
suckers off, suckering it once every week for three 
