Holmes County Republican. [volume] (Millersburg, Holmes County, Ohio) 1856-1865, 1857-01-22
CULTURE.

the few, and commands price 700 my !"
permit a waste, it should be lanted for
one season with good distance, that the
seed crop as well as the cane may attain
their highest state of development. l
would recommend that the rows should be
three, or even four feet apart, and dis
tance Of, say two feet, given in the row,
dropping one or two seeds in place. Let
the ground be well cultivated, as for corn,
and the shoots or suckers which spring up
from the root be all permitted to grow
A small portion of the crop should be re-
served for seed, and permitted to stand un-
til fully matured and dry. 1t would be
well to limit the canes in the seed-patch to
one in place. By all means permit no
Broom Corn, Doarah- Corn, or other plants
of the same family, to groac near your Cane.
1t readily intermixes with these varieties,
and efectually ruins your seed for the pro-
duclion of syrup. For the same reason,
great care should be observed in procuring
reliable seed, as well as in keeping them so.
After. the first season, when a full sup
ply of seed shall have been secured, bet
ter-paying syrup crop may be grown, by
closer planting. The space between the
rows may well be narrowed down to three
feet, and the seed put in, say two or three
every six inches. When well up, the stout
est and healthiest plants should alone be
allowed to stand. The cane, when very
young, presents so much the appearance of
grass, that an advantage may perhaps be
gained by dropping some other seed with
the cane, that the latter may be more
readily distinguished. This, of course,
should be drawn out with the superfuent
cane plants. When of sufficient size, the
plants should be suckered down to one
cane to each root. In other respects, the
successful grower of corn will not be at a
loss in the cultivation of this plant. l have
found suitable time for planting to be
Immediately after the corn crop, although
excellent results have been obtained by
planting as late as the 18th of May, in
Cherokee, Georgia. 1t will doubtless be
desirable to make several successive plant
ings, that they may mature gradually, and
so give more time for harvesting the crop.
The land, in my opinion, should be pre-
pared in all respects as for corn.
HARVESTING.
When the stalk shall have attained its
full size, and the seed have passed from
the dough stage to harder texture, the
cane may be considered sufficiently mature.
Prior to the harvesting, set of proper
rollers and kettles should be. provided and
well set up, ready for service. The mill
made use of by Mr.. Peters, and which was
gotten up under his direction for the pur-
pose, is, in my opinion, of very unexcep-
tionable quality for small apparatus, and
works admirably. 1t is of suitable size for
small crop, and no farmer should under
take to supply its place by wooden rollers
for crop of even two acres; the loss of
juice will more than counterbalance in ex-
pense. 1t is worked by two mules. Three
kettles, of from so to 100 gallons capacity,
will be required to keep pace fully with the
mill. 1t is desirable that these should be
broad and shallow, that they may present
large evaporating surface, and substan-
tally set in brick for security and conve-
nience. They should not be distant from
the press, and, if upon ground lower than
the latter, an advantage is gained by run
ming the expressed juice directly into them,
and thus saving the labor of transfer.
PRESSING.
The canes, located conveniently at hand,
are one by one doubled in the middle and
forced between the rollers, which are in as
close proximity as the strength of the mill
and the power of the team will warrant.
BOILING DOWN.
One of the first things done in COM
mencing operations should be to start the
fire under the kettles, that they may be
well warmed by the time the juice is ready
for them. In regard to the precise degree
of concentration to which the syrup should
be brought, it is exceedingly difficult to lay
down any precise and simple rule which
shall meet every case.
Mr.. Peters states the yield of his best
eighth acre in syrup at 52a gallons-that of
the poorest eighth at 434 gallons. Taking
the average, we have, as the yield of the en-
tire acre, 4O7 gallons, assuming the yield of
juice to correspond with the average results
obtained by experiment, say so per cent,
of the entire weight, with proper machi-
merry expressing 70 per cent, we have a
yield of $40 gallons per acre.
The general introduction of the cane
must, for years to come, limit the produc-
ton of cotton and greatly enhance its price,
adding considerable increase to the value
of our exports, and counterbalance, in a
measure at least, the shipment of bullion
from our shores, to restore the balance of
trade. This change in our productions,
and the increased remuneration for labor
consequent upon it, pre-supposes also an
enhanced value of the soil which grows it.
1t is to be hoped, moreover, that the prac-
teal working out of this problem may so
engage the attention of our people as to
withdraw them for time from the arena
of angry strife and contention, and tend to
cement more closely the tie which binds us
to our prosperous and happy Union.
ROBERT BATTEY.
ROME, Ga, October, 1856.
H Chinese Suger-Cane is destined to
be the GREAT sensation among farmers and