The Evansville daily journal., 1857-03-16
NUMBER 1876
Gbt 9ailp gournal,
MONDAY MORNING:::::::::::::::::::MARCH le

| CHINESE SUGAR CANE IN TExAs.-Mr. Geo.
w. Kendall editor of the New Orleans Plea
yune has farm at New Braunfels, in Texas,
land in letter to his partners gives the follow
ling as his experience Of the new sugar cane
in that region:
In October, 1855, 1 purchased in Paris .
small paper of the seed. do not think
there was more than two heaping table
spoonsful Of it, or three at the outside. I
brought 1t with me to New Orleans, and on
Iarriving sent it here to be planted. When I
reached this place, early in Nav last, 1t was
Just peerins above the ground, two rows of it
in a ten acre field, which had been devoted in
the main to milet, oats, and little Indian
corn, and four short rows in our garden-the
latter planted last.
About the 9th of July the two rows in the
larger field had shot up. headed out and III
pened, notwithstanding the drought, and the
heavy heads were cut for seed. The. oats
meanwhile had not come up, the millet was
hardly above ground, while the Indian corn
was parched and drying up for want of rain.
Two or three mornings afterwards, on looking
at the field from hill close by, noticed that
disappeared, while rows of Indian corn ON
either side were still standing. On close ex-
animation, | ascertained that lot of hogs
hogs are apt to do such things--had broken
into the field, and devoured the Chinese SUI
gar cane root and branch; it was cut clean to
the ground by the porkers, not sign or ves-
ti3e was left, while, as already stated, the
stocks oi the common Indian corn on either
side were LEFT standing. / was thankful had
saved the seed, and thought little more
of it.
Some few days after this--perhaps fort.
night-the rows planted in the garden were
examined, the heads OF seed found to be ripe.
and the greater portion cut and brought to
the house, leaving the tall stalks still stand
Ing. On cutting down one of the latter,
which must nave been ten feet high, found
it TO be exceedingly heavy, and on tasting
the cane it seemed to me to be as full of sac
charine juice as the ordinary sugar cane of
louisiana. At the same time L had two or
three imported French merino sheep in my
yard in great want of green fodder, and on
entting the care into small pieces found that
they devoured it with the greatest avidity.-
After this | fed them daily on it for some time,
a single stalk furnishing good bait. / also
gave some of it to a iavorite mare, she eating
it even more greedily than the sheep
Some three weeks after the ripe heads of
seed were cut | noticed that new heads had
shot up from the same stalk; and these new
heads blossomed, filled, and ripened i'm Sep
tember, and were cut and brought to the
house. All this time you must recollect
we were suffering from the unprecedented
drouth, and Indian corn and sweet potatoes,
water melons, pumpkins, and the like, had
died down to the very ground. 'A
| now became more interested in the Sor-
gho Sncre than ever and although still fed
out daily to the mernoes and mares, left q
portion of the stalks standing. Soon new
heads were seen shooting out, and these in
turn blosSomed and ripencd as did the first
kept no account of dates, but think this
third crop OF seed from the same stalk, if SO,
may call it was gathered about the first of
October; it might have been during the SO.
cond week Of that month. planted some OF
this last seed, by way of experiment; it came
up rapidly, looked thrifty, grew until it was
nearly knee high, and was finally cut down by
trost in November. A great number of shoots
or suckers, which had sprung up from the
stalks first planted were cut down at the same
time; the Sorgho Sucre can stand any kind
of drough-, but the first sharp frost kills it
to the ground. .r.,-t
And what amount Of seed do you think
/ gathered from the little paper l purchased
in Paris? Nearly, if not quite two bushels
and had not the hogs broke into the field,5I
believe | should have had three 1t certainly
yields in the most miraculous manner, beats
everything for dry weather.
0f its properties for the production of su-
gar, can say nothing; only know that it
tastes like the common sugar cane, and is full
OF juice about the time the first heads ripen.
As a green fodder it also beats everything
which grows. horses, sheep, and hogs are GER
tanly inordinately fond OF it. and so full arc
the stalks of saccharine matter, that they
must be both nutritious and fattening 1 can
not say what kind of bread or cakes the seed
will AFFORD, nor can tell what kind Of dry
fodder the plant will make when cut green;
these experiments have yet to try, and now
that have the seed | intend to do it on
grand scale. shall plant it in rows, or drills
shall sow it and shall cut it at different stag
es to try its qualities as d dry fodder. Let
me repeat over and over again, that it stands
a drought better than anything we have
does not seem to reqnire rain after 1t is once
up. Yours, &c, U. w. IA.
PHILOSOPHY OF NETTING BRIcK.-Lime
rnorter acts as bond with brick by adhesion,
the vehicle being the moisture or water of the
mortar. Dry porous bricks at once abstract
the moisture from the mortar, and it soon
evaporates; thus the binding vehicle between
the two is removed.
Spring and fall are the best seasons of the
year for building brick houses. In warm dry
weather the moisture of the NOR ar evapora-
tes too rapidly and in frosty weather it crys-
talizes, and when thawed it sweats out.
Mortar becomes hard by absorbing carbonic
acid from the atmosphere; and it ACQUIRES by