Anti-slavery bugle. [volume] (New-Lisbon, Ohio) 1845-1861, 1858-02-13
miscellaneous.
lyt0r From the Cincinnati Gazette.
THE CHINESE SUGAR CANE-THE EX.
PERIENCE OF A CULTIVATOR.
SuAsosvrLLE, Hamilton county, o.,
.Iannarv- 1897. |

u 0Oi Hluutt VI ShkuI Nhut, duh
being frequently asked what we thought Of it,
We take this means of letting those interested know
land wSo is not) how we have succeeded with H..
We bought early in the season sufficient seed tol
plant one acre, to experiment on. BY the tenth oil
May II was planted 10 good order, in good bottom
land. The plants came up rather uneven. owing
TO the backward spring, For the first month, with
the usual labor given to corn, the Sorghum was
far behind. After that time il grew rapidly, final
ly overlapping the corn from two to two and u halt
feet, Being anxious to try the virtues of the plaut
we had made a tbreerolling wooden mill, aud as
soon rs the seed panacles appeared, commenced
our e%x experiments. We cut the largest canes, and
pressed them in our mill, Boiling the juice in the
ordinary way for making maple moldsses, we sue.
ceeded IN getting some pleasant syrup.
'Our mill was SO poor Tint we could not tell ex-I
ectly MS to the amount of Juice yielded, compared
with later experiments, but we are satisfied, if it
were necessary, it would pay to commence max.
ing syrup as soon rs the pauicles, or seed top
appears; and this we think, in case Of the scarcity
or high price OF southern sweets, would be n desir-
able object. In continuing our experiments We
found that by stripping the epidcrmis or bark of
the Sstalk, we could get a pint Of juice from a large
stalk. This juice made n syrup. that in color
and taste. could hardly be distinguished from new
Southern molasses. Being fully satisfied that it
was ne humbug. or in other words it would pay,
we purchased a three roller iron mill, of Messrs.
Hedges, Free & Co. and prepared to test it further.
Daring all our experiments, we fed the stalk, top
and blades, with the succurs, to our stock, giving
the hogs, Cor their share, the baggasse or crushed
cane. 1t was eaten by all with avidity, aud. as
we thought, to their benefit. We will not go over
oil the experiments we made before the cane ripen.
cd il is sufficient to say that we were well pleas
ed with our success. When the seed was fairly
ripened, we commenced our notwithstanding
the cane. stripping and hauling to the mill. Our
furnace was the one used last season for boiling
the maple juice in, and not quite as good as i'll
might have been. We found our mill to work
we'll supplying us With all the juice we could boil
down in our pans. We made from forty to fifty
FIVE gallons Of syrup(wbich we thought very good
daily. We were soon importuned by ou- neigh
bors to grind and manufacture the little lots they
each had raised, by way of ez pertinent, consequent
ly, for about a month, we had our hands full, using
up about ten acres OF cane.
After satisfying ourselves that we could use the
cane from the time the seed appeared, our next OBJ.
ject was to see how long il would bear to lie after
having been cut, before grinding. We had a load
of cane cut and stript. and then threw it in a pile
in the mill ynrd, on Monday morning on the fol-
lowing Monday morning, we ground the cane and
boiled the juice it made syrup equal to care
just cut aud stript. We are very sorry since that
we did not weigh the cane to see il there was any
loss if there was any,, we could not perceive it
our next ex Experiment. On this point, with a large lot
of cane that had been cut and thrown in O pile.
under an apple tree where it lay three WeekS before
it was brought to US. From press Of work it lay
in the yard some four days longer. That cane
made as fine syrup in appearance and taste as any
made from cane just cut.
Being perfectly satisfied that under any reason
able circumstances the cane would not spoil, our
next aim was to test its productivenes. We
weighed the stripped cane that grew on one tenth
of an acre of upland (which c. Heagman, who
raised it, said was not more than onehalf a stand
or half a much as could be raised on the same
ground this gave US within six lbs. of one ton
The juice from this made twenty two GALLONS of
syrup. One ton brought by another farmer made
twenty and one half gallons syrup. We are
satisfied that cur own cane turned off syrup at the
rate of three haudred gallons to the acre. We
have to state in regard to the cane standing the frost
that we believe it improves it, and even q hard
freeze is an advantage, if the cane can be worked
up az soon as it thaws out. The juice after q slight
fermentation makes a pleasant cider, and if per
mitted 20 remain unboilod turns into vinegar.
We have now some fifty barrels changing from
q pleasant cider to a vinegar, which, We think, will
be equal to white wine vinegar. To continue the
fermenting process through the winter, we have
covered our barrels with the ~baggasse as to the
profit, we will give our opinion from the notes we
have kept through the season. We believe for feed
tho seed and blade will pay for raising the cane
crop, and when the cane is delivered, Stript, at the
mill, the syrup can be made for ten cents a gallon,
and this at q time when wages were very high
Our efforts to make sugar were not as satisfactory
as we :ould desire. Some syrup that we bottled
and set away, deposited chrI stalls on the sides OF
of the bottles evidence enough that the sugar
was there, had we the way to get it out. But i
there is never a pound of dry sugar made from
this plant, we are confident it is, and will be wortl
thousands Of dollars to the people Of of Ohio, ant
all the north and north west. We will give yot
our reasons.
There is no one who will dispute that the farm
er, Of this State. would have saved thousands o
dollars, in the past season of high prices. for su
pay and . mOlnssps. If thew Cnuid hnyn mad,
the came at home for twenty-five cents a gallon
And this we assert, from actual ex experience will
cover the cost Of raising the Chinese Sugar Cane
and making the syrup, not taking the fodder anC
seed into account. And now we are going to Civ,
our plan a plan that will forever destroy the su
premacy Of the South, at least so far as exorbitan
prices for the luxuries we cannot, and will not d.
without. After promising that this plan is so val
liable to the North that | shall expect to be a
least Vice President, when they elect n Presiden
from the ReSerUe, Tor first presenting it to the pub
lie. Let every farmer at the North and NORTH
West secure sufficient good seed, to plant a
acre, more or less, as his wants may be, an
plant it near his corn, it requires no more care tina
the corn, and if New Orleans molasses is wort
no more than twenty-five cents next fall as som
suppose, let them save sufficient seed for next yea
planting, and feed their cane 20 the stock. The
will find the same amount of land in cane will q
farther than if planted in corn. But if molasse
in the fall is worth forty or fifty cents, then the
Will ind they have made handsomely by 1t. Som
enterpr:sing farmer in each neighborhood can &c
q mill and for q small compensation, twenty o
thirty farmers can grind enough to MAKE eac
their own syrup. and thus put on end to exorbitan
prices. This plan carried out from year to yea
will prove invaluable on account of present savin
and it will prepare US for that good time comint
when the bonn bastes Furiosos Of the South sha
say Eve will waste our sweetness on the desert a
before you shall taste them.
A few remarks in regard to seed and its mixin
or crossing with %broomcorn. To secure good sec
we found it necessary to take some pains in assor
ing the fully ripe from that which was only pa
TALLY SO, and still other that grew on suckers an
did not ripen at all. In topping the GAZE we wei
careful to have the fully ripe separated from ii
balance, which we used for feed. We saw the n
ccssity Of this in the seed we bought for our plan
ing. In one lot fully one third Of the seed VIZ
imperfect, and consequently good for nothing
After driving the seed In rail nens that the n