St. Charles City Republican intelligencer. [volume] (St. Charles City [Charles City], Iowa) 1857-1861, 1859-04-21
fis7p"'Hutl'e u nc davenport Gazet
CULTURE OF SUGAR CANE,

EDITORS GAZETTE The vital i'm
Iportance Of the new sugar cane crop
to some of your readers, and the earn
est solicitations Of very many of nv
old acquaintanccs had the pleasure
Of meeting at the late Scott County
Pioneer Festival, have induced me to
communicate to them through the col
umns of yonr valuable journal, some
| OF the leading facts and features of
the production Of this crop and it's
manufacture into syrup and sugar.
Great care must be taken to prevent
hybridng with broom, coffee or dorah
corn, as it will mix at the distance of
so rods. Plant in dry soil and where
convenient choose that which is of
Southern exposure and not too rich ::
plant in the ridge, not the furrow, if
in hills only four or five grains mis-
sing hills can be replaced by the trans
planting from those adjacent. lwould
not remove the suckers or disturb the
ground late in the season, as is some
times done with corn, as it will pro-
tract the growth and prevent the ear
y maturity of the cane. Slight frosts
will not injurc, but hard freezing will:
hence the cane should be cut aud pro.
tectcd by slight covering of straw
The great tendency in this cane to
vegetate, especially in the joints makes
it much better for syrup or sugar max
ing, and the stalks should be thus
kept for several weeks, during which
time vegetation ceases and the pro-
cess of maturation proceeds with
greater rapidity, in the same manner
as in the winter apple, which at the
season for gathering is unfit for the
palate, but in the spring is not only
quite palatable, but sweet.
In cutting and handling the cane, be
particularly careful not to bruisc il.
as it will sour in a few hours of warm
weather thereafter The upper part
of the cane is not rich in sugar, but
1t will make, with the seed, excellent
forage for stock. Seven or eight feet
Is as much as is most profitable for
use. 1t is better to haul the cane from
the field to the place of working as
soon as cut and keep it clean.
Vertical groove mills are probably
the cheapest, most simple and effective
OF any in use. Boiling is the most
important of the whole process. and
in 1t have nearly all failed. Slow boil
ing will not do. The best Juice. or
even the pure sugar tree sap or dis
solved loaf sugar, boiled continually
over "a slow fire for six or eight hours,
will become carbonized, dark and uu-
tit for use, and all its crystalizable
qualities destroyed. No man need ex-
pect to make sugar before he has
learned 10 make superior syrup OF IL
bright straw color, and this once at
tained, sugar will follow without any
trouble.
There is no use for any detecting
agents or neutralizing alkalies, where
you have good. sound, well matured
cane, and a good apparatus for con
centrating the juices, well provided
with conycniencies for controlling the
fire, and plenty OF good fuel and an
active operator to conduct it with sys.
tenn aud despatch.
\ batch should never be allowed to
stop boiling until completed, especially
before it arrives at density of about
25' Beaumur Sacharometer, at which
time the scum should be entirely re-
moved
There are in this as in the introduc-
ton OF all other new crops and opera
tions, a multitude of schemes put on
foot for speculation, without any re.
liable basis in truth, science or me-
chanism. The inquiry is being made
(and it is time that it was answered J
whether this crop will pay! To this
| will say that with an outfit consist
ing of one horse mill with suitable
boiler and furnace, skinner, sacharo-
meter, test cup and proof glass, with
supply of fuel of wood or coal,
equal to three fourths cord per day,
one man at the mill and one at the
boiler, and one horse at the mill, a
strike of fifteen gallons Of good syrup
can be taken off every two and hall
hours, which will produce syrup at a
cost of less than fifteen cents per gal