The Tiffin tribune. [volume] (Tiffin, Ohio) 1848-1859, 1859-02-25
Agritult1ral
FarmIng EEporIonoe Tho sOrghs.

NNNMANNNH W wiz. NiN AN"NANA NA ANNAA ~ ~
ing operations occasionally, and as often
as they think they have anything worth
communicating Your humble servant
is poor farmer and worse scribe; but
no matter Having the last season had
some experience in oultivating and man.
ulao,aring the Chinese Sugar Cane, and
having few hours Of leisure in attend
ing Court, write you this scrawl, as my
testimony in regard to this new acquia-
ton to our agricultural resources.
think, ifthe old Yankee Poet Barlow,
when singing the praises Of Indian Corn,
in his "Hasty Pudding" had been ac-
quainted with the Sugar Cane, if no would
not have made better song ho certainly
would have bad q sweeicr themo. II Zoa
has yielded biz body to the necessities Of
man, his Asiaiic cousin, Sorgho. has
yielded his blood for his iararies. Al
though his advent is recent, think
enough has been done by way Of expert
mont to leave little doubt that he will
provo an important addition TO our home
resources of luxury and comfort
1 am often asked, "toW U paW' Ny
answer Is decidedly, yss. In tho last
week in September ! procured an iron
crushing mill Of Mess. Hall e Watson, Of
Republic, and commenced grinding aud
boiling. / worked mp some 25 or 80 crops
for my neighbors, varying from ono-tenth
Of an acre and less to three-fourths Of an
aero, and made some 30 barrels Of molas.
SOS. Where the cane was mature and
we'll cultivated, the article was Of fine
quality. The yield yariod. Some drops
yielded one gallon Of syrup TO five gallons
Of Juice, while others, which were plant
cd late, badly cultivated aud brought to
the mill with unripo stalks &c., required
and in one crop l0 gallons to yield one.
The spring had boen an unfavomb'e one
and much trouble arose from bad seed, so
that many had to send South for seed for
second planting, which made the crops
late; and its slow growth in early summer
discouraged many from cultivating, tll
they found II was bound to grow uyhow.
They then began to scratch around and
cultivate a little. Tho fall being favora.
BILE, they all succeeded Ia proving a sat-
isfactory return for their labor And,
judging from the appearances Of things
in my neighborhood, We shall be somo-
whatin the condition of the old Cordwain-
or, who said, when he FIRST moved into
the town Of Whitingham, ''every man in
the town was n shoemaker save one and
he made his own"
| boiled in iron bottomed pans, with
wooden sides, and about one barrel capae-
ity, set in brick arches, using small
quantity Of lime to neutralize the natural
acid of the Cane, This quantity is not
definite, as the acid in different crops va
ries. The operator must learn this from
experience, trying the result by his sense
of taste, when he begins on crop.
An acre Of good Cane will yield from
Z to 0 barrels Of good syrup that is, il
the stand be good aud tho cane well ground
and matur8d.
"Will it make sugar." / have no
doubt but il will, though have made none
nor tried-had enough to do in making
molasses. Making sugar from the Sor'
gho will be done by itself, as n separate
business. The grower and boiler will
probably close his labors with tho syrup,
reduced to q certain grade, whom the su-
gar reiner will take il from his hands.
Tho stalks, when passed through a
good crushing MILL are Worthless as for
age. had nothing on the farm that
would eat them. The seed was refused
by cattle, hogs, horses and sheep, ill win.
ter set in, when they all began to eat il
but not with great ayidity. Ifound that
Sorgho grown on yellow, sandy ground,
yielded the finest product, not so much
in taste as in It's oolor-yielding an arti.
Gle more resembling fine honey; while
that grown on rich black SOIL though
good and yielding more per acre is some
what different in color aud 6ne flavor,
Persons wishing to Plant Sorgho, the
eLsuing Spring, should be little eau
tious about their seed, as two crops wer,
brought to my mill, one OF which was ut
terly worthless and the other not wortl
more than so per cent The seed in thos
crops was different from the genuine, ri
pened earlier and fell off or began to i
the lield, while the seed Of the gonuin,
adheres TO the paniole with great tenaoi
~. An experienced eye can decide b
the looks of tho seed
II may be well. perhaps, here to max
fow remarks on the alGah, which it
necessary to use to neulralize the nhereJ
acid Of the Cane. used limo, as afor,
said. Some have suggested other alkal
such as Potash, Soda 80 But iuasnuc
as the salts Of lime with acid, as FAR as
know, are insoluble in water and cons,
quently tastoless and subsiie to the boi
tom Of the oask, whereas the salts Of oil
or alkalis. such as soda. potash sc. vii
all acids as far as know, are soluble
all aqueous menstrua and consequent
leave their peculiar qualities, such as Glal
bus salts, salt-petre &c., dissolved in Il
molasses, hence il follows that line un
ted with tho Zoaio acid Of the juice
the Sugar Cane sobsides to the bottol
and leaves the molasses uncontaminate,
Aud further; an excess Of lime woul
unite ultimately with the carbon OF III
syrup and form the carbonate Of lime az
fall tu the bottom likewise
II. NILES
Feb. 18th, 1859 Butternut Ridge.