The Hawaiian gazette. [volume] (Honolulu [Oahu, Hawaii]) 1865-1918, 1883-10-17
3awaiian Gazette.
vFDNFsDAY. OCTOBER II. lss3.

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WEDNESDAY, OCTOBER Il. 1883.
Sugar in New Jersey---Account of the Rio
Grande Sorghum Plantation
RIO GRANDE, y. J., Sept. SIT can scarcely
be called an attractive country, this through
which the West Jersey Railroad runs from
Camden to Cape May. For most Of the way
the soil is a barren white sand, and the only
considerable vegetation, tile small scrub pine
and oak, with here and there tangled clumps
Of laurel and whortleberry bushes, and on the
ground thick coating Of pine needles, and
along the roadside prickly pear cactus. 1t is
a fine country for mosquitoes. They say there
are some black bears in the swamps, and now
and then a deer is seen in the glades Of the
woods 1t is about as much Of a wilderness
as one can expect to find within few hours
ride Of New York. But here, at this lonely
little station Of Rio Grande, the scene changes
somewhat There is no town here, but there
are some big modern looking buildings. and
there are vast fields Of what looks a good deal
like corn, only it is much higher than corn was
ever known to grow in New Jersey. 1t is not
corn. 1t is sorghum, and these are the much
talked of New Jersey sugar plantations.
With these cool days of early autumn come
busy times here. WorEmen are cutting down
the stately canes, stripping of the leaves and
clipping of the heads, or seed tassels; at the
top Then they tie them up in bundles, like
fishing rods, and they are carted of 10 the
| buildings The bundles are not very big, for
the canes are almost as heavy as iron. The
wagons do not convey the cane direct to the
buildings, but 10 a little railway that has been
l .grpuu he nj and fhara ia traugfar-
red to the cars which run directly into the
buildings. rThere is no locomotive on the road,
however The motive power of the train is
team Of mules, venerable old mules, too, for
one Of them bears a well authenticated Army
brand Of 1861. Some idea Of the size Of this
Rio Grande plantation may be formed from the
| knowledge that this little railway is no less
than six miles long.
HISTORY OF THE PLANTATION
1t was only three years ago that this place
was discovered, or invented. In $50 the first
| considerable amount Of sorghum was raised
here. There were a hundred acres Of it, and
the speculators paid the farmers SIS an acre
to plant and cultivate il, They only got 800
| tons Of cane Of of the whole hundred acres,
and it only produced little over seven tons
Of sugar The whole thing was dead loss to
the men who went into it. But they were not
discouraged. They bought a tract of 800
acres Of land-sand barrens---aId put up lot
Of buildings for working up the cane on the
spot.
Last year they planted thousand acres in
sorghum, and it took sixty men siNty-two days
to do it, They MANFRED the ground with lime,
to begin with, at the rate Of thirty bushels TO
the acre. That one lime dressing will last
three years, when it will need renewing Theu
| they put on a compost, made OF muck and sea-
weed and mussells Then they planted tie
seed, in hills three feet apart each way, and
let half dozen plants grow in a hill. II was
cultivated much like corn, and soon grew up
tall and robust, ten, twelve or fifteen feet high,
and almost stout enough for sea gulis or even
mosquitoes to make their nests in It's tassels.
When September came around, and the cane
was cut-in time to avoid frosts, which ruin
it-there were from eight to eighteen tons 20
the acre. Altogether they crushed in the mills
here more than 5000 tons Of cane. From that
they got juice enough to make about 100 tons
of sugar, and l 900 gallons Of good molasses
! THIS sold we'll, and paid, and the State paid a
bounty of dollar on every ton Of cane and
twenty dollars on every ton orsuCar, making
nearly $4,000 on last years Gro d.
TIE PRESENT G6r.
This year much lsgeTI area was planted. |
! and in much qTtSer time than last year, be- |
cause Impr9ed machinery was brought into |
use ne .easUn has been favorable, and the |
crop ich is now being cut, bids fair TO yield |
q h'l Some return Of sugar The cutters ss-
rlss1te that there will be close to 10000 tons |
Of first class cane. 1t ought to yield, they say |
half a million pounds Of sugar and nCaIiy one /
hundred thousand gallons Of mOlasses. All |
the planting was done last spring between the |
I EF1 a...l ~ -Ffrlff audi
fourteen horses did all the work.
The carly Amber variety is now ripe and is |
being cut. The Orange variety will not be |
ripe for nearly a month yet. It is believed |
that some intermediate variety would give |
best satisfaction, and numerous experiments |
are being made, on a plot Of twenty-five acres |
to find such a variety. There are now no less |
than siXty-eight different kinds Of sorghum |
growing there.
SOM SIDE ISSUES.
Besides the sugar and molasses, there are
other valuable products OF the sorghum plant |
1t yields an enormous quantity Of seed, and |
this seed is a rich nutritious grain. ! don't /
know how it would work in the long run as
food for the human family, though ! have |
tasted pancakes made of sorghum seed meal |
that were fully as palatabls as those Of buck |
wheat -four For horses and cattle the seed is |
good food, if mixed iudiciously with other |
grain. For chickens there is probably no bet |
ter food in the world especially for laying |
hens. But most Of the seed grown here goes to |
the hogs. The hog pen is a leading feature Of |
the plantation, L is big enough to hold a |
thousand porkers, though at present there are |
only about 200 in it; but it will soon be full. |
The pens are close to the shore, on the salt |
meadows, and are on ground that consists |
purely of mud, vegetable mud, the accumula- |
tons Of hundreds Of crops Of rank, salt hay, |
that have rotted where they grew, and sea
weed cast up by the waves. There are lots |
Of tiddlers" in it, too, and musses This /
the hogs root and tramplo into a splendid COM |
post, and then there is thrown in another sor- |
ghum product, the pulp or "bagasse, that /
is, the crushed canes, after the Juice has all |
been squeezed out. This is tramped into the |
mud, and the result is a splendid bed Of COM |
post for the next crop. The hogs are fed |
mostly on the sorghum seed, boiled soft, and |
it iatteus them Just as well as The best Indian /
corn would do.
There are, it is said, more than 900, 900 acres |
Of land in this part Of the Stale Just as well |
adapted to sorghum culture as this is, now |
lying waste, and much Of il for sale al a merely
nominal price. There is almost constantly |
some talk about the purchase Of large tracts |
by city capitalists, but it seems 10 be talk and |
nothing more. All the same, this Rio Graude |
experiment seems now TO he an established |
success, and though its half millions of pounds |
Of sugar is only an iufintesimll share Of the |
billions Of pounds used in tus country, one |
can't help making such a calculation as this: |
II 200 acres produce half a million pounds. |
how many pounds would be produced on |
10000 acres which they say arc only waiting |
to be planted?-N J. Tribune.
The Mongoose
Ephemeral notoriety is not limited to the |
canine race, and every animal has its day. The |
prominence accorded to the Colorado beetle /
was eclipsed by the claims Of Jumbo, who in /
ms turn gave way to the ants, bees and wasps, |