it is again returned to the evaporating pans and concentrated again to 4o B. A bottle of Mr. Recker's thus prepared is deposited in the museum of the society. The price of bone coal in Cincinnati is now $3 per cwt.; 500 pounds of this coal will purify 210 gallons of syrup, after which it must be reburned. It is considered by many practical men that the full concentration and subsequent dilution of the syrup, involves a very unnecessary waste of both fuel and labor, in their opinion, it might as well be run through the coal at 25 or 26° B., and then finished at once. DISPOSITION OF THE SCUM. We have already stated that large quantities of scum are removed from the surface of the juice in the defecating and evaporating processes. This is disposed of in various ways. Many makers feed it to their hogs. It is greedily eaten by them and they fatten very rapidly on it. Others distil it into rum, a specimen of this product is deposited in the museum which has been pronounced by the best judges to be a very superior article. By others it is converted into vinegar which is considered the most profitable disposition of it. In order to make this article, it is first diluted with water until it marks 21 B. It is then kept in casks in a warm place until it is converted into vinegar in the usual manner. One gallon of whiskey is then added to 40 gallons of the vinegar which then sells for the highest market price. THE BEGASSE. This name has been given to the cane after the juice has been expressed from it. Nearly all of the saline matters taken from the soil remain in it, if, therefore, it is again returned to the soil in the form of manure, no exhaustion ensues. It makes excellent bedding for hogs and cattle, and when dry it may be used for horses. It is also used as fuel, but to adapt it to the use it must be cut into strips as it leaves the mill, by a machine attached to it for that purpose. It is then burned in a furnace specially adapted to its combustion. I am informed that in some places it is successfully used both for running the steam engine and for evaporating the juice, but in the only place where I saw the attempt made it was unsuccessful, and the proprietor was about to abandon it. Cows feed on the begasse with great avidity when recent, and it uniformily increases the flow of milk. It sometimes occasions the disease called "hooven," like young clover, should this occur, the disease is checked in a very short time by the administration of a few ounces of the bi-sulphate of lime. CANE AS A FORAGE PLANT. Cane often comes up in great abundance in the spring from seeds dropped upon the field the year before, but this volunteer cane as it is called, does not grow vigorously as that which has been sown in the spring upon well plowed ground. Some farmers sow the seed of it with oats in the spring, after the oats are harvested, it shoots up with great luxuriance and promises a very valuable fall fooder for milch cows and other stock, the testimony on this point was very abundant and was not contradicted by An acre of cane yields from 30 to 40 bushels of seed wheat, is When ground, the flour is said to any one. (See saccharometer and cup, No. I have frequently spoken of the use of the saccharometer in sugar boiling, it will be understood by an inspection of the figure. The facts indicated by it are shown in the following table: "A saturated solution of very pure sugar contains five parts of sugar and three parts of water. This is indicated by 34° of Baume's saccharo meter, at the temperature of 82° Fahr." BEET SUGAR. I could not find, after diligent inquiry, that there was a single establishment for the manufacture of beet sugar, in operation in the western States. I was told that I should find one at Chatsworth, Livingston county, Ill., but on going there it was not at work, and by a letter received recently from Mr. Gennert, the proprietor of it, I learn that it is not yet in operation. The building is very strong, and is constructed in the best manner, its dimensions are one hundred by one hundred and fifty feet; the tower for clarifying the juice, through bone coal, is fifty feet in height. It is provided with two steam engines and the graters, vacuum pans, centrifugals and other machinery, all as perfect as the present state of the arts will admit of. If beet sugar can be successfully made in this country, I think it will be made there. Mr. Gennert had a hundred acres of beets just ready for digging. Half an acre, which I thought a fair average of the whole field, was dug while I was there, which yielded eight tons. The kind which succeeded best was the "Imperial," which yielded 12 per cent. of crystallizable cane sugar. If it yields as well upon a large scale as it does on a small one, from 2,500 lbs. to 3,000 lbs. of sugar will be obtained from an acre. BOOKS AND PAPERS. Those who enter upon the sorghum business, in earnest, will of course desire to provide themselves with books and papers upon the subject. I have not seen Mr. Olcott's book, but I have heard it commended by those who are practically acquainted with the business. Mr. J. Hedge's work, entitled "Sorgo, or the Northern Sugar Plant," I have read with much interest and instruction, it will be found a very useful and convenient manual for all cultivators of the cane. Clark's Sorgo Journal is published monthly at $1 a year, by Wm. H. Clark, 122 Main street, Cincinnati. Mr. Clough, the editor, is an enthusiast in the business, who spares no pains in acquiring and disseminating all the current knowledge of the business that is new and valuable; it will be found almost indispensable to the tyro in sugar culture. Those who, in addition to a knowledge of the sugar business, desire to know something of the system of cultivation pursued in the great prairie districts of the west, will find their desires amply gratified by a perusal of the Prairie Farmer, published at Chicago, by H. D. Emery and W. W. Cor bet, at 204 Lake street, Chicago. CONCLUSION. I feel greatly indebted to the various gentlemen who so kindly responded to my inquiries in every portion of my route, and especially to Messrs. W. H. Belcher, W. W. Corbet and H. D. Emery, of Chicago. Mr. Adam Smith, of Loda; Mr. Wm. Edgerton, of Spiceland; Mr. W. W. Clough, of Cincinnati; Messrs. J. L. Gill & Son, of Columbus; Mr. E. S. Rickert, of Locust Grove; and Mr. C. Jacobs, for very valuable assistance and infor mation. The cultivators of sorghum at the west are very enthusiastic in favor of the crop, and their faith in its profits was very great. On examining the figures of the few who kept correct accounts, and who, instead of guessing at results, submitted them to the test of actual weight and measurement, I did not find these sanguine beliefs fully confirmed. The quantity of syrup was not as large as was supposed, and the cost was considerably greater than the estimate. There was a very general tendency to over estimate crops and under estimate expenses. Sometimes I received large accounts of the produce of a single acre, but on pacing around it I found that the acre consisted of three hundred square rods. I met with several persons who made syrup at an astonishingly cheap rate, but I ceased to wonder at the economy of production when I found that they charged a dollar a day for a team, fifty cents for the labor of a man, and nothing for fuel. I give herewith a statement of the comparative profit of several crops with which I was kindly furnished by Mr. E. S. Ricker; he has been for many years County Surveyor, of Clermont county, Ohio, is an accurate, intelligent man and close observer. The statements were taken from his ledger and represent an average cost of four consecutive years. He thus states the problem, "When wheat is selling at one dollar per bushel, (the present price) what ought refined sorghum syrup to be sold for, to be equally remunerative to the producer?" Equal to ninety-three cents one mill per bushel, and sold at one dollar, is at the rate of seven four-tenths per cent. above cost. Cost of one acre of cane yielding 150 gallons of refined syrup: The blades and seed will pay for stripping and cutting the $6.00 7 00 300 4 37 9 34 3 20 15 ..... 5 25 .......... 3 40 3 50 .$45 21 Bone coal for refining, 350 lbs. $10.50, but as the coal is worth Transportation to Cincinnati.. Total cost........ Of one acre of cane which is 30 cents 1 mill per gallon. To this add two cents two mills, which is at the rate of 74-10 per cent, the difference between the cost and the selling price of the wheat, and we have thirtytwo cents 3 mills the selling price of refined syrup, or its relative value to wheat at $1.00 per bushel. The wear of machinery and implements has not been taken into consideration in either case, but reference will be made to them hereafter. Cost of one acre of corn yielding 60 bushels: Which is 32 cents 6 mills per bushel; to that add 2 cents 4 mills, which is the rate of 7 4-10 per cent, the difference hetween the cost and selling price of wheat, and we have 35 cents, the selling price of corn or its relative value to wheat at $1.00 per bushel. Cost of one acre of oats yielding 28 bushels: Which is thirty-five cents eight mills per bushel; to this add two cents six mills, which is at the rate of seven and four-tenth per cent.-the difference between the cost and the selling price of wheat-and we have thirty-eight cents four mills as the relative selling price of oats. Cost of one acre of potatoes, yielding 75 bushels: Of the seventy-five bushels, say sixty marketable, and fifteen per cent. only for stock; the latter worth three dollars, which deduct from the total cost, leaves $21.20, which is thirty-five cents three mills per bushel. To this add two cents six mills, which is the rate per cent. between the cost and selling price of the wheat, and we have thirty-seven cents nine mills as the relative price of potatoes. These figures are not from the experiments of a single year only, but from the average of several years. The labor is estimated at the rate of daily laborers' wages at the time of the year; and the computations made from the locality of my farm, my farm implements and machinery. Other localities, with labor-saving implements and steam power for machinery, would, undoubtedly, change the figures, both relatively and otherwise. From the foregoing, comparisons and deductions might be made, thus: Suppose fifty acres be cultivated in wheat, with a yield, as aforesaid, of fifteen bushels per acre, and sold at one dollar per bushel. Amounting to $750.00, the cost of which, at thirteen dollars ninety-seven cents per acre, would be $698.50 cents, the profit would then be, over and above the cost, $51.50. Now suppose refined sorghum syrup could be sold at fifty cents per gallon (I say, suppose it could be; for I know of several that could do no better than take less than half, and some less than one-third that sum; of course, they quit the business in disgust), it would take less than one and three-fourth acres to yield the same amount of profit; to-wit, $51.50 cents over and above the cost. Thus, one and three-fourth acres, at 150 gallons per acre, gives 262 gallons; this, at fifty cepts, amounts to $131.25, the cost being thirty cents one mill per gallon, is $78.93, which leaves $53.33 cents over and above the cost; or the amount of the cost of fifty acres of wheat would cultivate, at $45.21 per acre, and manufacture, fifteen and four-tenth acres cane, giving 2,310 gallons syrup; this, at the above price, amounts to $1,155.00; that is, $456.50 cents over and above cost. The |