THE condition of our country during the last two years has been such as to awaken the public mind to new and persevering investigations for the purpose of ascertaining whether the soil and climate of some of our northern States may not be capable of producing many of those articles which we have heretofore been accustomed to obtain from a more southern latitude; or at least such others, of similar nature, as would sufficiently supply their places.

Among these agricultural productions to which attention has recently been more particularly directed are the Chinese and different kinds of African or Imphee sugar-canes. As they promise to supply us with such necessaries as sugar and sirups, and at a time when our supplies of the latter seemed about to fail, they are not very likely, especially under present circumstances, to fail of receiving a fair trial and full investigation of their real merits. No plants ever made their appearance at a more favorable period for having their excellencies sought out and appreciated. Already have they succeeded in winning their way sweetly into the confidence of the farming community. Already have they proved themselves capable of yielding to the labor expended in their production a recompense more than fourfold.

The great problem of their fate is, perhaps, yet to be solved; and still, if we should judge from the progress already made, we can hardly doubt that their products, in a few years more, will become one of the great staples of our soil, and compete with pork and flour as articles of commerce and trade. Still less reason is there for doubt when we compare this progress with the long struggle which the planters of the south experienced before they became masters of the culture of the sugar-cane, and the manufacture from it of sirup and sugar.  Upon such comparison we may well exult with pride and confidence at the advance which we have already made, though yet feeling much in the dark as to the merit which these plants actually possess, and looking earnestly forward for the results of experiments yet to be made.

The government, in its late policy concerning the agricultural interests of the country, deserves much praise for its efforts to introduce to the American farmer new seeds and plants, promising a world of wealth to the nation. The Agricultural Department, with facilities for scientific investigation, will doubtless impart freely and promptly such instruction concerning the soil and nutriment which the plants need in order that they may yield to their utmost capacity, and thereby prevent, in a great measure, the evil consequences which might ensue upon an improper and hap-hazard cultivation. Equal zeal in the same cause is certainly the duty of the farmers themselves.  With a view to contribute to the general fund such information as several years of actual experience with these plants has afforded to one individual, these lines have been written and are submitted to the public.

Of the cane plants hitherto cultivated in the north there are two distinct kinds, though similar in their habits, characteristics, and wants, viz: the Chinese cane and the Imphee or African varieties. The former is from the north of China; the latter from the southeastern coast of Africa. Only one kind of the Chinese cane is known to us. That mysterious country from which it comes has hitherto been so completely locked up and barred against all access from other parts of the world, concealing within its own exclusive limits all its light from other nations of the earth, that we are, as yet, almost in midnight darkness as to the richness and value of its garden plants and the methods of culture and manufacture by which they are grown and converted into articles suitable for use. Recently, however, her gates have been opened, and immediately this beautiful plant comes forth and seeks a new home in American soil—a valuable gift to the American farmer. Its first introduction was made in France, and was briefly as follows: Count d’Montigny, in the year 1851, and while he was the French consul at Shanghai, in China, in compliance with official request, sent to the Geographical Society of Paris a collection of plants and seeds which he found in China, and which he thought would succeed in his own country, and among these this celebrated plant which we have in America. It strikes us at once as a curious instance of the manner in which momentous results often depend upon the slightest thread, when we consider that of the package sent by the Count to Paris only one single seed germinated in a garden at Toulon, and that if, by any attack of insects, by injudicious planting, cultivation or manuring, or any one of a thousand possible mischances, the plant springing from this one seed had been destroyed, France and America might for years have been without knowledge of the Chinese sugar-cane. The capitalist might never have hesitated whether to invest his means in buildings and machinery for purifying its juice, and the farmer never counted the cost of its cultivation. Fortunately the plant grew and escaped all dangers, and in due time furnished the seeds sufficiently matured for subsequent propagation.

The Chinese cane has a very lofty and well-proportioned stalk, with a graceful, bushy, bowing top. Its seeds are of a very dark purple color and almost black. Among the principal difficulties which it has to encounter during its growth are our heavy prairie winds. These winds break and bend the plants to the earth, and when broken or bent they seldom make good sirup. The Chinese are more slender and more liable to be thrown down than the Imphee canes. We have never succeeded in making much sugar from the Chinese plant, but it makes a more pleasant sirup than the Imphee tribe and is far more free from acid. Whenever the cane is injured in any way it changes the color of the sirup and gives it an acid taste.

The Imphee canes are from the southeastern coast of Africa, as already stated. Mr. Wray, of England, tells us that there are sixteen different kinds of these African canes. The Imphee tribe, which have been introduced by this gentleman, are certainly far superior to all others for sugar making. Their crystallization is much coarser than that of the Chinese, which is of a quite floury texture; and there is evidently a marked distinction found in our experiments between the Imphee cane and that which is called the Chinese sorghum in respect to their real value for producing sugar, the former giving about seven-tenths, while the latter gives only about two-tenths sugar. The juice of the Imphee is far more limpid, and contains much less of that mucilaginous substance, known among farmers as white glue scum, than that of the sorghum; consequently it crystallizes much more easily, and we believe that there is as much real sugar in the Imphee canes as there is in any of the sugar-canes raised in the tropics. We have taken from one gallon of mush sirup, weighing thirteen pounds, eight pounds of sugar, as coarse-grained as any of southern production, showing that it has sufficient body and capacity for being refined into the best kind of sugar that the market could afford. We are convinced that this work of refinement is merely a matter of time. We have also found that there is a difference between the same canes when grown upon different soils, and that it is not always the best looking cane or that which has grown most vigorously that produces the best results, and we feel justified in these statements from having given particular attention to the nature and requirements of these plants in these respects. Farmers generally have been in the habit of planting their cane upon their richest soil; but experience has shown that the flavor of the sirup from cane grown upon rich soil is inferior to that grown upon a lighter soil, and consequently the important question has arisen.  What kind of soil and nutriment is best adapted to these plants in order to obtain sugar and sirup of the best flavor and in the largest quantities? It is admitted that these plants originally grew upon a brown, loamy, sandy soil, and we may therefore very reasonably conclude that this kind of soil is best adapted to their natural wants, and experiments have shown that our best flavored sirup comes from cane grown upon this kind of soil. It has also been shown that the sirup from cane grown upon such soil has a much stronger tendency to granulation and is more readily converted into sugar. We have frequently been deceived in strong, rank looking cane, and found, upon applying the test of the saccharometer, that it would weigh only from five to six degrees Baumé [Baumé is approximately Brix/1.8, but they actually measure different things, so the conversion isn't perfect. -ASC], and take from ten to fourteen gallons of juice to make one gallon of good sirup; while, under the same test, the cane grown upon a sandy soil would weigh from ten to twelve, and require only five or six gallons of juice to make a gallon of good sirup. The former, at the same time, would contain a much larger proportion of woody, spongy fibre. It might be supposed that a new, virgin soil would be preferable, but experience has shown otherwise; and that while it would produce a luxuriant growth of cane, it would often prove as deleterious to the saccharine and crystallizing qualities of the sirup as the flat clayey soil. A high, rolling, timber soil appears to be far preferable, no matter if it is worn out for the purposes of our common crops; the cane will nevertheless do well. Subsoiling is found to be advantageous, as the roots of the cane when the land is subsoiled will dive down long distances into the earth. It is not uncommon to find these roots from six to eight feet long, and they will feel for the silex and whatever is calculated to give them their natural support; and, in fact, this soil is found almost equal to the sandy soil, and cane raised upon it produces abundantly of sugar and sirup. If the land is too weak, thirty bushels of lime and one-half bushel of salt will amply compensate for its outlay. In fact, there is no soil on which one can raise a good crop of corn that will not, when properly prepared, produce a good crop of cane. A clay soil, if under-drained, will yield well. All worn and dry soils are very productive, even in dry seasons, and produce the best of cane. The cane never suffers like our common corn. A wet season is apt to give too much water to the stalk; and although it will yield a large proportion of juice, still it will run as low as five or six degrees, and we are much more certain of good results on dry land or in dry seasons. We planted this year a piece of ground that had been laid aside as worn out, and on which we had not been able formerly to get more than one-third of the usual crop of any kind, ploughed ten inches deep, and raised-the best crop of cane that grew in the neighborhood. It measured 11½ Baumé.

Deep ploughing and thorough pulverization of the soil is required by this crop above all others, for the cane seed when put into the ground often lies from three to four weeks, and we have known it to remain six weeks, before it shows itself above the ground; yet one would often find the root six inches in length before the plant had made its way to the light. If the ground is thoroughly pulverized, the infant tender roots will lay hold of the mould without obstruction of clods, and quickly strengthen into vigorous life, and become much more hardy than they otherwise could. Not that it is a tender plant, by any means, for it is really more hardy even than the cabbage plant, and may be transplanted with as much certainty of life; but as the roots of this plant do not, like those of Indian corn, skim along near the surface of the ground, but, on the contrary, dive down deep into the earth, the advantage of upturning the soil and making it mellow to a great depth is readily perceived, since the roots are thereby enabled to pursue their way with less obstruction, and seek out the food and support which the vigorous life of the plant necessarily re- quires. Besides, when the earth is so stirred, the sunlight, the gases of the atmosphere, and the rain drops, by having more free access, all contribute in developing vegetable life, and producing results that would be impossible while the ground is hard and baked, and the light, air, and warmth are excluded. This principle is illustrated in the instance mentioned of the seed lying in the ground three weeks before making its appearance, as it happens generally after a hard storm pelting upon the ground and making it so hard and dense as to be penetrated with difficulty. In such cases the surface of the ground is formed into such a hard crust that we have sometimes found it necessary to run a harrow over its surface in order to loosen it up, so that the tender plants could make their way through to the sunlight.

In preparing the seed previous to planting, there may be made a solution of warm water and chloride of lime, in the proportion of three ounces of chloride to twelve quarts of water, in which the seed should be placed and suffered to remain for twenty-four hours, when it may be taken out and put into bags, and covered up in the bags in the earth in a warm, sunny place, where it should remain until it has sprouted. By this process of soaking the seed several days’ time may be saved in the growth of the plant; for it will be perceived that the hull of the seed has a very hard, close texture, and the ground being dry it takes a long time for it to swell and break this hull or shell and germinate.

Plant as early as possible after the ground is in good order, say from the 15th of April until the 15th of May. We planted some this season as late as June, but it did not all get thoroughly ripe. Especial pains should be taken, in planting, to cover the seed lightly and not too deep; for if covered too deep it will be very likely to rot, and, whether the ground be wet or dry, it is much better to cover lightly. We have usually drilled the seeds two or three inches apart, and in rows four feet apart.  This does very well if the ground is free from foul vegetation; if not, then it is better to plant in hills, four feet apart each way, in order that ploughing may be done in different directions. The plant generally looks weak and sickly when it first comes up, and strongly resembles the wild grass called foxtail; but although it looks weak and feeble, it is really a hardy plant, and incurs no danger in transplanting. It usually needs such tilling as is required in the case of Indian corn, for the roots of the cane run deep, and there is no danger of its falling down for want of support on the part of the roots. If planted so early that the frost should bite it to the ground, one has only to cut off the dead part, and it soon comes out bright again, and will make a good crop. There are many who sow the seed broadcast like hempseed, and who in this way have produced 500 gallons of good sirup to the acre.  We are pursuing this method with some of our fields the present season. We have also had several fields of volunteer cane, which we have worked to good advantage, and have obtained from them a crop equal to that of our common fields. It is frequently advantageous to plant radish seed with the cane, as the radish seed come up quickly, and furnishes a good guide in cultivating the ground before the cane seed is up, which is the very best time for destroying the noxious weeds. It is also the best time to facilitate the growth of the infant roots of the cane plant, and more can be done then to advance the progress of the plant in one day than in five days at any future period, especially if the ground should be beaten down by a storm or rain soon after planting.  How important it is that the crust formed by the rain, and the subsequent action of the sun, should be broken up, seems to be fully explained in what has already been stated. Cultivate, therefore, as early as possible, and prevent the weeds from obtaining the advantage. Some advise suckering the cane, but we have found this all lost labor.  The Chinese cane, which, in this respect, differs very materially from the African varieties, will often produce from one seed ten or twelve stalks, all equally good and vigorous; or if they differ in size, it will frequently be found that the smaller is the sweeter, and we therefore have been in the habit of permitting them all to stand and grow till the harvest. So far as our observation has extended, the Imphee cane produces only one stalk from the seed, and never stools like the Chinese cane. We usually plant from six to twelve seeds in each hill.

In speaking of the soil, we have said that it frequently happens that it produces too rank a growth. Whenever this is the case, we find little or no tendency to crystallization in the sirup of the cane; and whenever horse manure or hen or pigeon manure has been used in our experiments in cultivating the cane, we have always found it impossible to convert the sirup into sugar. It would be better to use no manure at all, unless we can employ that kind which the nature of the plants require. Crushed cane or bagasse strewed in the path of the plough, and covered by the next succeeding farrow, is a very excellent stimulus to the new growth. We have also used ashes, lime, and plaster of Paris, all of which have very much aided in the growth of the crop, and the free granulation of the sirup; and here we cannot but repeat our regret for the want of knowledge that exists as to the nature of the soil on which this plant has been grown and the culture it has received in the country of which it is a native, and continue to feel that if we could have possessed this knowledge we might have been far in advance of where we now are, after the labor and expense bestowed in experiments during the last seven years of our lives. Why should not the farmers of the west call upun the government to assist in taking some action in this matter? Is there any way in which the Agricultural Department at Washington could spend money to better advantage than in sending an experienced agent to the countries from which these canes have originated, for the purpose of obtaining all possible knowledge concerning these important accessions to the agriculture of our country? In our estimation, such knowledge would be invaluable to the American farmer. It is, in fact, one of the wants of our community, more sensibly appreciated when we behold the struggle encountered and the progress made during the last half century with the sugar-cane at the south.

We have often been cautioned against planting the canes in a field contiguous to one containing broom corn. They rapidly mix, and from this cross there result numerous canes having much pith with but little juice, and that of such an inferior quality as to its sweetness as to make the crop an unprofitable one. Constant care, therefore, must be observed, not to allow scattering stalks of broom corn to be grown near the sugar-cane, and should any stalks indicate that the seed is impure, the selection of the seed for the next planting should be made in parts of the field where the seed is evidently pure.

When the crop is very large, it may be advisable to commence harvesting while the cane is in the blossom, as a handsome sirup can then be obtained; but it will be more difficult to divest it of the cane taste, and the amount of sirup will be less than when the cane is ripe. The sirup will not make sugar if the cane is cut before the seed is in the dough. It is well to try different portions of the field by applying the saccharometer, when it would probably be found that in some parts the sirup would weigh five degrees, at another part seven, and at another point nine, and of course it would be advisable to commence work at the latter point. The crop should be allowed to stand in the field as long as possible, without being in danger of frost; but if this enemy is approaching too rapidly, then hasten to cut the whole crop, blade, top, and all, and throw it into winrows, and cover it with straw, or bagasse, if possible, so that it may not be subjected to the process of freezing and thawing.  If there is sufficient time, it is better, however, to strip the leaf and top the cane just below the first joint, and put it immediately under sheds near the mill, so as to prevent its being soured by the action of the sun, or by heat and cold. When the cane is bitten by the frost, the sap, in such case, has a bitter, nut-gall taste, and imparts the same to the sirup, and produces what is called by many scorched sirup, containing a bitterness offensive to the taste, and very difficult to remove. The cane should he cut and brought to the mill and crushed on the same day; and the topping of the cane and stripping of the leaves from the stalks should proceed no faster than it is cut and brought to the mill, if the very best results are desired, and all danger of souring is to be avoided. The juice when expressed should be immediately run into sirup.  If the cane is stripped, and suffered to stand afterwards in the field, the juice in the stalk imbibes a bitterness from the wounded portion of the plant, and the sirup will have the unpleasant taste of having been scorched.  It is much better, therefore, not to give the cane any rest, after being stripped and topped, till the juice is expressed and run into sirup. When the cane is broken down, or bent and damaged by the prairie winds, as is often the case, it should, for the same reason, be immediately taken to the mill and crushed, otherwise it will be of but little account for sirup. When the cane is ripe, it should be immediately cut, for, if suffered to remain after it is ripe in connexion with the roots, a deteriorating effect upon the quality and flavor of the sirup will be the result, and at the same time the quantity will be greatly diminished. A common corn-knife may be used for stripping the cane, and with it one man can strip an acre per day, if he is not required to save the leaves or blades. If the cane when cut is put into packages of twenty or thirty stalks each, and tied up with a couple of bands, it will assist very much in handling afterwards. If the cane is ripe, it may be cut and housed from the wet and frost, and if properly taken care of it may be kept for some time, say till the last of December, and will frequently improve by being so kept, and often shows a weight of fourteen Baumé. A dumping cart is very useful in handling the cane, and will save a hand to each team.

A good mill in this business is a thing of the greatest importance; for if that breaks down or stops, the work in all its departments must stop; but when that goes and performs well its part, then all other parts of the work must move briskly forward. The mill, therefore, needs to be well and thoroughly made in all its parts, for no time should be lost in mending or repairing after the work has been once commenced. Its capacity should be graded according to the extent of the crop. If one has twenty-five or thirty acres of cane, he needs a mill capable of expressing 150 gallons of juice per hour, unless he expects to run both night and day. We have heretofore used a mill manufactured in Cincinnati, but consider it susceptible of improvement, and shall endeavor to improve upon it hereafter. A mill that will express 250 gallons of juice per hour may cost a little more at the outset, but as it costs no more to attend it, and is the same number of hands can run it that would be required to run one that would express only 50 gallons per hour, we believe it would really be a saving of expense before the season was over to lay out a little more money in the beginning. While a small mill would only make about forty gallons of sirup per day, a large one, with a very little more expense, would make 150 gallons per day.

A tunnel sieve may be used for conducting the juice from the spout of the mill to the filterers over the pan, and this renders handling unnecessary until it is passed into the evaporator, where it should be concentrated to 15° Baumé.  It being then thoroughly defecated, it is then passed, while hot, through three tub filterers, set directly over each other, and which may be of the following dimensions, viz: three feet deep, three feet square at the top, and two feet square at the bottom, which is perforated with flannel over it upon bars, then filled with bone-black or animal coal.  These filterers should be so placed that, by turning the cock, the liquid can be run off into the last concentrating pan; then drive the fire till the saccharometer indicates 40 while hot; then run it off into a large flat cooler, which will hold the labors of the day, without having the sirup more than two inches deep in the cooler when hot, lest it should scorch, as there is more danger here than over the hot fire, where the boiling and commotion give it no time to burn.

If Cook’s evaporator is used, it clarifies and makes the sirup and sugar without the aid of another pan, or the assistance of any chemical agents, and thus is preferable for a small business to almost any other pan with which we are acquainted. If one uses a pan of this style, (two would be needed,) it may be 25 feet long; the width of sheet iron 28 inches, 3½ feet at the top, and made flaring. It should be partitioned off into three divisions, and be set upon a continuous brick arch 15 inches wide, and the fire should hug close to the pan. In this way 100 gallons, at least, of good sirup can be made with half a cord of wood. One will need, however, with this pan, a defecating pan to receive the strained sap and clarify it as above described, and this clarifying pan will keep the long pan at work. But if one wishes very nice sirup, he should run the clarified sap, while hot, directly into the filterer, say a tank seven fest high and four feet in diameter, with a perforated bottom, and with a cock twelve inches from the bottom, to turn the juice from the tank into the pan; place bars upon the perforated bottom, and a flannel cloth to keep the dust or coal from mixing with the juice; then put in three feet of animal charcoal or bone-black, and spread a cloth over it, and put two-feet of wood coal upon the top of this, about as fine as shelled corn, and let in the juice. When ready to start the long or finishing pan, turn the cock and let on the filtered juice as fast as it may be required.

The scum is worthless till the juice is concentrated to about 15° Baumé, except to feed to stock. They are very fond of it, and devour it greedily.  After this, one can save the scum by putting it into a tank for that purpose, and at leisure, after it has settled, draw it off and run it over the pan again, till the juice has arrived at about 20, when the scum will produce as fine-flavored sirup as any. It might be well to run it through the filters, and the scum taken from this will make good vinegar. In fact, if all the washings are saved, ten or fifteen barrels of good vinegar can be made in manufacturing thirty or forty barrels of sirup; or, if something stronger is desired, an excellent brandy can be made, from all fermented saccharine juices, that is worth from two to four dollars per gallon. Forty gallons of this juice will make four of good spirits.

This is the most difficult part of all our labors, for it does not naturally drip-dry. The quickest and most successful way we have found to obtain sugar is to put the mush into a coarse, strong bag, and put it into a strong hoop similar to our common portable cider-mill hoop; then put on the pressure of the screw, and if the room is warm the molasses will soon leave dry sugar. Another mode of drainage is to have a large table, say twelve feet square, with sides four inches high, and the centre as high as the sides, and gradually sloping to the corners, where a spout should be placed to carry off the molasses; if the room is kept warm it will soon drain to dry sugar. By either mode clean, dry sugar will be obtained, free from any cane taste, as that leaves with the molasses.

It is well known that when sweet cider ferments and becomes hard and sour, it will make spirits called cider brandy. If the saccharine qualities of cider are measured, it will be found about 7° Baumé. Good cane juice runs from 8 to 12, and, when fermented, it will, by distillation, make good brandy. It must not, however, in this case be soured to vinegar, for that will not produce spirits. The method of distilling is a very simple one. A copper still, which will hold, say, 300 gallons, will make 32 gallons of brandy, worth from two to four dollars per gallon. This still, set in an arch with a water tank and a lead worm-pipe in it, the pipe being connected with the still head, and the still being full of juice, connect the worm-pipe with the still head-air tight; then start the fire, and the condensed steam will commence running out in the form of spirits—and this is all there is of it. But in fermenting the juice long vats are needed that will hold one hundred barrels or more. Let the juice stand, if warm, from eight to ten days, and it is then ready for distillation. Several of these vats might be needed. It will be perceived, therefore, that fermented juice, sour sirup, and even scum from your sugar-works, may all be worked up eventually into spirits. From eighteen hundred to two thousand gallons of juice may be produced from one acre of cane, and, if distilled, about fifty gallons of good brandy may be obtained, worth four dollars per gallon, at least. Heretofore, corn, barley, and rye have furnished to our nation the bulk of its spirits; but, by employing the cane, these grains may be saved for other purposes; and if the cane juice is so much more economical in the production of alcohol, we may look for a great revolution in this respect.  But while we would advocate its advantages over all other articles capable of distillization, we would by no means be understood as advocating its use in form of distilled spirits as a beverage; we only point out its capability of being used for honest and useful purposes.

A mill of any capacity will produce bagasse enough to evaporate, when employed as fuel, all the juice to sirup or sugar. On the arch over which the long pan is placed, having a side arch with a flue to enter if, so constructed that there may be a large door to open for putting in the crushed cane by forks full. The freshly-crushed cane will make more heat than the dry; therefore it is not necessary to wait till it is dry before using it. Having two arches, either wood or bagasse can be used.  If the chimney is high enough, there will be no difficulty in respect to draught. We have known the flames to pass through the twenty-five-feet arch and out three feet above the top of a chimney twenty feet high. We have a paper mill that already uses largely of the bagasse in paper making; and, as we have already said, it is an excellent article for fertilizing the soil.

There is now no longer any room for question or cavil as to the possibility of producing sugar from the canes, nor, indeed, is there any particular difficulty in its manufacture, with suitable conveniences. Ten days’ time has been found sufficient to convert the juice into dry sugar fit for table use. The question may then be asked, what is required for fitting up a suitable manufacturing establishment? In answer to this question we should say, if the intention be to engage in the business upon an extensive scale, and in such manner as to be able to compete with Cuba, the southern States, and the world at large, it would be advisable, first, to visit those places where the manufacture of sugar from the ordinary cane has been heretofore carried on, and ascertain the amount of expense there laid out in constructing. the conveniences for such manufacture. One-fourth of that amount expended in constructing similar conveniences at home would, doubtless, be able to drive all competitors from the market. Illinois has already one instance of enterprise in this respect. She has already one establishment costing the party who erected it not less than $75,000, which commenced its operations by working up eight hundred acres of the cane, some of which yielded three hundred gallons of sirup per acre. When we consider that from the comparatively small city of Quincy thousands of barrels of sirup have been exported during the present season, some of it going into the sugar-raising State of Alabama, where least of all it would have been expected five years ago; that large numbers of our farmers during the past season have cultivated fields of fifty acres of cane, with others of eight hundred acres in prospective cultivation; and that the vast area of the great northwest is nearly all adapted to its cultivation, we can begin to have some idea of the works which may hereafter be advantageously erected. Capitalists will, doubtless, soon open their eyes to the importance of this branch of manufacture. Farmers are already inspired with confidence from the success of the past year.

The Belchers of St. Louis and Chicago are always in the market quietly purchasing every barrel of sorghum they can obtain, and in a short time they will return the sirup, refined, to the country, and doubtless receive two dollars for every one they have expended. It is a significant fact that imported sugar now brings from ten to sixteen cents per pound, while molasses brings only from forty to sixty-five cents per gallon—a disproportion of price such as has never before been witnessed, and such as never would have occurred, had it not been for the abundance of sirups produced by our farmers from the Chinese and Imphee canes. At the present prices of sugar, molasses or sirup should sell for from sixty-five cents to one dollar per gallon. It is evident, therefore, that the price of sugar will also receive a fall, as soon as the business of converting our home sirups into sugar shall once be in general and successful operation.

From our own little establishment we have made over four tons of well-grained sugar from the Imphee sirup during the past season, and have found but little more difficulty in making sugar than we have in making good sirup.  Our process was simply the one above mentioned, of pressure in the hoop and draining from the table, and for convenience we find the following to answer a very good purpose: A building erected upon elevated ground, in dimensions about fifty feet one way, by from seventy-five to one hundred feet the other way, well covered with a tight roof, and one room in it made tight, close, any warm, the temperature of which should be kept always up as high as 95 Fahrenheit. The building should be made high enough to have a fall of fifteen or twenty feet from the mill, to conduct the juice from the mill directly to any part of the building; otherwise it would require a large receiving tank, and make it necessary to pump the juice up into this from the mill. In this case a very large pump would be required so as not to vibrate or disturb the juice too much, for it easily foams and then ferments readily. The clarifying pan should be placed highest, to receive the raw juice first and defecate it, next the filters, and then the concentrating pan. By this arrangement much labor in handling the juice will be saved.  Have a horse and sled placed under the mill to remove the crushed cane out of the way. About an acre of ground is required to afford room for the building and the sheds to hold the cane and keep it from the sun, wet, and frost, and for a place to store the bagasse. With these conveniences one can commence operations, and, as the juice of the cane passes through the tin pipe from the mill to the defecating or heating pan, bring it to a boil, and concentrate it to twelve or fifteen degrees, removing all the green scum; then to every forty gallons of juice run from the heating pan while hot into a flat box or tub, put in ten or twelve pounds of pure pulverized clay; stir it up gently, and let it stand ten minutes to settle, then draw off from the faucet, leaving the clay and sediment at the bottom, and continue in this way, as the juice may be needed to fill or feed the last concentrating pan.  By this process will be obtained a fine sirup, or sugar, as the case may be, and according as the Chinese or Imphee cane has been used. Instead of this clay process, filters containing animal charcoal may be used, as previously described.  We have sometimes used clarifying agents, such as sulphate of lime, &c., but do not like them, and believe it better to dispense with them, though they might be found of some service in removing the acidity of the juice. For crushing the cane we have used an iron mill manufactured in Cincinnati. This mill crushes the cane between perpendicular iron rollers, and can be used with two or four horses. It expresses from one hundred to one hundred and fifty gallons of juice per hour, and is the best we have ever seen.

There is evidently a coloring principle contained in the seed, and in Europe it is much used for coloring purposes. When the seed is fed to animals, it will be noticed that their excrements will be tinged with a purple color, which is probably derived from the hull or shell of the seed. It also makes a good article of starch. A prejudice has existed among many that it is poisonous as an article of food for stock, and they have, therefore, left their seed upon the ground to rot. But the season of bugbears on this subject has nearly passed, and farmers are beginning now to be as careful of saving the seed for their stock as they would be of corn or oats. We fattened two hogs last year exclusively upon this seed, and never had firmer, nicer, or better pork, and entirely free from discoloration. We have also fed it to horses without any other grain, and found them to be very fond of it, and to thrive upon it as well as when fed with oats. All kinds of stock eat it greedily when they have become accustomed to it. It makes a very handsome flour that is almost as white as wheat flour; and in fact there is no grain except wheat that makes a better loaf of bread or cakes in any form if is cooked than this cane-seed. We speak confidently on this point, because we have tried it.

Of the Chinese cane we have known but one description, as before stated.  We have cultivated six different kinds of the African canes, viz:
The E-en-gha: this has a fine, tall, slender, but beautifully proportioned stalk; has a large, graceful head, with seed large and of a yellowish hue. It is a very sweet cane, and will ripen in from ninety to one hundred days.

The Nee-a-az-na: seed-head very bushy, and seeds black to all appearance; seeds are large and plump. It is the earliest cane we have, and ripens in ninety days at least. It is also one of the sweetest canes we have, and yields at least seventy per cent. of sugar.

The Oomza-ana is an early cane, and ripens in any latitude where Indian corn will; has a good-sized stalk; seed-head very close, compact, and erect; the stalk is sweet, and yields about seventy per cent. of sugar.

The Boom-viva-na: a very nice, sweet cane, and resembles the E-en-ghu in growth and appearance; ripens in ninety days.

The Shla-qua-va ripens in about three and a half months; very juicy and sweet; seed-head stands well erect, colored pink; an excellent quality of cane.

The Boo-ee-ana: small-sized cane; never falls down; very rich; makes eleven degrees Baumé; ripens in three and a half months, and makes good flour.

In the perusal of the foregoing pages, it must be remembered that we make no pretensions to professional or scientific discussion upon the nature or merits of the sorghum. We have merely drawn from our own experience, believing the information which is founded upon actual experiments to be more useful than theories built up without the test of actual experience. We leave it to others, whose means and opportunities are more favorable, to construct such theory as shall best illustrate and harmonize with the truth, and take pleasure in furnishing, so far as we are able, the rough timbers required for the edifice.