Rensselaer Union, Volume 1, Number 11, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 10 December 1868 — The Farm. [ARTICLE]

The Farm.

FAMT, AND HVCSKHOLtf? Tli* linhi'tire of Beet Sugar*- The L Method of Extracting thf Jake fpmn Beets. P. Sidney Post, U- fi. Consul at Yionno, lutMopwardeil here a valuable report, show inghoW the manufacture of beet-rooUacar hint 'prespered in Austria, where llie last annual yield is estimated to have been' worth nearly SIS,tKKI,OOO. This success Mr. Post attributes to u now pxocofcJviitventcd"J>Tnn Austrian' naiflei rniliinT Rob-1 ort, which i» very different from the old method of obtaining the juice in cane or beet-root by grinding or maceration. Mr. Post thus dehcribci. it: “Mr. Roberts’ diffusion process does not aim at obtaining the juico contained in the cells of the cane or licet roots, but to exirnct only the crystalline sugar contained in that juice, and to leave whatever elhe it contains in the cells. To accomplish' thm purpose the sugar osne or roots arc’cut into small slices and put into n number of vats, which are connected by pipes running from tho bottom of due vat to the top of the next succeeding. Water of a ccrtuiu temperature, aud of a quantity proportioned to the weight bf the cane dr beet roots in the vats, is mixed with the material iu tho first vat, and ullowuff to remain until it takes up a portion of* saccharine matter,

or,' so to speak, until the augur in the vnt is equalized between Uie water and the cuilC or beet root. That is to say, if tho beet root contains eight per cent, of saccharine mutter, the. Matter will take up four per cent. This water is tU-:n forced liy hydraulic pressure into the second vapfl'tlcd with tho beets. It ulreutly contains 4 per cent, of augur, bnt the beets having 8 per cent., it will again equalize .itself, anil when forced into Ltic third vat will contain (! per cent, of saccharine matter. In this way tho water becomes more and tnoie impregnated with saccharine matter, until it contains nlrnost us much as the beet itself. To return to the first vat we find that the first application of water extracted one-half, or 4 per cent, of the sugnr. When this water was forced into the second vat tho fresh water which forced it out and supplied its place extracted 2 per ccut. more before the sacharinc matter liecanre equal izeil between the water and tho beets. This water is then’forced into tho seedb’d vat, and the fresh water which supplies its placo finds the beets containing but twp„ per caut of saccharine matter, aud the next fllling fmds Vittonc per yent. aml in. 'fKlswaytiie sugar is extracted to within one-half per cent. It is said tlmt hv tlii„ ■ "ptbecss me raw material is much purer than when extracted by any other method, and that from tlih saiue beets one-half per cent, more crystal sugar is obtained than by the application of pressure. The expenses for cloth and the cleaning aud renewihg it arc eutirely ’ done away— The expenses for motive power aud machinery are considerably reduced, and the expense of manual labor is much less, requiring bnt one quarter of the number of laborers necessary for the pressing purpose. That this process is really the great improvement claimed no longer admits of dispute. Mr. Robert has thoroughly tested it in his factory, and has adopted it, as also six other factories, two in Austria, two in Prussia, one iu Russia and 011 c in Bavaria.” The machinery used in this method of making beetroot sugar is very expensive, but it is believed that if tho experiment could be once fairly tried it would add an important and valuable branch of industry to our agricultural interest.

Sort them or Sell by Weight. One of the Yankee ancestors employed a wood chopper to ply his vocation. At the expiration of the time for Which he had been engaged, the employer was astonished at • the great number of cords of wood fiis employe had been able to put up iu so short a time. A close examination, how. ever, revealed the secret. The cute wood chopper had piled all the large sticks by themselves, while the round sticks .from the branches of the trees, constituted other piles, scarcely less numerous. The joke was received without a murmur, but was returned with interest by the employer, who was to pay for his work in the yield of his potato field. All tho small potatoes were carefully taken out and measured separately from the large ones. The bushels were thus swelled the extra cords of wood, and the game was considered even. This was not exactly making “two blades of grass grow where one grew before,’and it is doubtful, therefore, if the jokers could be considered benefactors of their race. Neither practice evinces, perhaps, any too much honesty, but they may serve to furnish adrint that will lead to justice in potato skies. Potatoes should always be sold by weight, not by measure. But if the purchaser insists on the heepod half bushel, it is best to even the matter by assorting the potatoes, instead of selling the little and big together. —Prairie Farmer. Gripes about Rocks.— The .American Journal of. Horticulture says; The past season was a very peculiar one —wet and cold—and the grapes iu many localities in the East laded to ripen. WSile this was generally true, it was rather refreshing to observe at one of onr horticultural exhibitions splendid specimens of a well known variety, apparently folly ripe, which we found ouinquiry had been grown near a ledge of rocks. Some years ago we visited a placo where we observed similar results from a similar cause. The whole seoret of the thing is, that tho rocks absorb the heat of the sun by day, and give it oft’ at night; keeping the roots of the vine warm, and the temperature about it more fully equalized. Onr attention was once attracted to this same subject by observing that the melon vines in a hill around which some stones had been placed wero much larger at the end of a few weeks than those in tho hills that had not been so treated. The same principle is observed in cities, where, grape vines are trained in front of brick walls, which absorb the heat by day, and reflect it when niost needed by the vine. We propose to test more fully the value ofsnch treatment for the vine, by placing stones about the roots of several bearing vines in different parts of the vineyard where they failed this year to ripen a single grape.

Morality and Agriculture.— George William Curtis delivered wn address at •Greenfield, Mass., the otner day. We, quote the following: The necessities and 'fatigues of a work that can only be done by daylight call the farmer with the sun iu summer and the morning star in winter, send,, him early to bed and teach him regularity. Then, as by his ceaseless toil he counts out, in the blows of his arms and drops of his sweat, every hundred cents in every dollar he earns—every penny stands for so innch time and muscle, and thus he learns economy. With economy c mao frugality and temperance, and so . upon the farm grow the hardy virtues like tough trees upon the mountain side, 1 and so the ideal farmer is tho strong, robust, simplci, sensible, truly conservative citizen, amt; as the spectator sees him stand- crowned with content iD the midst of his rural realm, ho asks a* the poor clergyman Asked hisricher brother ns they walked through the rich minister’s magnificent estate: “What, Brother Dives, all this and Heaven too ?” Planting Youno Trees afteb Old- —A committee of the Alton (III) Horticultural Society say that in passing through the extensive orclgurds of Mr Flagg, they were shown several hundred young apple trees that had been planted in tbe same holes from which old ones had been grubbed up The young trees, for vigor of growth and healthfulness of foliage, were equal to any grown npqn new land, a fact worthy of note, as disproving the theory advanced by all horticultural writers, that fruit trees wjll not thrive upon the site of an old orohard. All the preparation the soil bad was the burning:of the old trees in the holes. Mr. Flagg attributes his success as much to the heat os to the ashes left —.-Sr'-:—' .vt . . • A*.

Dammmow o* Bronw.-W* have al*ny* objected to the use o ( machinery of nort to take np large stnnipe in ordinKMAb loud, that they, would taka dp ~ MOV a large mfaiitity ol' fiurth with idilu da Clio H|kiiipt timl jn.iii f.i w, thnlfifldfi the hhiihpe workout khftro w«n trouble » disposing of them. The following suggest - ions which G-p take from our uoighbor, the llaltiiuora 'WeaklyJmy bp «yilin "jtnietlefltiTe. while they are not liable to.tfee eaina objections. They are at least wortliy of, trial. 'We have heart} of two methoilfl of getting rtd OTWhmpii, wEteh. as they appear sensible an(l inexpensive, we hope somo reader will try and repeat upon. Bore with a two inch nngeT“to the hen ft {if the stump HU the cavity tuns made with anlpbnric acid, or crude oil of petroleum. In .the first case, the acid becomes the destructive agent within a few months, in the latter, when the stump bewomes oitunitnd with the oil, it is fired, and will there- burn 00 1 to tho Inst Tike a caudle,.

Scotch Treatment of Cotuunt Worms. —Tho currant caterpillar was doubtless introduced into this country team Great Britain, through the Vedinrii of 'imported unrs«ry stock. In that country it has long been destructive to gooseberry and cniTant bushes, nevertheless, lino and uniform crops of these fruits are grown there. In speaking of the pent during the -past season, the Scottish Farmer says: ‘•Hellebore powder, lime and soot have also been applied; but nothing so effectually destroys the vermin as soot, which is, independently tho cheapest cure and the most ceitain preventive. When dusted on tho bushes, after a slight shower has fallen, or after the leaves lmvo been wetted,, tho vermin will soon drop off the leaves and perish. The application of a sprinkling of. dry soot around the rotds of boshes, when early dig'-pug operations nru being proceeded with m spring, will act most successfully in preventing their appearance; and this, resorted to in.succcxaive seasons, will entirely extirpate.the pests ” A New Ffuttuzeh roit GiurßSJ—’r&e California Farmer says: “Home two years since we spoke, 'of a system practiced by some scientific .growers, cf enriching their vineyards by cutting into small bits the spring pruning* and plowing in the same; •'thus returning the needed material for manuring the vine. Wo have soen this experiment cnrefully and successfully tried, and have seen its good results, whic h is tho keeping of the soil light and porous, and giving to the vineyard jiJt]jAl«SoJUttq,-look -aud heavy "crop. Wenopo those Vine growers that have been iiLtiia liahit of bnriiinir up llndr: grape wood, or carting it oil, will herenfter chop up the wood finely, and plow it deeply, and they will find their vineyards very greatly benefited thereby." Tnr Barrett Farm in Concord, recently sold by auction, is memorablo (says the Springfield Republican) as one of those whereon George W. Cnrtis and his,brother Burrill, now a clergyman in England, worked as “hired hands” in the Arcadian days following the Brook Farm experiment. Capt. Nathan BiUTctt, who then occupied the farm, gave them employment for some months, and they put in practice ..on his upland and meadow, the lessons in agriculture they had begun to loam at West Roxbury, driving hi r team, planting his corn and making his hay. It is tho largestfarmin the town, containing, with its “oatlauds,” more-tban five hundred acres, some portion of wnieh has been in the Barrett family for many generations. It lies beyond and above the “old manse," and its extensive pastures were favorite walking grounds of the Concord philosophers. Cft.i.irs for Vf.oetabi.es. —The storing of fruits and yegetubles in a house cellar in large quantities, is always objectionable.— The tempemturo- is m-cessarily increased by the tires kept up in the house during winter, and ibis favors decay, or commencement of growth in vegetables. Besides, gaseous substances of an unpleasant odor usually pervade the dwelling, which are injurious to health. Serious illness frequently arises from these well stocked cellars. A safer plan is to have the cellar store-room by itself. The best location is on a sandy or gravelly hill-side, that needs no drainage in the wettest season. If not dry, it must be made so by artificial means. One halt tho depth of tho cellar may be below tho surface. Rascality towaf.d Horses. —lt is, perhaps, not very strange that the food of horses should be adulterated, since almost everything that goes into the stomach of man, that is susceptible of corruption, undergoes aduUeratj_rab__A»-exchange says: “A Washington veterinary surgeon recently took from a horse (while the animal was under tho influence of ether) a ball about the size and color of a teh-pounder, perfectly solid, and weighing two pounds and four ounces, composed of collections of plaster of Paris, that had been taken into the stomach from time to time in the swill feed which the horse had eaten, the plaster having been ground with the food, m order to give it a rich, nutritions appearance. It is stated that this practice of grinding plaster with horse food has been very much resorted to.”

Veal Omelet. —Take four pounds of lean veal and one and a half of fat Balt pork; chop them very fine, or run them through a sausage add one tablespoonful of salt, one of black popper, two of sage or summer savory, I'oUr tablespoonfuls of bread crumbs or pulverized crackers, four eggs, and two gills of sweet cream; mix eggs, cream and bread (or crackers) together, then add the other ingredients; bake in a deep pan three to lour hours; put on the top small bits of butter before cooking; when done, turn it out on a platter and cut jf in slices as you would head cheese. It will keep for several days. Cueing Poll-Evil. —James Seafield, of Fairfield, Maryland, tells how he cured poll-evil, as follows: I laid open the swelling with a kirtfe and forced it to run; alter it had run twentyfour hours L washed out the incision with soap and water and sprinkled quick lime into the cavity. This process of washing out and liming I repeated every twentyfour hours .’or about two weeks, at the end of which time the swelling had gone down, and the sore healed oyer. This I did two years ago this present month, and there is no sign of the return of the poll-evil. Buckwheat Cakes. —Everybody knows prettj’ well how to bake buckwheat cakes. Still there may be hints given which facilitate the business or improve the mode in some degree. To avoid the steam or smell of grease in the common mode of baking, soapstone griddle have been introduced in many places; but we see that iron griddles, first washed with a strong suds, and then scoured with dry sand, will render greasing wholly unnecessary if rubbed with salt previously to the baking of each cake. A trial, our authority says, -will make all qdopt it in preference to the old mode oi greasing and steaming. Houses, ns a general thing, get too much licking and too little feed- If a nian losca hie hat while driving his horse, he licks the horse to pay for it. If he runs into another wagon through liis own carelessness, he fickk his horae to make it ail right If he slips or stumbles; he gets licked for it; if he does anything ho gets licked, and if he don’t do anything he gets tho same. A .great many horses know n “sight” than their drivnrs. and if they could change places with themTß3ciety,nt large would bo the gainers, Hiid so would tho horses.-*-Rochester biitojt: "' A Nice Sauce.—Pare and quarter nicely half a bushel of sweet apples; also one dozen quinces, or less if yon choose; steam them until you can pierce them with a straw; then take .eight pounds of loaf sugar, and add to: it the water Over which your apples are steamed; let it- scald up, then add the fruit and'let it remain in until it looks transparent. Skim ont and put In jars and cans, then boil WW syrupbntil only enough ‘remains to fill up yonr cans; ponr it over them hot; l£t them stand and settle, fill up again, then seal. Try it;they are not preserves, but much nicer.