VOL. XXIII.
INDIANAPOLIS, IND., SATURDAY, SEPT. 1,1888.
NO. 85
(£mxz (&vox\yzvs.
Written for the Indiana Farmer.
The Manufacture of Sorghum.
BY SANTIAGO  DOD.
Notwithstanding the many impediments yet to be overcome, enough has
been accomplished in the production of
BOrghum sugar to justify the hope, that it
Till eventually become a national industry
ol vast importance, if a full knowledge of
all that is possible is brought to bear upon
its improvement. To raise it rapidly to
the highest possible state of perfection, an
intimate acquaintance with all that has
succeeded and failed in the general production of sugar throughout the world,up
to the present time, is absolutely indispensable. In the absence of such knowledge, much valuable time will be lost in
ain efforts to do what has already been
pat to a test and abandoned, as useless,
snd in rediscovering what is already
known and practiced elsewhere.
Much that is printed with regard to this
ne*r manufacture gives direct or indirect
evidence of this undeniable truth, and desirous of contributing as far as my limited time and capacity permits to further;*
ing its success, I shall from time to time
tall attention to what are, or appear to be,
mors and misconceptions in published
ueounts of attempts at improvement or
suggestions made to that end
As a superficial treatment of these questions is liable to do more harm than good
I shall risk being accused for my pains,
"of stopping to tell a long and prosy tale'
hy sometimes entering rather much upon
details. A considerable experience as a
writer and journalist induces me to believe, however, that all suppression of
what is worth knowing, as a sacrifice to
brevity is a mistake in technical questions,
'or while the general reader is satisfied by
skimming over the minutia, culling in the
rough such facts as he cares to learn,those
more deBply interested in the subject, put
te article away for future reference, and
when the time for its use arrives, they
read and reread it, complaining only of
'he ommlssion of what the author,through
>ear of becoming tedious has left in the
inkstand. Admitting now for all it may
be worth in the present case, the truth of
'he French saying that he who excuses,
•^ases, I wm proceed with my principal
subject.
The statemont has recently been made
"omewhere, that in order to utilize the
sorghum chips from the battery, some
■Beans should be devised for drying them
by the waste heat from the boilers. This
■"apparently an error which will put in-
Tention upon a wrong scent, entailing,
Perhaps a great sacrifice of time and capi-
■*•}•  During the last 20years a great many
"als have been made in different parts of
world, of almost every possible meth-
the _
*dof effecting the desiccation of cane ba-
y ^ia 'tis manner, without any prac-
cal result. I have myself been called to
ness tw° of these experiments which I
^emned in advance. All attempts to
^mplishthis havefailed,simply because
Uufc Plan was based  upon a myth.
h f"-chlmneyofa steam boiler, which
„ 6?n Properly constructed, there is no
Reheat. The temperature of thees-
•arsr°! easesisJast that which is neces-
^ w maintain tho draft, or in other
Intel ' to Snpply the amount of air abso-
icsl y requislte to effect adequate econom-
PrtmiHlbUStl0n- Iti3.i'yott will, a very
18civiii Way °f doinS it.lor H is as old
'■ami i0n itself>butat the same time so
t_, jjte,andso elective,that science has not
It ^ r*n able to devise anything better.
'UtH perature in a chimney exceeds
ltui-,^66 which is indispensable tothe
.»i,j nM-ceof the draught,it is simply the
tdied °" °fa defeat which should be rem-
' ai-il shows that from some cause the
boiler does not appropriate the heat as it
should. If the heat escaping in the chimney or smoke stack, is utilized for any
other purpose, a blower or inflator must
be used with ah increased consumption of
fuel, to take its place. This is not a utilization of waste products in an industrial
sense,but simply the creation of one waste
to save another. Wherever the desiccation
of bagasse containing only from 50 to 60
per cent of moisture, has been attempted
by this method, the excesses cf heat in the
gases of combustion even from badly set
boilers,has proved insufficient for the purpose, and the experimentors have been
obliged to choose between drying the bagasse and letting the fires go out. If this
was the result obtained with a material
partially dry, the effect would be much
more with chips containing 90 per cent
of water in their weight. A series of experiments were instituted in France some
years ago, to determine the point at which
a reduction of the temperature in the
chimney ceased to economize fuel, and if
memory does not mislead me, about 280°
Fahr. was the minimum. At this point
there was some smoke, showing that combustion was imperfect, but the loss was
more than compensated by the reduction
of the loss in the gases leaving the boiler.
This defect could in all probability be remedied by heating all the air entering the
furnace, as the principle that maximum
.results can only be obtained in.thls way,
seems to be sufficiently well established.
If the chips are to be utilized as fuel, experience so far seems clearly to show, that
the only truly economical way of doing it,
is to partially dry them by compression,
rolling them between two hard surfaces,
as it is done in the cane mill. This, if
properly effected will reduce the moisture
to 45 or 50 per cent of the weight of the
residue, a point at which 'they can be economically burnt in the furnace, compensating their humidity by the use of hot
air. After years of resistance this necessity appears to be thoroughly recognized
wherever diffusion has recently been
applied to cane,ln Hawaii, Damerara,Java,
and Australia, As expanded steam is
needed for the concentration of the juice,
using it first to drive the mill for compressing the chips, adds little to the cost of
production. However, as the use of steam
for the transmission of heat is one thing,
and for the transmission of power is
another, the main object in this case being
the former, it would seem to be necessary
for the attainment of a maximum economy, to greatly increase the size of the cylinder of the engine, in order to decrease
the pressure in the generators.
If the object is the conversion of the
chips to "paper stock" away from the immediate vicinity of the factory where they
are produced, they must be dried and the
preliminary operation will be milling, as
the most economical in order to complete
desiccation afterwards by artificial heat,
generated in a special furnace. The price
paid for this material is so low, and the
quantity finally obtained from the residue
is comparatively so small, that where fuel
has to be purchassd for the purpose, the
margin for profit will probably be so ro-
ducsd that it will not offer a sufficient inducement.
If this inversion of the chips ls ever made
a financial success, it will probably be in
the natural gas region, where fuel practically costs nothing. There the residue will
not be required for the manufacture of
sugar, and the expense of desiccation wlll
be reduced to a minimum. In this case,
the means employed may be of the simplest kind-a long wide cane carrier well
covered and enclosed, with a wooden
chimney at the end the chips enter.of sufficient height and size to create a rapid
current of air. At the otherend a furnace
with a number of cast iron pipes laid horizontally with their extremes  built into
two walls,so that the air may pass through
them to the carrier, while the heat from
the fire circulates around the outer side.
The air must of course enter where the
chips find their exit so that when surcharged with moisture it will come in contact with the wet material and not with
that already dried.
Tbe proper inversion is, however, where
natural gas can be relied upon as fuel, is
that of converting them into manure as
far as practicable, for one of the greatest
advantages of sugar production lies in the
fact, that the product is derived from the
air, and consequently if the ligneous matter is returned to the soil, instead of becoming Impoverished its fertility is increased. To utilize the residue as a fertilize it would still apparently be necessary
to expel the excess of moisture by milling,
in order to avoid hauling 90 tons of useless
water to obtain 10 tons of available matter. Each wagon after unloading its cane,
could receive from the carrier the corresponding amount of chips, and dump
them in the field before reloading. This
would entail little labor or expense, and
as there should not be enough saccharine
matter retained to make them Injuriously
acid, probably no better mulch could bo
found for the growing plamts.—To be continued.
Written for the Indiana Farmer.
Harvesting- Potatoes.
BT JOHN M. STAHL.
The man who uses a hoe or spade in
harvesting potatoes is almost as far behind the times as if he cut his small grain
with a cradle and his grass with a scythe.
Leaving out of the account potato diggers,
which some may think too expensive or
not to be depended upon, for potato harvest implements, I can recommend the
potato hook and the single diamond, or
barshare corn plow. The potato hook is a
potato fork with the tines almost at a
right angle with the handle. By a downward stroke the tines are forced into the
side of the hill or drill farthest from you
Lifting up on the handle loosens the earth
and by drawing the hook toward you the
potatoes are raked out. The work is not
"back breaking" and is much easier than
when all the earth is moved. The tines
must be well tempered and the handle of
tough wood, not to break by the downward stroke. Same prefer to draw, with
the barshare plow, a deep furrow on each
side of the row or drill, and then rake
through the remaining earth with the
potato hook.
To use the plow altogether, have it sharp
and set to run deep, as it must go under
the potatoes. Draw on each side of the
row or drill a furrow, throwing it from
the row, and running the plow close to
the potatoes. Then two more furrows
made in the same way will turn the hills
or drill ups'.de down, exposing the potatoes. Those that the pickers may overlook will be exposed by going over the
ground two or three times with the harrow. Bat good pickers will miss so few
potatoes that it will not pay to use the
harrow. Children wlll pink as many potatoes as an adult, but should not be allowed, much less compelled to carry the
heavy loaded vessels.
It Is quite a point to harvest potatoes
when the ground is dry. The work is
lighter and less disagreeable than when
the ground is wet and heavy; and when
the ground is in this condition it is difficult to cure the potatoes properly.
Curing potatoes properly consists mostly in drying them in the shade. The potatoes must be thoroughly dried, but they
must not be exposed to the hot midday
sun. They may keep if so exposed, but
the risk ia too great to be sensibly incurred, as it may be easily averted. I do not
know how many, .but certainly many
thousands  of bushels  of  potatoes  have
been lost, simply because they were exposed to a hot sun. The best plan Is to
build a shed in the potato patch, the higher the better. I sharpen forked stakes
and drive tbem into tho ground. Poles
are laid in the forks, to support the roof,
which may be of boards, leafy boughs, or
straw. The sbed can be made in a very
short timo and under it the potatoes will
cure nicely. If the ground is quite dry,
but little of lt will adhere to tho potatoes
and they will dry so rapidly that thoy
may be put in a heap under the shed. lie
careful to distribute each installment of
potatoes evenly over the heap, that all
may have a chance to dry before they are
covered so deep that the air cannot circulate freely about them. If the ground is
wet when the potatoes are dug, so much
earth will adhere to them and will bo so
damp that they will be so slow to dry that
they must be spread out, requiring more
shod room. Even then they will be siow
to dry, as the atmosphere will be moist
while the ground is wet.
Bins for potatoes, apples, etc., for winter storage, should have slat sides and
bottoms and be set on legs, to bring them
at least a foot from the floor. In such
bins, in a cellar that is dry, cool and well
ventilated, potatoes can be stored as soon
as they have cured in the field, although
the weather is yet quite warm. Otherwise, the potatoes should be put in such
bins, at least in bins elevated from tho
floor, In some dry, well ventilated shed or
outhouse, there to remain until the near
approach of cold weather makes it necessary to put them iu the cellar or pit.
Some pit them at once, covering them for
the time being with only a few Inches of
earth. If this is done, it is necessary to
smooth and compact the earth with the
back of the shovel, and to bring it to a
sharp point, to shod the rain. It is better,
however, to put the potatoes in the cellar
or out building, as recommended above.
Quincy, 111.
Qttcvtj mid &ns\vcv.
Give your name an d postofflce when asking qnestions. Many queries go unanswered tor failure to
observe this rale.
I would like a recipe for preparing egg
plant fruit for the table.
Mlddlefork. Mrs. B. L. O.
Will some of the patrons of your valuable paper inform me as to their experience in threshing corn, with a separator,
and do they make any change ln the separator? Also their experience in threshing navy beans, and oblige a patron.
Tilden. J. W. S.
Will some one tell me through the
Farmer, how much fertilizer to use per
acre? Can I mix It with the wheat when
seeding in corn, or will I have to get an
attachment for my drill?
New Castle. F. F. II.
Usually from 150 to 200 pounds per acre
are applied. Many of the drills have fertilizer distributing attachments. Will
some reader who has had experience in
drilling fertilizers with wheat please give
it to our readers through  these columns?
The Federal authorities bave succeeded
a arresting another man, at Chicago, who
is concerned in the great opium smuggling scheme, for which Labelle was recently arrested at Indianapolis. Ills name
is given as E. W. Brown, alias Martin,
alias Gardner. He had 125 pounds of
opium in his trunk when arrested.
A flash of lightning did ?20,000 worth of
damage and noarly killed George Kains-
ford, a breeder of blooded horses, at that
gentleman's ranch, near Chugwater, W.
T., a few days since. Eighteen head of
blooded horses were killed, including a
magnificent maro valued at $G,000.