MECHANICS AND USEFUL ARTS. 95 



Ireland is said, by Mr. Sulliyan, the chemist to the Museum of Irish 

 Industry in Dublin, to possess great capabilities for the production of 

 beet root in large quantities, and of very superior qualities the 

 Irish root possessing at least as much saccharine matter as that of 

 France or Germany. The statistics of beet root suirar are curious 



tT^ 



and instructive. In -1841, the production of this article in Europe 

 was estimated at ."> .">.<"> 00 tons ; in 1847, it was said to be 100,000 tons, 

 and in IS.jO, 190,000 tons. The manufacture is said to be rapidly 

 increasing, and realizing a great profit to those who are engaged in it. 



IMPROVEMENT IX THE MANUFACTURE OF SUGAR. 



THE following is a description of some new processes for the manu- 

 facture of sugar, recently patented in England, and introduced with 

 success into Cuba. 



The new processes are fourfold in their character, comprising, first, 

 a new mode of obtaining the saccharine juice from the cane ; secondly, 

 a new mode of defecating and filtering the juice so obtained ; thirdly, 

 the boiling and concentrating of the juice ; and fourthly, the crystal- 

 lization and final curing of the sugar. By the first improvement, in 

 the construction of the cane press, a difference in the yield of the 

 cane is obtained, as compared with the old rolling mill, of about 20 

 per cent. In the new machine, the pressing tubes are reduced in 

 length from 30 inches to 12, the first four of which are parallel, and 

 3 inches wide - - the next four inches of their length being taper, and 

 terminating with a width of but 1^ inch, the smaller contracted point 

 extending as far as the exit end of the tube. By this change of form, 

 the entire removal of the elasticity in the " magas," occupying the 

 tubes is removed, and after the cane has been collapsed by the severe 

 pressure, and its breadth at the same time gradually lessened, every 

 fibre and cell is made to assume new relative positions not one 

 remains unruptured, and an increased quantity of the juice is conse- 

 quently expelled at the trough. In addition to this advantage, there 

 is obviously a more equal distribution of power in each revolution of 

 the machine ; the deleterious chlorophyl, or coloring matter, of the 

 outer portion of the cane is not expelled with the juice, as in the 

 ordinary apparatus ; the machine may be more easily fed, and weighs 

 considerably less than rolling machines generally in use. 



The juice, when expelled from the cane, is unavoidably mixed with 

 numberless minute fragments of cellular tissue, albumen, and other 

 extraneous matters, which, if not speedily removed, tend to produce 

 the acidification of the liquid. The present mode of defecation and 

 filtration consists in raising the temperature of the liquor to 150 Fahr., 

 when a quantity of lime is thrown in for the purpose of neutralizing 

 the free acid, and assisting in the coagulation of the albumen ; the 

 temperature is increased to 180 Fahr., when, after allowing time for 

 settling, the scum is removed, and the clear liquor drawn oil' into the 

 ' grand" copper, where it is subjected to boiling heat, when the fecu- 

 lent and other albuminous matters are kept constantly removed from 

 9* 



