Vol, XVIII, No. vr. 



THE AGRICULTURAL XEWg. 



:i".'.r 



imporitiea or admixtures jirevailing in or around the crystals. 

 *r'his diflVrence may be due, tirst. to the difference in the 

 uatnre o! the constituents otbfi ilian sucrose in the juice of 

 the riw niaierial>; or, lu the stjcmu place, to the ditiVrent 

 milhods of niannfaoluTe lo which the juices have been 

 .sulmi'.ted ia order to prodiiee the sugar. 



All cane juice contains reducing sugar, commonly 

 known as glucose. Sound beet juice, on the contrary, does 

 not contain any glucose, or such a slight percentage ihac it 

 is destroyed during the boiling with lime, so that the syrup 

 is practically free from glucose, \ ' the other bodies, 

 as gums, mineral maner ca.airr . etc., are found iu 

 both syrups. On crystallization i. sugar the sucrose 

 pai ticks arrange thetaselveG in the shape of lan.ellae, 

 which togeijier build up the crystal, but iDcli;dc very 

 micute portions of the syrnp. If therefore the syrup 

 contains y.lucose, the crystals will keep included between the 

 lamellae, "a small quantity of glucose which can not be 

 removed l-y wishing. For this reason the very best white 

 plititatioa cane sugar always contains a very small amount 

 of glucose, while granulated beet sm.ar, which is crystallized 

 out of a syrup which did not contain any glucose, is free from 

 that constituent. 



For common use, and foi ordinary confectionery, the 

 small amount of gliiCiise present will not cause any trouole- 

 'Ihis is asserted aftc-r investigations this year by a con- 

 fectionery firm in Holland. But the tame confectioners stite, 

 that white plantation cane sugar l.icks tli>' iitcessary Krinness 

 for ti e concoction of rerlain kind.^ uf candy, so as to keep dry 

 and hard afier exposure to moist air. 



The .second diflference between beet and cane sugar is 

 due to the methods of rnanufactur?. The juices from which 

 beet sugar cryssallizei are repeatedly filtered through cloths, 

 alter the raw juice has been submitted to a very etfecuvo 

 clarification with lime, followed by a saturation with carbonic,, 

 and sometimes also with sulphuious, acid The syrup also 

 coming out of the evaporators again passes through filters, 

 and in most cases also, the first mo.asses before it is adled lo 

 the mas-ecuite in the vacuum pan The syrup rhert fore is 

 quite clear, and does not contain any substances which might 

 be incorporated in the crysral and spoil its luscre. 



In cane sugar manufacture, however, in most cas"s the 

 Juice is treated with a small amount of lims and sulphiuous 

 acid, and only the botiom pirt or scams which remain are 

 filtered: even if the clear juice piss-s through some kind of 

 filter, the filtering medium must be .so coarse as to allow 

 filtration of the juice,so tliat a great deal of colloidal and siimy 

 matter necessarily passes over into the syrup. This therefore 

 is not properly filtertd, and is only clarified by renewed 

 subsidence and decantation. The syrop Irom which the cane 

 sugar crystaiiizes out is therefore not clear, and the lamellae 

 of the resulting crystals may include slimy mitier, specks 

 of dirt, etc., which cannot be removed by washing, at.d remain 

 in the finished product. 



Dr. Prinsen Geerligs suggests the employmei t of 

 improved clarifying pr( cesses in the manufaciure of cane 

 sugar, and refers especially to the carbonitati^n process, 

 and the process of Bnch with liming and s.t.iratiou of the 

 syrup. With the carbonitation process th- juioe is treated 

 just as beet juice is, and is thereby rid of every trace of 

 silica, slim.-, tum, etc. ; while in Bach's process the .sjrup is 

 limed and saturated in such a manner that a thick precipi- 

 tate forms, and leaves a syrup that will filter through cloth. 

 The sugar crystallizing from such a wrll-filtered and clear 

 syrup will not differ, save for the .^mall amount of glucose 

 referred to above, from granulated beet sugar. 



Most manufacturer-^ of eonfectioDery do not .so mnch 

 need a coh'Urless sugar so'iuinn, but reij'iire briltiaacy an<i 

 clearness. £n fact, the requirement for the s igar to be used 

 by the confectionery trade, is t'.at it yields a solu.ijn which 

 is either colourless or only sightly tinge f, but 'U any caas, 

 one which is absolutely dear. 



Many Hriti.-'h mmufaoturers of confectionery have 

 extensively used a simple device for treating plantall.ju tvuile 

 cane s igar, which enables them to obtain that article in 

 a condition to suit their purpose without having recourse 

 lo the coaly process of refining. Most coafejtioneis use 

 sugur in solution only, so that the aim is to obtain a clear 

 thick syrup. To that end they m-iy u-e a solution of white 

 plantation car.e sugar ol CO to 70° Bri.K, and mix that with 

 the vegetable chircoal, ' Norit,' in a mixer provided with 

 a steam coil. .Some 'i per cent, of the chare al is used, 

 and the mi.Kture, kept in inoiion by a stirring device, is 

 heated to 90° C- and afterwards pumped through a filter- 

 press lin'd with findy woven filter cloth. The first portions 

 of the filtrate are more '-r less cloudy, and are run ba^k lo the 

 mixing tank, hut after a few minutes the s'lgar solution cimes- 

 out of the press in a colourless and bright state. The 

 oxfiense of this process is very much less than that of real 

 refining, and allows an extensive use of cane plantatioo 

 sugars Some onfeclioneis, for instance, chocolate manu- 

 facturers, require the greater part of their sus^ar in thft 

 shape of a fine white powder, and not as a thick syrup. 

 Th s is obtained from the thick syrup prepared as above, by 

 a process whereby the syrup is deprived of its moisture 

 content, and is beaten into a mass of impilpable powder. 

 As the whole of the an^xr is thus converted into p-i-vlpr. 

 there is no formation of molasses, but only a disiutegri- 

 tion of the crystallized sugar to the form desired by tb» 

 chocolate manufacturer. 



It is therefore feasible. Dr. Prinsen Geerligs states, to 

 obtain e'-ery kind of sugar fit for the manufacture of the 

 choicest jams, chocolates conden.sed milk, mineral waters, 

 c indies, etc., from white plantation cane sugar, without any 

 refining process, properly speaking, but with the aid of 

 simple devices wbich remove the slimy subsauces now- 

 present in most white plantatiou cane sugars. 



If the manufacture of these cane sugars is improveti- 

 in such a way that the whole of the juice or syrup can b< 

 fil'.tr i through cloth before the sugar is allowed to crystallize, 

 it w iiiM be quite possible to use them even without those 

 elimin iti ig devices mentioned above, for the very same, 

 purp ise^ as German and Austrian beet sugar was used 

 before the war. 



Mr T Jackson, Agricultural Superintendent, Antigua, ha9% 

 been otf.jr' d, and ha« accrpted, the liieher post of Agrtc d'ual 

 Superintendent. St Vincent, in place of .Mr. W. N. Sindi, 

 recently promoted to the Federated \;alay States Mr. 

 Jackson has for many years cirried out very useful work 

 iu .\i)ligiia conneced with sugar-'-ane expcrimeot^ and with 

 cotton, and . specially wih ifatli^rs c ncerning the co op^ra 

 live movement He is therefore well H.led to carry oo 

 the similar, though rather more specialized, work in>ilved 

 in the appointment at St. Vincent 



.M'. .lackson is expected to leive Antigua for S; Vtu.'tati. 

 on November 9, 1919 | • 



