PROCEEDINGS OP KINDRED SOCIETIES. 225 



of steam, which gives us heat more intense, yet mellow in its effects, and 

 under the complete control of the operator. 



The subject given me will not admit us into the cane field to inquire as 

 to condition of soil, variety of cane, manner of culture, etc. These 

 are factors of immense importance. Indeed, of as great moment as the 

 selection of variety and class of wood in the make-up of a good wagon. 

 But presuppose these conditions to have been observed with care, the 

 cane ripened to its proper stage, well bladed, topped, tied into bundles, 

 with at least one band, and delivered at the mill. 



The buildings and sheds need not necessarily be expensive, but should 

 be sufficient to protect men and machinery from storm and the boilers 

 from wind. There are two methods by which the canes are compelled to 

 yield their saccharine matter. That which was first and is still commonly 

 practiced, is by the milling process, or passing the cane through heavy 

 iron rolls. The other or later plan, was taken from the beet sugar method 

 of extracting sweet from sliced beets, commonly called the diffusion 

 process. Each of these plans has its advantages as well as defects, and 

 as the latter system has not been so simplified as to be applicable for 

 small operators, we will not attempt a minute description of it in this 

 paper; but simply say the cane is cut into pieces from ^ to f inch in 

 length, dropped through a blast of wind, which carries away the green 

 blade which encircles the stalks, and passed into cells. These cells or 

 boxes are filled with warm water. After standing a time, this water is 

 drawn into a second cell, which has been filled with fresh chips, and cell 

 No. 1 is again filled with fresh water. Thus, after a system of ten cells 

 hav^ been treated in this manner, the chips in cell No. 1 are found to be 

 robbed of nearly every vestige of sweetness. While a greater percentage 

 of sweetness is obtained by this method, an additional expense is incurred 

 in the evaporation of the added water. 



Leaving this mode of extracting the sweet from the cane, for the pres- 

 ent, we will introduce the older or better-known plan, that of squeezing 

 or milling. As the mill is an important factor in obtaining satisfactory 

 results, care should be taken to secure one of abundant strength and 

 capacity for the work which will be required of it. There are a number of 

 houses in this country, especially in Buffalo, Cincinnati, St. Louis, and 

 Janesville, Wis., which turn out very good mills. The best of these 

 single mills, while extracting quite all of the juice, will yet leave from ten 

 to forty per cent, of the saccharine matter in the refuse. This waste 

 may be somewhat lessened by the addition of a second series of rolls, 

 placed a few feet from the first, and as the refuse leaves the first set, apply- 

 ing a spray of water which will aid materially in washing out the sweet 

 as it passes through this second set of rolls, which otherwise would be 

 lost. The juice, after leaving the mill, passes through a sieve or strainer 

 into a cistern near by, from whence it is pumped to a convenient height in 

 the evaporating rooms, where it is ready to pass through the process of 

 conversion into syrup. 



An analysis of this cane sap discovers to us some features which, if 

 allowed to remain without treatment during this opera/tion, will be quite 

 ruinous. We will not attempt to define these difficulties, but simply 

 recommend the course which has produced satisfactory results. 



Two or more boxes are prepared called defecators, into one of which is 

 drawn a quantity of juice to which is added a sufficient quantity of cream 

 of lime to neutralize the acids which exist in the juice, some requiring 

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