Vol. XVII. No. 42-t. 



THE AGRICULTUIIAL NEWS. 



227 



SUGAR INDUSTRY. 



SMALL SUGAR-CANE MILLS. 



Owing to the abnormally high price of sugar, a good 

 many enquiries are being made just now with regard to the 

 possibility of using small mills in remote places. The follow- 

 ing information received by the Imperial Commissioner of 

 Agriculture for the West Indies fronn Mr. W. Robson, 

 Curator of the Botanic Station, Montserrat, as to the work- 

 ing of .such small mills in that island, will probably be useful 

 in this connexion. 



Mr. Robson reports on five small mills, two of them 

 driven by steam engines, and three by oil engines. 



Of the steam engines, the one at Olveston is a 4 h.p. 

 Blymer engine, driving a mill with rollers 1 4 inches long, 

 at a steam pressure of 60 to 70 lb. This will grind about 

 1 1 tons of cane per day, which produces 3i tons of sugar 

 per week. The other steam engine at Lees is a 6 h.p., 

 driving rollers 2 feet long. This makes 50 bags of sugar 

 a week when constantly working. 



Of the oil-power engines, the one at I'arsons is a 6i h.p. 

 Wilson magneto oil engine, driving rollers 1 2 inches long. 

 This turns out 1 , 1 00 gallons of juice per day of twelve hours, 

 which produces 3}, barrels of sugar per day. At Roches, 

 the 6 h.p. American oil engine, driving a mill with rollers 

 15 inches wide, yields 120 gallons of j"ice per hour, which 

 produces 4 barrels of sugar per day. The mill at Brades, 

 which seems of a particularly good type, has a Hornsby engine 

 of 10 h.p. using low flash kerosene oil, and the mill is from 

 McKinnon, of Aberdeen, with rollers 18 inches long. With 

 the engine working full power a yield of juice may be 

 obtained of 200 gallons per hour. One ton of sugar can be 

 turned out per day. 



A SIMPLE AND WHOLESOME SYRUP. 



The Louisiana Planter, June 22, lOlcS, repro- 

 duces the following from the International Confec- 

 tioner. The process described is simple enough, and 

 the product would appear to be worth some attention 

 sit the hands of those engaged in makiog sweets: — 



Cane or beet sugar can be inverted by the simple 

 process of heating in the presence of an acid. The chemical 

 reaction that takes place results in the same products being 

 formed as are formed when the sugar (sucrose) is taken into 

 the human body, the sugar forming equal parts of de.xtrose 

 and levulose. The following formula may be used in making 

 iivert sugar syrup of such sweetness that a pound of the 

 syrup will replace a pound of sugar: — 



100 tt). of sugar. 

 44 Db. of water. 

 If oz. of powdered tartaric acid. 



These ingredients are mixed togetlier ami boiled for thirty 

 to thirty-live minutes. If boiled longer than thirty-five minutes 

 the syrup darkens in colour, and a flavour develops which tends 

 to make the syrup resemble glucose syrup, and this is some- 

 what undesirable. This solution boils at a temperature of 

 220 degrees Fahrenheit. A steam pressure kettle can be 

 used, or an open candy kettle over a steady fire. If the 

 solution is boiled too vigorously there will be too large 

 a loss by evaporation. Ordinarily the loss will be from 3 to 

 r per cent. 



The above formula should make 140 Sb. of syrap, and 

 if there is considerable loss due to evaporitiin, the syrup 

 can be brought up to this weight by the additioa of water. 

 The resultant invert sugar syrup is not unlike strained honey 

 in appearance and taste. It contains 711 per cent, of sugar, 

 and tastes considerably sweeter than a sugar syrup of the 

 same i-trength. It cm be used in the same proportions as 

 sugar the amount necessary for 10 gallons of ice cream being 

 65 B). to 7 ft). It gives very satisfactory results in freezing, 

 and a pleasant ftavour in the finished product. 



It can be readily seen that by using the above method, 

 the sugar supply can literally be stretched, for with only 

 7 1 '4 per cent, as much sugar as is now being used in ice cream, 

 the same degree of sweetness can be obtained. 



BRITISH COTTON GROWING ASSOCI- 

 ATION. 



The one hundred and seventy-second meeting of the 

 Council of the British Cotton Growing Association was held 

 at the Offices, 15, Cross Street, Manchester, on Tuesday, June 

 4, 1918. In the absence of the President (Tne Rf. Hon. the 

 Earl of Derby, K.G.), Mr. Joseph Watson occupied the Chair. 



WEST AFEic\. Reports have been received that large 

 quantities of seed-cotton are being bought in the local mar- 

 kets for the native weaving industry, which has received -a 

 big impetus on account of the high price of European cotton 

 goods. Even in the Southern Provinces, where the industry 

 had practically become extinct, large quantities of cotton are 

 being used for making native cloths. The local demand has 

 greatly atiected the Association's purchases this year, and, 

 in addition, the crop is a short one, owing to unfavourable 

 climatic conditions during the growing period. 



The purchases of cotton in Lagos to May 25 amounted 

 to 2,074 bales, as compared with 6,379 bales for the same; 

 period of last j'ear, 7,845 bales for 1916, and 2,656 bales 

 for 1915. 



The purchases in Northern Nigeria to April 30 amounted 

 to 2,238 bales, as compared with 3,540 bales for the same 

 period of last year, 9,617 bales for 1916, and 282 bales 

 for 1915. 



The crop of long staple American cotton grown in the 

 Zaria district under the direction of the Government Agricul- 

 tural Department is now practically all bought, and the 

 Association's purchases amount to over 800 bales, as compared 

 with 462 bales last year. A good deal of this cotton has 

 also been used locally, and there is every reason to believe 

 that the cultivation of this type of cotton in Northern 

 Nigeria will continue to increase rapidly. 



NY.vsALANU. It was reported that Nyasaland and 

 South East Africa generally have suffered from some excep- 

 tionally heavy floods, and the Zimbesi River has been flooded 

 higher than the previous record, and the Shire River was as 

 high as during the flood of 1914. Thousands of natives 

 have lost their lives in the flood, aKd millions of acres of 

 crops have been destroyed, and considerable damage done to 

 property. 



Owing to the restriction of the cotton area in Egypt, 

 that under sugarcane this year is expected to exceed that of 

 last year considerably. Weather conditions are said to have 

 materially reduced the sugar contents of the cane coming to 

 the mills in the latter [)art of the present season. {Monflily 

 Bulletin of Agricul/ioiil and Commercial Statistics, M <.v 

 1918.) 



