776 



THE TROPCIAL AGRICULTURIST. 



[May I, 1884. 



wood must bear but a small proportion to that taken from 

 stems full of knots and old pruning obstructions. And here- 

 in lies perhaps the reason of the falling-off in strength and 

 flavor of teas from what were once known as favorite gardens. 

 AVe do nut dogmatically assert this as the only reason : we 

 express merely an opinion based on many j'ears' experience, 

 with a view of directing attention to the matter. The 

 remedy will strike any professional man, but the difficulty 

 will be to get proprietors and managiug agents to give their 

 assent. Great care and attention will be required in carrying 

 it out. The old, and all gnarled stems, must be thoroughly 

 excised down to the ground, and all growtli emanating from 

 the old stem, systematically cut away and discoiu-aged, the 

 object to be kept in view being to evolve fresh upright growth 

 direct from the roots. The crop meantime would be con- 

 siderably diminished, but it would possess uniform strength. 

 The question as to exhaustion of soil requires the assistance 

 of the analyst. A sample of soil, similar to that on which the 

 garden is formeil, should be t-aken from some uncleared portion 

 of the grant, and compared with a sample taken from near 

 the roots of a five-year plant. We have little doubt in our 

 own mind liut that considerable loss in valuable constituents 

 will be discovered. For not only will evaporation have 

 thrown oif the more volatile elements, but the organic ones 

 must be more or less absorbed by the plants: audit would 

 indeed be a wonder if even the best soil should be foiuid little 

 affected by the demand made on it. If this latter experiment 

 is carried out, we venture to assert that impoverishment will 

 be found to be very considerable. The analyst however 

 would be able to tell us what particular constituents had been 

 exhausted, and. as they must all exist in the neighbourhood, 

 there is no reason to doubt but that many gardens that are 

 now referred to as '-old and worn out" could at a small out- 

 lay be made to resume their old pristine position. Diu-ing 

 the period that new growth is being trained from the roots 

 it would be better if no leaf were taken from that portion of 

 the i^lantation under treatment, as the difficulty in prevent- 

 ing 'pluckers' from cropping the new shoots would be in- 

 surmountable. But the iuter^'al might l-»e profitably occupied 

 in returning to the soil those properties that the researches 

 of the analyst would intiicate had been taken from it. 

 Instead therefore of going to the expense of large extensions, 

 the renovation of certain plots in rotation are recommended, 

 and thejliuiiihu/ system, which some proprietors have of late 

 years adopted, should be discontinued. In a future issue we 

 may draw attention to the value of lime-stone as a powerful 

 renovator for use on exhausted gardens, but the completion 

 of the Soormah Valley Kailway would place sea-weed and 

 other marine manures within reach of the plauting com- 

 munity, so that the gardens, or such portions of them as have 

 been thrown up during the past three years, may be again 

 brought into bearing with reasonable hopes of profitable 

 result. — India/i AyricuHitvist. 



NEAV FKENCH SUGiVE MACHINERY. 



The (Jaeeusland Sugar Company, of the Johnstone River, 

 commenced their first crushing on 14th January, and as 

 this company arc working with the only complete French 

 plant in the colony, and it is specially provided with some 

 labouc-sanng appliances, a detailed account will no doubt 

 prove of interest to those engaged in this industry. 



The manufacturers of the sugar plant are the Fives Lille 

 Company, Paris, and the portable railway is manufactured 

 by Decauville Company, also of Paris. The cane comes 

 from the field cut in 3 ft. lengths, stacked on cane trucks, 

 each containing an average of abo\it 1 ton weight of cane, 

 and travels on a ii4-inch gauge railway arriving alongside 

 the CAnc carrier. The trucks as emptied pass along an 

 endless circular line of railway back to th<^ field to be refilled. 

 The cane is first operated on by defibreur, this and the cane- 

 carrier being worked by engine No. 1. "Whilst at this stage 

 it may be well to point out what advantages the manu- 

 facturers claim f<ir this new piece of machinery as against 

 double rollers. They state that, by opening up the cane 

 as it does, it enables the mill to do one-third more work 

 and gives 12 per cent mere juice without the necessity of 

 increased evaporating plaiit or increased fuel and steam 

 to evaporate, as in the case of double crushing. The defi- 

 breur further helps the rolltrs to such an extent that megass 

 is better jircpared for the new patent Godillot fm-naces 

 referred to later on. Another advantage represented is that 

 the defibreiur costs less tbau a second set of rollers. 



The cane from tlie defibreur passes along a second cane- 

 carrier to the mill rollers, which are worked by the power- 

 ful engine No. 2, 30-horse power. The top roller in this 

 mill differs fx'om any other in the colony, haWng a new 

 patent shape of grooves 4 in. apart, runumg the whole length 

 of the rollers, and these give the cane an additional grip as 

 it passes through. The megass passing from the rollers shows 

 most effective crushing, and is a decided improvement on 

 what one is accustomed to see on other plantations. 



The megass is conveyed by steam-travelling basketed 

 trucks, of which two travelling on a short length of railway 

 are worked by four kanakas, who simply tilt the wet 

 megass into new patent Godillot furnaces for burning wet 

 megass. These require special mention, as so far they are 

 doing their work admirably, and furnish all the fuel neces- 

 sary for working the mill ; and owing to the immense 

 labour saved by them, must be in general use ere long. 

 "Whilst at the furnaces, it might be well to mention that 

 the boilers, which are tubular, difier from any others in 

 the colony, inasmuch as each tubular boiler has underueatli 

 two tubeless smaller boilers or steam generators, which help 

 to preserve the tubes of the boilers and get up steam 

 quickly. Each boiler is proWded with an alarm signal in 

 the event of the water running too low, and another alarm 

 when too much water is in the boiler. These boilers so far 

 are giving every satisfaction. The juice from the rollers 

 passes through the usual strainers into an underground 

 tank, and is pumped up to a tank at the top of the building, 

 from whence it passes to copper clarifiers imi.lerueath, of 

 which there are four (the improved Fives Lille circular 

 jacketed). The juice is here limed, and when clarified is 

 left otf underneath by two taps into shoots; one for dirty 

 thick juice into a receiver, then into mont juice No. 1 to 

 filter presses, clean juice from which goes to mont juice 

 No. 2, and is blown up into juice tank at the top of the 

 building, and goes with fresh juice to the clarifiers. Clean 

 juice from the clarifiers passes along a shoot to blanket 

 strainers, thence to charcoal filters, the supply in which is 

 regulated by a fioating ball which opens and shuts autom- 

 atically as juice is required. The juice is filtered through 

 tliis charcoal, and runs into a filtered juice tank on the 

 ground floor. It is then drawn up by an aspuator into a 

 triple effet (which can be worked together or singly), and 

 when evaporation is completed passes by the mont juice to 

 the syrup receiver alongside the clarifiers on the top floor. 

 From this tank it passes through the syrup chaxcoal filter 

 into the syi'up receiver tank No. 1, on the ground floor ; 

 thence to syrup receiving tank No. 2, on the same floor under 

 the vacuum-pan, where it is aspirated into the vacuum-pan 

 and boiled to grain. From the vacuum-pan it passes to coolers, 

 thence to the sugar-mill, and from this it is conveyed by 

 buckets suspended from an overhead railway to the centri- 

 fugals, of which there are five of Coil's system and conical 

 driWng, and garnished with Lisbormon's patent copper 

 tissue. The work of feeding the centrifugals is done by one 

 man, who simply tilts the contents of the suspended bucket 

 into the centrifugals. 



The dry sugar passes to a large sugar store above, whilst 

 molasses from the centrifugals passes along a shoot to a 

 small receiving tank, and is pumped up to the tanks along- 

 side the vacuum-pan, and is reboilled for seconds and so on 

 for thirds. 



The arrjingement of plant for all purposes is perfect. The 

 building, which is all iron (including columns), is 180 ft. long 

 by 80 ft. wide, and is so arranged that spaces are left for 

 additioi . 1 plant to increase the present operations by one- 

 third ^^l-en required. 



On the ground floor, which is aU concrete and cement, 

 then are in all seven engines, namely, one for cane-carrier 

 and drfibreur, .second for defibrated cane-carrier, mill, roll- 

 ers, and megass carrier, third for triple etfet apparatus 

 and pump, fourth for vacuum pan and pump, fifth for vertical 

 and centrifugal pumps in well, sixth for centrifugals, seventh 

 for pumping water into boilers. 



On the second floor there is an arrangement in comiectiou 

 with steam worth attention. The direct steam from boilers 

 is used in each appaiatus requiring direct steam, and after- 

 wards is sent as exhaust steam into a receiver, from which 

 it is u.sed for evaporating the juice or syrup. All the water 

 from the con»lensatien of exhaust.steam is sent intoa receiver 

 alongside the boiler, to be returned into the boiler as hot 

 water. 



