356 



THE AGRICULTUKAL NEWS. 



November 4, 1916. 



REVIEW OF THE WORK OF THE ANTIGUA 

 AND ST. KITTS CENTRAL 

 FACTORIES, 1916. 



By the courtesy of the Directors of Gunthorpes Factory. 

 Antigua, and of F.asseterre Factory, St. Kitts, the Commis- 

 sioner of Agriculture has been furnished with the detailed 

 account of the factories' work for the crop of 1916. 



The Antigua Factory made 12,372 tons of sugar (96° 

 grey crystals) from 112,356 tons of canes, or 1 ton of 

 sugar from 907 tons of canes. 



The iSt. Kitts Factory made 11,591 tons of sugar from 

 101,248 tons of canes, or 1 ton of sugar from 8-74 tons of 

 canes. 



The main features of the factories' work may be gathered 

 from the following table: — 



TABLE I. 



The summary of the recovery and losses of sucrose 

 involved in the work of the season is as follows: — 



12-526 10000 



For the Basseterre Factory the figures are: — 



Per 100 cane. Per 100 .sucrose 



The average composition of the cane dealt with at tiie 

 two factories as calculated from the analytical data obtained 

 in the general working was — 



10000-100-00 100-00—100-00 



The megass as it came from the mill had the following 

 composition: — 



Antigua. St. Kitts. 



Sucrose :V01 2-99 



Fibre 50-18 48^09 



Water 45^65 4787 



From the data available, it is possible to recalculate the 

 composition of the megass as follows: 



Fibre oO^lSj 48^0 



.Juice 19 05 1 19^ 



Structural | 83^28 ( 



water 14^05 J 13 45] 

 Maceration 



water 1(^72 16-72 1913 



B-09) 

 i-33| 



80-87 



1913 



100-00 



10000 



12-84 



100-00 



It is thus seen that 100 parts of megass coming from the 

 mill contained at Antigua 1672 parts of residual maceration 

 water and 8328 of the true megass, while at St. Kitts the 

 figures are 80-87 and 19-13, respectively. It is of interest 

 and importance to note the amount of maceration water 

 which the megass contains, for it follows that the weight of 

 the wet megass coming from the mill is in excess of the figure 

 obtained by deducting the weight i if juice expressed, from 1 00, 

 It wa.s .-H2-4 for .\ntigua and 27 5 for St. Kitts, against 27-0 

 and 22'3, the figures obtained by subtraction. 



The total quantity of maceration water carried away in 

 the megass at Antigua w;vs 6,094 tons or 5^41 per cent, of the 

 weight of the cane; at St. Kitts the quantities were 5,203 tons 

 or 527 per cent, of the weight of the c^vne. 



Generally considering the statements put forward, atten- 

 tion may be drawn t«» the relative composition of tlie cane 

 dealt with in the two factories. That at Antigua contains 

 somewhat less sucrose and considerably more fibre, the 

 proportion of fibre in the Antigua cane beiu^ 1226 for every 

 100 in the St. Kitts cane, with proportionate increase in the 

 difficulty of milling. 



