644 



THE TROPICAL AGRICULTURIST. [April r, 1887. 



The first tbing to be done in a book that wants 

 washing is to cut the stitches and separate the work 

 into sheets. Then a glance may be taken for the 

 separation of those leaves or sheets which have stains 

 of ink or oil. The dirty leaves are now placed in 

 a bath composed of a quarter of a pound of chloride 

 of lime and the same quantity of soda to about a 

 quart of water. These are left to soak until the 

 paper has regained its proper tint. The pages are 

 now lifted out tenderly into a second bath of cold, 

 if possible running water, where they are left at least 

 six hours. This removes all traces of lime. The paper, 

 when thoroughly dried by exposure, must be dipped 

 into a third bath of size and water, and again laid 

 out to dry. This restores the consistency of the paper. 

 Pressure between printers' glazed boards will then 

 restore smoothness to the leaves. 



The toning of the washed leaves in accordance vnth 

 the rest of the book is a delicate process, which re- 

 quires some experience. Some shag tobacco steeped 

 in hot water will usually give the necessary coloring 

 matter, and a bath in this liquid, the necessary tone. 



The process described above may do for water 

 stains; but if the pages are dirtied by grease, oil, 

 coffee, candle drippings, or ink, different treatment 

 will be required. Dilute spirit of salt with five times 

 its bulk of water, and let the oil-stained pages lie in the 

 liquid for four minutes, not longer, then remove and 

 wash, as before, in cold water. To remove ink, a 

 solution of oxalic, citric, or tartaric acid should be 

 used, but care must be taken in the washing and 

 sizing. If the grease is a spot in the middle of a 

 page, place between two sheets of blotting paper 

 or cover it with powdered French chalk (the blotting 

 paper is preferable), and pass a hot iron over the 

 place. This will melt the grease, which is imme- 

 diately soaked up by the chalk or paper. 



For dirty finger marks, the following is recommended: 

 — Cover the mark with a piece of clean, yellow 

 soap for two or three hours, then wash with a sponge 

 jind hot water, and dip the page in weak acid and 

 water. Give another bath of hot water and then 

 thoroughly cleanse with cold water. 



To remove ink stains: Dip the page in a strong 

 solution of oxalic acid, then in a solution of one part 

 hydrochloric acid and six parts of water, after which 

 bathe in cold water and allow to dry slowly. Vellum 

 covers which require cleaning may be made almost 

 equal to new by washing with weak salts of lemon ; 

 or, if not much soiled, warm soap and water. Grease 

 may be removed from the covers of bound books by 

 •craping a little pipe clay, French chalk or magnesia 

 OTer the place, and then ironing with an iron not 

 too hot, else it will discolor the leather. — Chambers' 

 Journal. 



SUGAE-EEFINING BY ELECTEICITY. 



In the March Siigar Cane, page 116, we called at- 

 tention to a Company which had just been started 

 in Now Yoik for refining sugar by electricity ; and we 

 also gave a report, taken from a contemporary, of some 

 sugar.s which had arrived in this country, and which, 

 it was stated, had been refined by this process. We 

 gave the account as a curio'^ity — no more believing it, 

 than if we had been told th it some one had arrived 

 in Liverpool that morning having left New York the 

 previous day in a balloon. 



Experiments with this new process have continued 

 to be made, with results, as reported, which are simply 

 astounding. 



Within the last few days we have seen Mr. Robert- 

 son, of Liverpool, who is interested in this company, 

 and represents it in Euglaud. No one, we think, can 

 converse with this gentleman, without being persuaded 

 that he most thoroughly believes in this invention, 

 and that it really does what is reported of it. 



He told us that a gentleman in New York, in order 

 to test the matter, had 3 cwt. of raw sugar taken 

 to the inventor's room, for the purpose of beiug re- 

 fined; he satisfied himself that there was no other 

 sugar in the room except that which he had brought 

 with him, and that there was no way by wliich the 



sugar could be replaced, except through the door, which 

 he had securely fastened and sealed upon leaving. 

 Within two hours he re-entered the room — during his 

 absence the raw sugar had been passed through the 

 machine by the inventor, and converted into refined 

 sugar, the weight returned being within 1 per cent 

 of the saccharine contents of the raw sugar. 



An experiment upon a much larger scale has within 

 the past three weeks been made under conditions set 

 forth in Mr. Robertson's Circular, dated July 17, which 

 we give at page 439, together with the report of the 

 five gentlemen who were selected to certify to its 

 genuineness; we notice that two out of the five gentle- 

 men are the president and vice-president of the com- 

 pany. Assuming, as we do, that all is perfectly square, 

 we think the company would have done better to have 

 obtained the services of five well-known gentlemsn. 

 who were perfectly disinterested. 



The quantity of raw sugar to be refined was 80 bags 

 — producing 40 barrels of refined sugar of " 12 differ- 

 ent sizes, from the finest granulated up to about the 

 size of a small bird's egg;" the time occupied in the 

 process was seven hours. These gentlemen did not 

 witness the operation itself, but they conclude their 

 report as follows : — '' We have no reason whatever to 

 doubt that the aforesaid refined sugar was produced 

 by the said (Professor) Friend by his said process on 

 the said 14th July from the aforesaid raw sugar." 

 The conclusion that one is driven to, with this in- 

 formation before us, is, that it is either a great fact or 

 it is a great fraud. The company are about starting 

 some works to refine, by this process, 500 tons per day. 

 We shall therefore know in a little while which of 

 these conclusions is the correct one. 



If it is a fact, it means that we are on the eve of a 

 revolution in sugar refining, without a parallel in its 

 history; it means that planters in all parts of the 

 world can, if they choose, and have the capital, refine 

 their own sugars on the spot. It opens up besides, 

 a market for refined sugar with millions of people 

 in India, who, from religious belief, are now debarred 

 from its use on account of the animal charcoai employed 

 in refining under the old system. 



The particulars of the invention may be stated to 

 be as follows: — 



" The process is an electro-chemical one which is 

 worked by a machine, automatic in its action to a 

 very great extent. Boiling and animal charcoal are 

 entirely dispensed with. No syrups nor soft sugars 

 of different grades are produced, the entire product 

 being hard sugars in whatever forms of sizes which 

 may be desirable to produce, that is, from finest 

 powdered up to and including cut and pressed loaf. 

 One valuable feature in this mode of manufacture is, 

 that all the saccharine matter in raw sugar, whether 

 crystallisable or uncrystallisable, under the old system 

 of boiling and filtering, is by this .system rendered 

 into hard sugar, with a small fraction of a loss, — less 

 than one per cent of the whole (juantity. The cost 

 of refining by this process is 2s. 4d. per ton (2d. per 

 cwt.), and the time occupied not more than four hours." 

 By the favour of Mr. Robertson we have been fur- 

 nished with samples of sugar refined by this process, 

 and which are at our office, 57, Market-street, Man- 

 cliester, for inspection. — Si'gar Cane. 



aUGARCANE CULTIVATION IN INDIA. 



[The nativps of Ceylon might take profitable hints 

 from thin article. — Ed.] 



The following extract from a letter received from 

 Mr. Burrow.s, of Behea, has been courteously placed 

 at our disposal by the Director of Agriculture, Bengal, 

 and we publish it, as it will be found very useful at 

 the pre^ent time : — 



The usual Indian method of cane culture may be 

 called broadcast as opposed to jilanti/iff, as the term 

 is understood by European and American planters. 

 The difference in results may bo approximately ol)tained 

 by asking any ryot the differenc<i in produce between 

 cheetiva and reap diuin (broadcast and planted.) 



The root of the sugarcane is a small collection of 

 thin fibres or rootlets, there is no tap root. On these 



