Vol. IV. No. 88. 



THE AGRICULTURAL NEWS. 



259 



b 



The introduction of n sj.stem of ateaiu-plougliing is 

 contemplated, the soil of Vere being of exti'aordinary depth 

 and friability, and very favourably reported upon by 

 Dr. Cousins, the Island Chemist, in this connexion. Tiie 

 native labour supply is fairly large and is supplemented by 

 a number of East Indian coolies. 



As to the yield of cane with full irrigation. Dr. Cousins 

 and other experts believe 30 tons per acre, on an average, to 

 be a reasonable estimate. The com[)any bases its calculations, 

 however, ui)on an average, year in and year out, of 2.5 tons 

 per acre from the irrigated fields, and of 17 tons per acre from 

 the unirrigated. The latter figure is a])proximately the actual 

 average of the past ten years on Hillside, dui-ing which period 

 there were four droughts, one of which caused an almost total 

 loss of crop. It will be seen, therefore, that from the 1,000 

 acres of irrigated land at present in cultivation on the 

 company's properties, 2.5,000 ton.s of canes would be pro- 

 duced. Dr. Cousins, reporting upon the average quality of 

 Vere juice, states that it would require 9-74 tons of canes to 

 produce 1 ton of sugar, and 35 gallons of rum at 140° over 

 proof. In order, however, to provide a margin of safet}', the 

 estimated iiroduction is based uiion ' Watts' Table C.,' which, 

 allowing for 75 pf r cent, crushing, and 88 per cent, extrac- 

 tion, shows 1 ton sugar from lO'lO tons of cane. Only 33|- 

 gallons of rum, oi sa}', one puncheon (100 gallons), to every 

 3 tons of sugar are calculated to be produced from the 

 b}' [iroducts. 



On the above basis, 25,000 tons of cane for the first 

 year's working should produce about 2,475 tons of sugar 

 and 825 puncheons of rum. In succeeding years the 

 additional cultivation of 200 acres of canes from unirrigated 

 lands would increai-e the production by about 336 tons sugar 

 and 112 puncheons of rum, in which case the factory output 

 for the seasons commencing January 1907, 1908, and 1909, 

 respectively, would be: 2,475 tons of sugar, and 825 gallons 

 rum; 2,811 tons sugar, 937 gallons rum; and 3,147 tons 

 sugar, and 1,049 gallons rum. This it is hoped further to 

 augment by judicious planting, so as to extend the crop 

 period. 



An important souice of revenue is also looked for from 

 the extended cultivation of Sea Island cotton. The experi- 

 mental planting of 45 acres at Moreland has shown most 

 satisfactory results, both as regards the quantity produced 

 and the quality of the cotton. 



The develo|)ment of the Vere district of Jamaica is 

 receiving a further impulse from the erection of another 

 central factory on Amity Hal! estate, the property of Major 

 H. W. Jlitchell. This factory, which is to be in operation 

 by the end of the current year, is the property of another 

 small local compan}-, and will manufacture the canes grown 

 on Amity Hall estate, and also upon Perrins estate, which 

 has been acquired by !Mr. A. W. Forquharson, under whose 

 management the companj' in question will be. 



The NaLidet DiflFusion Process in the West 

 Indies. 



A detailed account of the ' Naudet putent process 

 for extracting and purifying cane juice,' written by 

 Mr. Robert Harvey, M.I. Mech. E., was published in 

 the Wes:t Indian Bulletin (Vol. V, pp. 9G-8). Brief 

 descriptions of the process have also appeared in the 

 Agricultural AVtcs (Vol. Ill, p. 354, and Vol. IV, 

 p. 130), where mention was also made of the installa- 

 tion of this system at ' Caroni ' estate, Trinidad. 



In tiie International Sugar Journal for Jidy 



there is a further article by Mr. Harvey, fully describing 

 the process, in which he deals especially wi'th what has 

 been accomplished by it at two central factories in the 

 West Indies, viz., ' Caroni ' in Trinidad, and ' Fortuna ' 

 in Porto Rieo. The following extracts from this article 

 are likely to be ofspeci.il interest: — 



The first start was made on the ' Caroni ' sugar estate, 

 Trinidad, in the month of February. The actual results 

 obtained fell short of what was expected owing to the megass 

 from the first mill not being in a suitable condition for the 

 diffusion, this three-roller mill not having a crusher to split 

 o|ien the cane before entering the mill nor a shredder to shred 

 the megass as it left the mill : the extraction of juice was not 

 comjilete and the dilution was too high, so that a little extra 

 fuel was required beyond the megass for the boiler. The next 

 year this defect will be overcome, when no doubt the factory will 

 work through the crop without any fuel beyond the exhausted 

 megass. As it wa.s, however, the results of the crop were 

 much in advance of the double crushing of the previous year 

 — a larger quantity of sugar being produced from the same 

 weight of canes ; furthermore, at the end of the crop, the 

 estate produced fine yellow crystals for the London market. 

 The proprietors of the estate are satisfied that the principle 

 of the process is correct and that, when the necessary 

 alteration is made on the first mill, next year's operations of 

 the Naudet process will be in every way satisfactory and will 

 prove in every sense a commercial success. 



On the estate 'Fortuna,' by sulphuring the juice in 

 addition to the liming, and passing the juice through 

 Pliiliplie filters from the battery, a very fair white sugar was 

 produced, suitable for local consumption. Given a certain 

 purity of raw juice in good working, an equal purity in 

 diffusion juice and .syrups results. At 'Fortuna' the purity 

 of raw juice was during the third week S4'2 ; purity of the 

 diffusion juice, 84'1. 



When everything was going on well at ' Fortuna ' we 

 had an extraction of 96 to 97 per cent. This year on 

 Messrs. Hinton & Son's sugar estate in Madeira the average 

 extraction throughout the whole crop was 95'5 per cent.: and 

 40 per cent, of the canes ground were Yuba or Natal canes, 

 a very small, hard variety. 



The fuel question, however, was not satisfactory owing 

 to the machinery in the factory not being able to overtake 

 the amount of juice produced by the battery — that is, the 

 tri[ile effet, vacuum jian, and centrifugals were much under 

 the power required. The boiler installations and the furnaces 

 were also defective, so that here again extra fuel was required 

 beyond the megass ; otherwise the process was similar to 

 what I have described as carried on at ' Caroni.' 



The following editorial note appears in the same 

 issue of the International Sugar Journal: — 



The writer of the article is Mr. Robert Harvey, 

 M.I. Mech. E., who has been out in the West Indies in con- 

 junction with Mr. Naudet to supervise the working of the pro- 

 cess. As his firm was responsible for designing and erecting the 

 machinery, his knowledge of all the details is obviously of 

 a thorough character. There is no doubt that the new- 

 process has proved a success ; we have examined samples of 

 crystals resulting from it, and they are of the highest class. 



It is to be hoped that it will ere long be possible to 

 carry on this process in a factory equipped throughout with 

 the most up-to-date machinery in all departments, in which 

 case we shall be in a fair position to compare the new system 

 with the other modern systems in use in Cuba, Java, and the 

 beer sugar area of Europe. 



