244 STATE BOARD OF AGRICULTURE. 



finely crushed cane with which the juice is loaded. The evaporating pan was 

 mounted so that there was a slight incline from the upper end nearest tlie fire, 

 where the juice was first introduced, toward the lower end farthest from the 

 fire, where the syrup was finally drawn off. 



And now to describe the work of manufacture. The juice running in a 

 steady stream from the crusher into the first tub was strained through the 

 gauze, passed down through the tube, and emptied into the second tub. As soon 

 as this second tub was filled the valve was closed connecting the two tubs, and 

 the contents of the second tub were treated with the different chemicals to 

 clarify the juice, such as lime, etc., and after a thorough mixture allowed to 

 run into the evaporator. After the second tub was emptied the connection 

 was opened again with the first tub and the process repeated. In this way the 

 crusher could be run about half the time during evaporation. As the juice in 

 the pan reached the boiling point a green scum would arise, thick or thin 

 according to the kind of clarifving material used, which was constantly 

 removed by skimming. The juice became more dense as it neared the lower 

 end of the pan, so that at the extreme end it became a thin syrup which was 

 then drawn off and returned to the center of the pan to be still further con- 

 centrated. Theoretically the juice should have been thick syrup by the time 

 it had reached the lower end, but in actual practice it was found not to be the 

 case. As soon as the syrup became dense enough it was drawn off into tubs 

 and allowed to cool somewhat before it was placed in the barrels for permanent 

 storage. 



The question of clarifying the juice is of the greatest importance, for it is 

 at this point in the manufacture that the whole question of good syrup or bad 

 syrup is definitely settled. The peculiar substances which give the grassy taste 

 to sorghum must be cleared away in the boiling juice by the clarifying agent or 

 they will remain to spoil the flavor of the syrup. Part of these materials will 

 be thrown up in the scum by boiling the pure juice without any clarifying 

 mixture, but the greater part will not. On the other hand there is no clarify- 

 ing mixture now known which will entirely remove these objectionable materi- 

 als. 



One rather remarkable fact is that where no clarifier was used the syrup is 

 lighter colored. This is strange when we consider that the materials which 

 give the green color to the syrup are thrown up in the scum caused by the 

 clarifying material, but it may be accounted for by supposing that the lime 

 added to produce the alkaline reaction, acts also on the coloring matter, 

 changing it from green to brown or almost black, thus darkening the resulting 

 syrup. The question of cost is the question which decides farmers whether 

 the production of sorghum syrup is worth while or not and we will proceed to 

 its discussion at once. First of large items is the crusher and pan. These 

 were obtained from the Blymer Manufacturing Company of Cincinnati. 



The price of the crusher was $135 



The pan, which is of copper 160 



Arch and irons for same 48 



Total expense for machinery $343 



The expense of raising the cane, including rent of land at $5 for the acre, 

 was $12, covering expense of plowing, planting, and cultivating. Expense of 

 working up the crop, including work of stripping, grinding, and boiling, with a 



