113 



into arrow. Thus, Canes which ripen in May are cut down 

 without undergoing this process. 



Having thus watched the plant in the field, we may now 

 venture upon a few remarks * on the processes connected 

 with the manufactory of sugar from the cane-juice. 



The juice of the Cane, according to Proust, who liad op- 



* As this Memoir of Dr. M'Fadyen was not intended to convey an account 

 of the several processes employed in the production of sugar from the Cane, the 

 following extract from Dr. Ure's System of Chemistry will give as satisfactory 

 an idea on this subject as can be done in a few words: — " When the plant is 

 ripe it is cut down and crushed between iron cylinders, placed perpendicularly, 

 and moved by water or animal strength. The juice which flows out by this 

 strong pressure is received into a shallow trough placed beneath the cylinder. 

 This juice is called in the French sugar colonies vesou ,- and the Cane, after 

 having undergone this pressure, is called hegasse. The juice is more or less 

 saccharine, according to the nature of the soil on which the Cane had grown, and 

 the weather that has predominated during its growth. It is aqueous when the 

 soil or the weather have been too humid ; and in contrary circumstances, it is 

 thick and glutinous. 



" The juice of the Cane is conveyed into boilers, whei'e it is boiled with wood, 

 ashes, and lime. It is subjected to the same operation in three several boilers, 

 care being taken to remove the scum as it rises. In this state it is called syrup, 

 and is again boiled with lime and alum till it is sufficiently concentrated, when 

 it is poured into a vessel called the cooler. In this vessel it is agitated with 

 wooden stirrers, which breaks the crust as it forms on the surface. It is after- 

 wards poured into casks to accelerate its cooling; and while it is still warm, it 

 is conveyed into barrels, standing upright over a cistern, and pierced through 

 their bottom with several holes stopped with cane. The syrup which is not 

 condensed filters through these canes into the cistern beneath, and leaves the 

 sugar in the state called coarse sugar or Muscovado. This sugar is yellow and 

 fat, and is purified in the islands in the following manner: — The syrup is boiled 

 and poured into conical earthen vessels, having a small perforation at the apex 

 which is kept closed. Each cone reversed on its apex, is supported in another 

 earthen vessel. The syrup is stirred together and then left to crystallize. At 

 the end of fifteen or sixteen hours, the hole in the point of each cone is opened, 

 that the impure syrup may run out. The base of those sugar loaves is then 

 taken out, and the white pulverised sugar substituted in its stead ; which being 

 well pressed down, the whole is covered with clay moistened with water. This 

 water filters through the mass, carrying the syrup with it which was mixed 

 with the sugar, but which, by this management, flows into a pot substituted in 

 the place of the first. This second fluid is called fine syrup. Care is taken to 

 moisten and keep the clay to a proper degree of softness, as it becomes dry. 



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