160 ANNUAL REPORT. 



say it is the best syrup that ever came to the State, — that sugar- 

 house syrup, — but I cannot get a sugar-house price for i^. Then 

 the question comes up, how much money can I make in the use 

 of that syrup and how much can I make if I follow the process 

 of some of my neighbors? When they came to compare the two 

 they found that the cheaper syrups on the whole made the most 

 money. It was found that the syrups that had gone through the 

 coal filtration and that were finished in the pan, brought about 

 the same price as the common syrups made without defecation; 

 in fact, those that were not defecated were preferred by bakers 

 to the syrups that we made. There were a large number of 

 persons, as a matter of course, who wanted these syrups and who 

 sent to us to get them, and we would send them five and ten gallon 

 kegs, and they were very sorry when we quit our work. As a 

 matter of course, if we had continued as we had hoped to do, we 

 should have had a market for those syrups from all parts of the 

 State, simply because of the unquestioned purity of the goods, 

 and next because they would keep "forever and aye." Some 

 think the syrups that have not the acids in them are the same, 

 but if you had had the experience with them that I have, had on 

 sugar-house syrups you would not think so. I think there is no 

 doubt but what some persons find it to their advantage to use 

 syrups that have been defecated. 



Our friend Kenney has adopted the plan of using sulphur. 

 He has got what he calls a sulphur house; I have not seen it for 

 some little time. I do not now remember exactly its arrange- 

 ment, but my impression is that it is about the same as any other. 

 The syrup after going through the defecating tank runs through 

 the sulphur house, where it is bleached by the sulphur smoke. 



The process used by Mr. Hughes, who is a sugar chemist, and 

 one of the best I know, — a man who was raised in a sugar house, — 

 is to use the sulphur in his preparation with lime, for defecation. 

 He says it is not quite sulphate of lime, but it is so near it that 

 there is very little difference. I think his process is a little better 

 than what is called that of sulphate of lime; he is using it in mak- 

 ing sugar, and he says he cannot make sugar successfully without: 

 he might make some, he might make a pound or two to the gal- 

 lon, but if the cane is well grown and thoroughly matured, you 

 can get five pounds of just as good sugar as is in that white sam- 

 ple there, from a gallon of syrup. The gallon of syrup will be 

 heavier than people usually make in their common products, 

 because there must be a certain consistency to the granules. 



