REPORT OF THE CHEMIST. 327 



■been practiced for ten years in Java on mill juices and no complaint 

 has ever been lieard of difficulty in pur.^ing the sugar. With the 

 fresli ripe canes of Louisiana worked promptly as they come from 

 the field, and with the juice in tlio hands of an experienced sugar- 

 boiler, 1 do not believe this difficulty Avould be encountered. 



With the im]>rovements in the process of carbonatation already 

 pointed out in the discussion of the experiments with sorghum even 

 better results may be expected. 



BAGASSE. 



The disposition of the exhausted chips is a question of great eco- 

 nomic importance. Three uses appear to be jjossible: (1) For paper- 

 stock; (2) for manure; (3) for fuel. , 



A good article of both wrapping and print paper can be made of 

 the fiber of the cane. The economic discussion of this use, however, 

 can only be properly given by a paper-maker. 



The value of the bagasse for a manure is undoubtedly great. This 

 problem has already been discussed in Bulletin No. 8, liage 46. 



By referring to the table of analyses of the chips it will be seen 

 that with a small hand-mill 03.72 per cent, of water was extracted 

 from the exhausted chips; on the same mill the percentage of extrac- 

 tion of the fresh chips was only 56.31 per cent. Thus in similar con- 

 ditions the percentage of extraction with a given mill will be 7.31 per 

 cent, higher for exhausted chips than for fresh canes. A mill, there- 

 fore, which will give a 78 per cent, extraction with cane will give 85 

 per cent, with exhausted chips. 



The exhausted chips contained 90 per cent, water. Of this quantity 

 03.72 per cent, were extracted, leaving 26.28 per cent, water to 10 fiber. 



A given quantity of the bagasse, therefore, contained 72.2 per cent. 

 water and 27.8 per cent, fiber. A i?iill which would give 80 per cent, 

 extraction with the exhausted chips would furnish a bagasse composed 

 of equal parts of water and fiber, and this would prove a most exellent 

 fuel. 



The power required to drive such a mill would only be about one- 

 third as great as for the same weight of cane. 



The attempts to dry cane chips on the presses used for beet cuttings 

 have proved failures, but the experiments made at Fort Scott show 

 that a properly arranged mill will solve this problem at once. 



It must be remembered, however, that even if the exhausted chips 

 be made as dry as ordinary mill bagasse, they will not afford so much 

 fuel. They contain little but the fiber of the cane, while mill bagasse 

 still holds large quantities of sugar, which itself is a most excellent 

 fuel. 



The loss of the bagasse as a fuel has been the principal objection to 

 the introduction of diffusion into tropical sugar disti'icts. 



It now remains to contin^^e these experiments at some favorable sta- 

 tion in Louisiana. Such a station should be provided with a first- 

 class double or triple effect and other apparatus for evaporating the 

 juice and separating the sugar. 



It should also be a station purely experimental. The attempt to 

 carry on experiments and manufacture a large crop of cane at the 

 same time would only end in the disastrous manner, economically 

 considered, of the sorghum work just concluded at Fort Scott. 



These experiments can only be successful at a station where perfect 

 freedom of action and plenty of time are at the director's command. 



