124 REPORT OF THE COMMISSIONER OF AGRICULTURE. 



cepR with the apparatus constructed in such a "svay, but, when near the 

 end of August it became evident that it could not be finished, Afhat lit- 

 tle I had vanished. An attempt was then made to have the ai)pai'atus 

 ready for use in Louisiana during the course of 1884, but this eiibrt had 

 also to be abandoned by reason of delay in finishing the w^ork. 



Late in the fall of 18S4 the apparatus was finished and ready for in- 

 spection. I had requested that the cells of the battery be large enough 

 to contain one ton of cane chips, and the builders furnished for this 

 ca]jacity a cell measuring 3 feet; bottom diameter, 3 feet; 11 inches, 

 shoulder diameter; 1 foot 2^ inches depth of neck, and IG inches diame- 

 ter of neck ; 1 foot, shoulder to bottom of neck; 6 feet deep, and con- 

 taining CG cubic feet (nearly) of space. 



In the absence of any experience which would enable me to judge 

 definitely of the matter, it appeared that the cells were sufiBciently 

 large, and they were therefore accepted. The cutters, however, ap- 

 peared to be entirely inadequate to the work to be performed, and they 

 were therefore rejected. 



No further action was taken by the Commissioner in the matter ex- 

 cept to request the company to store the apparatus during the winter, 

 until February 13, 1885, when the Commissioner sent for me and asked 

 me to go to isew York and make a contract with Mr. B. Urner, presi- 

 dent of the Franklin Sugar Company, at Ottawa, Kansas, for the erection 

 of the battery in connection with the works of his company at Ottawa. 

 I met Mr. Urner at the Astor House, February 13, and we agreed upon 

 the form of a contract, which I made out in duplicate to be signed by 

 Mr. Urner and the Commissioner. 



In March, 1885, the cells were sent to Ottawa, but no action was taken 

 in respect to the cutters. 



Following is a record of the work which has been done by me under 

 your supervision. It was discovered, on consulting the books of the dis- 

 bursing officer, that only a little over 81,000 of the appropriation re- 

 mained available. The new appropriation of $40,000 for 1885 and 1886 

 could not be used until July 1. On May 8, you ax^pointed M. A. Scovell 

 to superintend the erection of the machinery and buildings at Ottawa. 

 On May 1, 1885, he was instructed to do what he could with the small 

 amount of funds available. In the middle of June, I went to Ottawa 

 to assist Mr. Scovell in locating the buildings and getting the work 

 under way. 



On the 3d of July, the new appropriation having become available, I 

 went to "Wilmington, Del., and arranged for the construction of the new 

 cutters. A few days later you ordered of the same firm the necessary 

 machinery to operate the cutters and convey the chips to the diffusion 

 colls. The work of construction was hurried as rapidly as possible and 

 tbe first consignment of apparatus, consisting of one cutter and shafting, 

 hangers, belting, &c., reached Ottawa on Saturday, September 4, ten 

 days after the manufacturing season had commenced. 



I reached Ottawa on Wednesday, September 8, and the work of erec- 

 tion was pushed with all possible dispatch. On Sunday, September 27, 

 the rest of the machinery arrived. During the following week, one cut- 

 ter having been completed, preliminary trials were made with the ap- 

 paratus. The cutter was found to give good satisfaction, with a capacity 

 of G tons per hour, giving a nicely-gTOOved chip well suited for diffusion. 



On the other hand, the cells of the battery were found to hold only 

 1,340 pounds (or, by a little crowding, 1,400 pounds) instead of a ton ; 

 the lower opening, through which the chips were to be discharged, was 



