Sy nae ae “7 > a ve e454 ff A= Ry” A a yy Pel PO aes te ae” al We ee (* 
oe Ab, . et Fy ald ee Ae ae o =o eee Wee Se et Se oa 
um rons ewe \ ee Pe a gg sai WN rus ras Bk, eos Ya Wea Ka ne 
\ 1% ' 
REPORT OF THE COMMISSIONER OF AGRICULTURE. | 
216. * 
ordinary use, being simply round tanks with conical bottoms and — , 
. furnished with coils for heating the juice. Thismethod of defecation, ~ 
however, was not satisfactory, and defecation was tried ina shallow 
pan 16 feet long and 26 inches wide, with a partition running length- 
wise in the center, the inlet and outlet for the juice being onthe — ~ 
same end of the pan on opposite sides of the partition. Ved 
This pan was gotten up very hurriedly and was supplied with iron ~ 
pipes for heating the juice. The juice, after being dre | limed 4 . 
- and somewhat heated, was pumped into one side of the long heating 
~ pan and run out at the opposite side continuously. a 
Being compelled by the center partition to flow down one side and 
back on the other, the juice made a circuit of 32 feet. The steam ~*~ 
was so regulated that during the first 16 feet it was gradually brought 
to the boiling point, while in the opposite side it boiled vigorously. 
In this way a strong current was produced which carried all the im- | 
purities in the form of scum to the quiet portion of the juice, where 
it was removed and returned to the battery, thus avoiding all waste 
_and annoyance from this source. 
EVAPORATION. 
The juice was evaporated to from 20° to 30° Baumé, in a double- 
effect evaporator built by the Pusey & Jones Company, of Wilming- ~~ 
ton, Del. This apparatus gave perfect satisfaction. All the evap- 
oration was done by exhaust steam of 4 pounds pressure, a small 
amount of live steam being used only when part of the machinery 
was stopped. 
EXPERIMENTS IN BOILING TO GRAIN. 
Every strike was boiled to grain in the pan. Several experiments 
were made to ascertain the result in boiling ‘‘in and in,” the juice 
‘being enriched by the addition of sugar made from previous strikes. 
It is very doubtful, however, whether this is to be recommended, 
excepting when the juice is so poor that a good grain can not be ob- 
tained in any other way. ahh 
Owing to the fact that we were unable to secure a sufficient supply 
of cane the work progressed very irregularly. Only twice during 
the entire season was the battery kept in operation continuously for 
twenty hours, and during the sugar-making season the diffusion 
battery was emptied sixty-two times. This entailed no inconsider- 
able loss, amounting to trom 1 to 2 tons of clean cane each time a 
stoppage occurred. 
CANE WORKED FOR SUGAR. 
The total amount of cane worked for sugar was 2,610 tons. In’ ~~ 
this is included all that was used for experiments in filtration and 
defecation during the first part of the season. I have no record of 
the exact amount lost in this way. The total amount of first sugar 
made was 235,476 pounds. This sugar was all washed, and polarized 
on an average 96 per cent. The total amount of molasses produced 
was 51,000 gallons. 
TRIAL RUNS. 
In order to ascertain as nearly as possible the average yield of 
sugar per ton of cane two trial runs were made. 
