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Oe REPORT OF THE CHEMIST. | 225 
_ In the present condition of the sorghum-sugar industry, in which it has alike to 
». be protected from the overzeal of its friends and the opposition of its enemies, the 
__ process of diffusion offers the most promising outlook for success. It therefore 
-seems the duty of this division to make a more practical test of this process and on 
_a larger scale. 
To make the necessary further experiments with diffusion required 
the expenditure of large sums of money. As already shown, the 
private companies had lost heavily. They were utterly unable to 
- complete the experiments so hopefully begun by the Department of 
Agriculture. 
ANOTHER APPROPRIATION. 
In 1885, Senator Plumb again labored for an appropriation for ex- 
periments with diffusion. Fifty thousand dollars for this purpose 
was again added tothe agricultural appropriation bill, on the amend- 
ment of Senator Plumb. This was expended at Ottawa, Kans., and 
in Louisiana. The report of the work at Ottawa closes as follows: 
(1) By the process of diffusion 98 per cent. of the sugar in the cane was extracted, 
and the yield was fully double that obtained in the ordinary way. 
(2) The difficulties to be overcome in the application of diffusion are wholly me- 
a chanical. With the apparatus on hand the following changes are necessary in order 
to be able to work 120 tons per day: (a) The diffusion cells should be made twice as 
_ large as they now are; that is, of 130 cubic feet capacity. (5) The opening through 
- _ which the chips are discharged should be made as nearly.as possible of the same 
area as a horizontal cross-section of the cell. (c) The forced feed of the cutters re- 
q uires a few minor changes in order to prevent choking. (d) The apparatus for 
elivering the chips to the cells should be remodeled so as to dispense with the labor - 
of one man. 
(8) The process of carbonatation for the purification of the juice is the only method 
which will give a limpid juice with a minimum of waste and a maximum of purity. 
(4) By a proper combination of diffusion and carbonatation the experiments have 
demonstrated that fully 95 per cent. of the sugar in the cane can be placed on the 
market either as dry sugar or molasses. 
; (5) It is highly important that the Department complete the experiments so suc- 
cessfully inaugurated by making the changes in the machinery mentioned above 
and by the erection of a complete carbonatation outfit. 
Respectfully, 
H, W. Witey, Chemist. 
: The report of 1885 showed such favorable results that in 1886 the 
' House made an appropriation of $94,000, to be used in Louisiana, 
_ New Jersey, and Kansas. A new battery and complete carbonatation 
apparatus were erected at Fort Scott. About $60,000 of the appro- 
priation was expended here in experiments in diffusion and carbona- 
tation. 
In his report Dr. Wiley arrived at the following conclusions: 
In a general review of the work the most important point suggested is the abso- 
lute failure of the experiments to demonstrate the commercial practicability of 
manufacturing sorghum sugar. The causes of this failure have been pointed out 
in the preceding pages, and it will only be necessary here to recapitulate them. 
They were: 
(1) Defective machinery for cutting the canes and for elevating and cleaning the 
chips and for removing the exhausted chips. 
(2) The deterioration of the cane due to much of it becoming overripe, but chiefly 
to the fact that much time would generally elapse after the canes were cut before 
they reached the diffusion battery. The heavy frost which came the first of Octo- 
ber also injured the cane somewhat, but not until ten days or two weeks after it 
occurred. 
(8) The deteriorated cane caused a considerable inversion of the sucrose in the 
: battery, an inversion which was increased by the delay in furnishing chips, thus 
causing the chips in the battery to remain exposed under pressure for a much longer 
AG 87 14 
