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226 REPORT OF THE COMMISSIONER OF AGRICULTURE. 
time than was necessary. The mean time required for diffusing one cell, was — 
het \ 
twenty-one minutes, three times as long as it should have been. - 
(4) The process of carbonatation, as employed, secured a maximum yield uf — 
sugar, but failed to make a molasses which was marketable. This trouble arose— 
from the small quantity of lime remaining in the filtered juices, causing a blacken- 
ing of the sirup on concentration, and the failure of the cleaning apparatus to prop- 
erly prepare the chips for diffusion. 
THE PRESENT STATE OF THE INDUSTRY. 
The experiments in making sugar from sorghum, which, as above 
. shown, have been in progress for seveval years at the expense of pri- 
vate capital and the United States Department of Agriculture, have. 
this year reached so favorable results as to place the manufacture of 
sorghum sugar on the basis of a profitable business. 
The success has been due to, first, the almost complete extraction 
of the sugars from the cane by the diffusion process; second, the 
prompt and proper treatment of the juice in defecating and evapo- 
rating; third, the efficient manner in which the sugar was boiled to 
grain in the strike-pan. That these results may be duplicated and 
improved upon will be readily understood from the showing made in 
Mr. Parkinson’s report, and the descriptions of methods and processes 
used, and the discussion of the same as they appear in the subsequent 
pages of this paper. 
[Abstract of report of W. L. Parkinson.] 
To the Board of Directors Parkinson Sugar Company : 
GENTLEMEN : I respectfully submit for your consideration the following report of - 
the operations of the works of your company for the season just closing : 
It is provided in our contract with the United States Department of Agriculture 
that certain experiments in sugar-making shall be made by the Department with 
certain machinery of its own and at its own expense, using the company’s plant 
and machinery. * * * 
As you are aware, the crop of cane contracted for last spring was very much less | 
than the capacity of our works to consume. It was considered prudent to limit 
our danger from loss, by reason of the experimental nature of the work, and at 
the same time to have sufficient cane to determine thoroughly the value of the 
work on a practical manufacturing basis. This has been done, though it is now 
apparent that had the crop been twice as large, the expenses for working it would 
have been relatively much less. Indeed, a crop double the size of the one just fin- 
ished could have been worked in about the same time, and at a comparatively trifling 
additional expense. The plans, methods, and processes which have made the work 
of the season successful beyond our most sanguine expectations, were adopted early 
in the season, so that the risks incident to experiments taken into account when 
contracting for a crop were reduced to the minimum. ‘The fact that at least a por- 
tion of these highly successful processes were not tried and adopted last season was 
no fault of your company, nor of any one connected with this season’s work. 
To arrive at the cost per ton of cane worked, let us take the working of a single 
average day, when in full operation, and apart from the cost of experiments referred 
to. 
The capacity of our factory, aside from deficient centrifugals, is limited to the 
capacity of the diffusion battery. Working twenty-two hours per day, this battery 
can comfortably handle 135 tons of chips or cleaned cane. This represents a capac- 
ity of field cane, or cane with seed tops and blades, of about 170 tons. To handle 
this, aside from curing and handling seed, cost us per day of twenty-two hours, 
when running regularly, as follows: 
WSLS WTAAS DET, LUNG a his)li= oteda joie be. oia)siasls jocelyn eNOS EME hese eiiaeitsyarakaie. Si ceaeane fens $2. 00 
1 team, pulling cane onto storage racks, at $2.50......... 82.40... 255-.0028 2.50 
5 men, unloading and getting cane to cutters, 22 hours, at 124 cents........ 13.75 
(iman. Cubs Tm aAGhiMey ab) LE GENUS. ais swe cloud Nene el Res fee cielo ae oychcva ae Sy BUN PS 
fT Toa, Cleaning machine ab Les GELtS es foo 4 uaa ayaa eaetadenn lye: hevana,' ac eal vone SUM Wai: 
di gate nahi os have (ey panel nOAeae MUS ICG! s) 04. PUAN aah ie aot eg VU AR Muito :blerl ie bales HM ite Eat nn 3.30 
PM aM OLlOR sad LOsCOITS cig inicte os 55ecs G5 vig sie, olavalet dl acer Cea EIN miele SOE ib eleehy ae 
