66 



CHEMICAL CONTROL. 



Chemicai laboratory. — All modem sugar mills should have a good 

 chemical laboratory equipped with all the apparatus and supplies re- 

 quired in the preparation and analyses of all sugar-house products. It 

 is very important to know the exact composition of the cane at the time 

 of entering the mill, percentage of juice and sugar extracted from it, 

 the composition and reaction of the juice, the degree of density of the 

 sirup made in the multiple effects, and the amount and quality of sugar 

 finally delivered from the centrifugals. In a factory turning out a 

 hundred tons of sugar a day a decrease of 1 per cent in the extraction 

 secured by the mill would mean a decrease of 1 ton of sugar, worth at 

 least ^150. The only way to find such losses is by constant observation 

 and thorough analyses of all the sugar-house products. 



The sugar chemist. — Sugar chemistry is recognized as a special branch 

 of chemical science as applied to manufactures. The preparation and 

 work involved are common to many other branches of laboratory work, 

 but the men who conduct the chemical control of sugar mills must 

 specialize in this branch of chemistry and generally do not carry on any 

 other work at the same time. The necessity for the service of sugar 

 chemists is constantly increasing as investors in the growing and manu- 

 facture of sugar are coming to realize more fully that an exact knowl- 

 edge of the many processes involved is necessary to an intelligent handling 

 of the sugar-manufacturing plant. 



Sugar laboratory at Iloilo. — The Government of the Philippine Is- 

 lands has recognized the importance of the sugar chemist and his work, 

 by the establishment of a sugar laboratory at Iloilo in charge of the 

 Bureau of Science. This was the first institution of its kind in the 

 Philippines and until very recently it did not meet with popular favor 

 among sugar growers and buyers. However, it has demonstrated its 

 usefulness so fully that the most important sugar sales are now made on 

 the basis of official polarizations secured from this laboratory. 



Composition of Philippine sugars. — The following analyses of Phil- 

 ippine sugars were made by Mr. H. Pellet ^ from samples furnished lay 

 Mr. C. A. Brown, Ph. D., chemist of the New York Sugar Trade 

 Laboratory : 



Philippine mat sugar. 



'International Sugar Journal (Altrincham), vol. 13, No. 150, June, 1911. 



