101 



Clarification of the juice. — The freshly expressed juice flows from the mill bed 

 through an open wooden trough, generally being strained through a cloth or 

 wire screen to remove suspended particles of bagasse, etc., into '•caua" No. 5, 

 where it is warmed up to 70° or 80° and some of the lighter impurities rise to 

 the surface in the form of a froth, which is skimmed oflf and thrown into the 

 scum tanks on the side. From time to time, as it is required, juice is ladled 

 with a kerosene tin fixed to the end of a wooden pole from No. 5 to the smaller 

 "cauas" No. 4 on either side, the idea being to keep them so nearly full that 

 scums rising to the surface here will again tend to flow back into No. 5. 



Liming. — Lime is generally added in two stages, the juice being about half 

 neutralized in No. 4 and tempering completed in No. 3, where the first violent 

 ebullition occurs ; sometimes a handful or so will be thro^ii into No. 5, and if the 

 "maestro" is in doubt as to the amount required, he may even correct an \mder- 

 limed juice by adding lime a little at a time up as far as No. 2, or, very rarely, 

 even in the "caua de puntos." This process of defecation, is always under the 

 personal charge of the "maestro de azticar," or chief sugar boiler, a native of 

 many years' experience, who may receive as high as a peso a day for his services. 

 The process is the following: About half a coconut shell full of dry lime (half 

 a kilo) is thrown into a ladle, which is then half filled with hot juice, and, after 

 a few seconds' shaking to promote solution, emptied slowly into the "caua," 

 leaving most of the undissolved lime at the bottom of the ladle, which is refilled 

 with hot juice and poured out again in a similar manner, until only the larger 

 pieces of undissolved lime, about a third of the whole, remain as a residue ; these 

 are then thrown into the sciim tanks. 



Since a brighter colored, although less clean, sugar is thus produced, the 

 tendency among the "maestros" is toward under, rather than over, liming, leaving 

 a juice still very slightly acid to litmus." A good "maestro" knows by instinct, 

 bred of long practice, just when the juice is properly tempered, he judging largely 

 by the peculiar alkaline odor given oflt as the neutral point is approached, and 

 also by the appearance of the juice when poured out in a thin stream, it changing 

 in color from a dark olive brown to a somewhat lighter, yellowish tinge when 

 suflBcient lime has been added. As the limed juice in No. 3 begins to boil, the 

 impurities are coagulated, rise to the- surface, and overflow into No. 4 and some- 

 times into No. 5, where they are skimmed off and thrown into the scum tanks. 



This process of surface clarification is continued in No. 2, which is in reality 

 almost a part of No. 3, juice overflowing from one to the other and being ladled 

 back again intermittently, becoming cleaner and more concentrated all the time. 



The lime used comes chiefly from the neighboring island of Guimaras, and is 

 of execrable quality. It is invariably slaked directly after burning, some kilns, 

 it is said, even using sea water for this purpose, and is stored and shipped either 

 in bulk or in bags or "bayones" of "buri" leaf such as are used for packing sugar, 

 so that by the time it has reached Negros it has had an excellent opportunity 

 to become converted into the carbonate, which is practically useless for clarifica- 

 tion. According to Geerligs ^ lime used for clarification should fill the following 

 specifications: 



"When mixed with half its own weight of water it should become very hot 

 wnthin a few minutes. The slaked lime after the addition of ten times its weight 

 of water should form a soft cream, which on being passed through a fine sieve 

 should not leave behind more unslaked particles than one-tenth of the original 



"Litmus paper, by the way, is still a decided curiosity in Negros, and as far 

 as I know there is not a sugar maker in the entire island who regularly makes 

 use of this or any other indicator as an aid in defecation. 



=*Cane Sugar and its Manufacture. Manchester (1909), 160. 



