137 



"massecuite'^ of from 5 to 10 per cent water content, then poured out 

 into shallow trays and stirred with a spade until it crystallizes. No 

 attempt is made to separate sugar and molasses, but the whole "concrete" 

 is sacked and sold as such. 



The losses of sucrose in open-kettle boiling occur chiefly in the final 

 boiling of "massecuite," where a large amount of sugar may be caramel- 

 ized and even burned by local overheating and sticldng to the sides 

 of the kettle. Wliere filter presses are not used, a great deal of sugar 

 is also thrown away in the skimmings. Very little loss by inversion 

 occurs in the preliminary clarification and concentration to 50° Brix in 

 the fu'st four kettles, provided only moderate care is taken in liming 

 to approximate neutrality. 



Heretofore it has been impossible to secure reliable data as to the amount 

 of sugar produced in Negros from a given weight of cane, since the cane 

 itself is never weighed, and the sugar, as a rule, only after it reaches 

 Iloilo and is sold. After considerable difficulty it was found possible 

 to make two complete mill controls of cane of widely different composi- 

 tion, and from a combination of the data thus obtained and comparative 

 analyses of juices and sugars from a large number of mills throughout 

 the island the average in sucrose ordinarily produced is calculated to 

 be approximately the following: 



Loss- 



Sucrose in 

 cane. 



In bagasse 



In skimmings 



By in version 



Burned, spilled, stolen, and unaccounted for... 

 "Shrinkage" en route to Iloilo before weighing 



Total 



Per cent. 

 25.0 

 5.0 

 2.5 

 10.0 

 1.5 



44.0 



The cane as ordinarily ground in the mills averages 14.72 per cent 

 sucrose, so the yield in sucrose on the weight of the cane amounts to 

 8.24 per cent, or almost exactly 10 per cent of raw sugar polarizing 

 82°, the average polarization of Negros sugar. 



Negros sugar is practically all sold in Iloilo, where it is classified as 

 "Superior" Nos. 1, 2, and 3, "Wet," and "Current," of polarization 

 minima of 87°, 85°, 80°, 76°, and 70°, respectively. The difference 

 in market price has heretofore been arbitrarily fixed at 25 centavos between 

 gi"ades of "Superior." The two lower grades have usually been shipped 

 to China, and bear no fixed price relation to the "Superior" sugars. 



