112 PROCESS OF MANUFACTURE. 
should be shallow to admit of the speedy downward pas- 
sage of the molasses through the crystallized mass, and 
their bottoms should be inclined sufficiently to secure its 
rapid transmission to a common outlet. They should be 
of a uniform size, and in order to secure a large-grained 
erystallization, should be made moderately large. Vessels 
conforming to these requirements may be of various forms, 
but for convenience and general efficiency, I give the pref- 
erence to a form of vessel which the experience of nearly 
a century has not modified for the better. I refer to Da- 
trone’s Crystallizing Box, a description of which I give 
in his own words, as translated by McCulloh (Report, 
p. 286).* . 
“Experience has proved to me that the quantity of 
matter which combines the greatest number of advantages 
in the crystallization of cane sugar, is fifteen or sixteen 
cubic feet, for which reason the dimensions given to the 
crystallizing vessels are five feet in length by three feet in 
breadth. The bottom is formed of two planes, inclined 
six inches, the intersection of which form a groove in the 
middle. In this groove are twelve or fifteen holes of an 
inch in diameter, to permit the syrup to flow out. The 
depth is nine inches at the sides and fifteen inches at the 
center. The vessels should be made of boards one inch 
thick, and lined with lead” (or better, coated heavily with 
iron paint). ‘Before lining it, the holes should be bored in 
- 
* Précis sur la Canne, page 184. Paris, 1790. 
To Dutrone la Couture belongs the honor of oviginating and introduc- 
ing many most valuable improvements in the art of sugar making; his 
work embodies the results of conscientious and laborious research, and 
although now out of print in its original form, it has been partially re- 
produced in th: English works of G. R,. Porter and others. In spite of 
the crudeness which marked the chemistry of his day, Dutrone has given 
us a work that yet merits the distinction of being “‘the most able treat- 
ise ever written on the culture and manufacture of sugar.” 
