BAGA&5E AS FUEL. 399 



Mr. Stout. — I think I should : I don't think it would cost aR much to use the 

 bagasse as to cut the wood. 



J. Member. — I would like to ask Mr. Stout if he does not think a spark- 

 arrester could be used on the smoke-stack, to avoid fire ? 



Mr. Stout. — I have no doubt thev can. I tried a bonnet ; it stopped the 

 draft so we had to take it off. Railroads do that, and I have no doubt it can 

 be fixed, and don't think there is much danger with 30-inch flues. 



A Member. — Is there any advantage in a crooked grate? 



Mr. Stout. — Yes : I think that it is an advantage. I think the grate should 

 crook down. 



A Member. — What size of opening in the grate? 



Mr. Stout. — Xot very particular: I think about two inches. 



Mr. Clements. — Ifindasetof grates will last longer with begasse than with coal 

 or wood, if the fireman attends to his business. I think the distance between 

 the grate part depends a great deal on the fineness with which you crush the 

 canf. 



Mr. Frazer. — How far from the front end do you put the feed-tube ? 



Mr. Clements. — On a furnace five feet long, put it a foot from the end. 



Dr. Mayberry, ot Kansas. — I live in a part of the country where we are almost 

 destitute of fuel, except coal, and coal is high — $6.50 a ton. The first two years 

 I ran, I ran on coal oil; it cost five cents net a gallon ; that was cash. 1 have 

 tried three different kinds of coal, and there is nothing makes steam for me 

 like bagasse does. In feeding bagasse in the furnace, I want it as loose as I 

 can get it. I crowd the furnace, and then take a long iron bar and make it 

 loose. I have one trouble with my factory. I have not enough boiler. I can 

 run better on bagasse than on any kind of coal. If coal was Iving in piles 

 free of charge, I wouldn't use it. I dont think that bagasse can be made into 

 any thing that will pay as well as fuel. I have had a good many fires from a 

 smoke stack forty-six feet to the top. I think a good draft is essential. 



Mr. Hoyt said he had a cut of Squier's bagasse furnace, which he passed 

 around the audience, there being no patent on it. It has an arch in front of 

 the pan to build the fire in, and the flame is thrown up by it against the pan. 

 I can make a hotter fire with bagasse than with any thing else, except chemi- 

 cals. A fork full will burn in 5 or 6 minutes. 



The following plate, ^o. XL VII, represents the bagasse furnace, 

 invented by Isaac A. Hedges, and now manufactured by J. A. Field 

 <fe Co., of St. Louis, ^Missouri. 



