14. Erport cf the Agricultttral C&mmitlee. 



The other points deserving of attention and study with a 

 view to their adoption as soon as circumstances permit are: 



1° The defecation of the cane juice as soon as possible 

 after its expression, and 



2° A better system of purging, which, in conjunction 

 with an improved plan of cristallization adjust recommended, 

 would greatly tend to better the grain of the sugar of tha 

 Colony. 



It is hardly necessary for the Committee to do more than 

 advert to the importance of an unceasing attention to the 

 proper expression of the juice from the canes — to their 

 manipulation as much as possible at the precise point of 

 maturity — and to a vigilant watch against all the sources 

 of fermentation with which this manufacture is so fraught ; 

 but there would appear little doubt that a considerable in- 

 crease in the quantity of sugar would result froiit a greater 

 regard to alt these points, whilst by a!l tlu' foregoing 

 means united, the average quality, and consequently the 

 value, of our staple would be raised several sbilliugb p<-r 

 cwt. 



Defecation has Ion? been considered as an indispensablte 

 part of a properly conducted manufacture in the West- 

 Indies and other places: but its adoption has not made 

 much progress in Mauritius, although those planters who 

 have employed clarifiers have generally been well satisfied 

 with their use, and have been noted for the good quality 

 of their sugar. For instance Mr. West at the Vale ; Mr. 

 Brownrigg. at Wolmar; and Mr. L breton, informer years, 

 at Quatre Cocos. In a late French work the advantage and 

 importance of defecation are thus cleaily set forth: 



« La defecation est uiie des operations les plus impor- 

 » tantes de la fabrication du sucre. iin efTet, elle a pour bt*i 



