16. Report of the Agricultural Committee. 



that the coral, from which the entire supply of lime for the 

 colony is obtained, is charged with a number of deleterious 

 salts, such as the chlorides of potassium and of sodium^ 

 sulphate of potassa, chlorhydrate of soda, phosphate and 

 sulphate of magnesia, oxyde of iron, &c., which are very 

 prejudicial to the operations of the sugar boiler, and can 

 only be expelled by an intense degree of heat. This high 

 temperature cannot be obtained in lime kilns of the con- 

 struction of those employed at present in the Island. 



The noxious qualities of one of these substances are 

 thus pointed out by Dr. Evans in his able work, the Sugar 

 Planters Manual. « The compound of sugar with the 

 » chloride of sodium (common salt) is one of great impor- 

 » tance of sugar ; for according to Peligot, it consists of 

 » one part by weight of the salt to six of the sugar, and is so 

 » deliquescent that it renders liquid another portion equal in 

 ■» weight with itself. If therefore muscovado sugar contain 

 )) only one per cent of common salt, we may form an idea 

 )) of the great inferiority and loss which must ensue from 

 y> the drainage alone, which will equal \k per cent of the 

 » whole. » Lime tends, besides, to discolor the sugar, and 

 the less of it which is used to temper the juice the belter^ 



May not the inferiority of the grain of the generality of 

 the Sugars of this colony, and their liability to excessive 

 drainage when bagged undried, be partly owing to the ob- 

 jeciionable quality of the lime employed in its manufacture? 

 And might not the Planter eventually find himself able to 

 avoid the necessity of drying his Sugar in the open air, by 

 which its brillancy is tarnished, the sharpness of its grain 

 diminished, the weight very considerably decreased, and 

 all of the cost of so much labour and sorveillance, by pay- 

 ing a closer attention to every stage of his operations ? 



