76 THE YEAR-BOOK OF AGRICULTURE. 



all in a single year. Here, in a country of such vast extent, embracing every climate, with hill- 

 sides and plains favorable for the cultivation of the grape, and native vines overspreading the 

 forests and marshes in almost every State, we, professing to be a great agricultural people, 

 so far have closed our eyes to these great facts, and, except in a few instances,, neglected to 

 avail ourselves of the most fruitful source of national wealth ever within the reach of man. 



Manufacture of Wine in Georgia. 



THE Southern Cultivator states that the attjmpt to manufacture wine from a native grape 

 has been successfully tried by Mr. A. Leary, of Munroe county, Georgia. The grape is 

 known as the " Warrenton," and the produce is at the rate of eight hundred gallons per acre. 

 The wine resembles the Madeira, and is high-flavored and mild. 



Improvements in the Manufacture of Sugar, 



C. HUSTINGS COLLETTE, of London, has recently obtained a patent for improvements in the 

 manufacture of sugar, the specification of which we give somewhat in full, knowing how 

 important a manufacture this is to a very large class of agriculturists. 



This invention consists in an improved mode of treating cane-juice, molasses, beet-root 

 juice, and other saccharine juices and syrups, for the purpose of obtaining sugar therefrom, 

 freed or separated from the impurities and other substances with which it is mixed. 



It has been for some time known that the yield of sugar from cane-juice, molasses, beet- 

 root juice, and other saccharine juices, is smaller than it ought to be; and the cause of this 

 small yield has been attributed to the use of a large quantity of charcoal to clarify the 

 syrup, whereby a considerable proportion of sugar becomes absorbed, notwithstanding the 

 most careful manipulation ; the molasses produced by many of the ordinary processes often 

 containing nearly as much as 50 per cent, of crystalline sugar. 



For the purpose of avoiding these evils, the following process is employed: The juices, 

 molasses, or syrups (obtained by any of the usual means from the sugar-cane, beet-root or 

 other plants containing saccharine matters) are introduced into the defecation pan, together 

 With the quantity of lime or lime-water necessary for defecation. About 30 or 40 per cent, 

 of lime is sufficient for this purpose. As soon as the lime has produced the requisite effect 

 upon the liquid, a sufficient x quantity of superphosphate of lime is added to it for the purpose 

 of neutralizing the lime, usually in the proportion of about 3 parts of the superphosphate of 

 lime to 100 parts of the juice. The superphosphate of lime may be used at 4 Beaume's 

 hydrometer, or at any higher degree ; and it is to be added as long as any reddish litmus- 

 paper, dipped into the juice, is turned blue. Should too much superphosphate of lime 

 happen to be added, this error can be rectified by the immediate addition of as much lime 

 or lime-water as the superphosphate of lime in the solution will neutralize. The mixture 

 will, by the above process, become thick and turgid, and must be filtered, which may be 

 done in the ordinary manner through filtering-bags; and the filtered juice or syrup is then 

 to be concentrated to 18 Beaume, when it will again become turgid or thickened. For the 

 purpose of separating any impurities which may still remain in the juice or syrup, super- 

 phosphate of lime is again added, so long as litmus-paper, dipped in the juice, is turned 

 blue, after which the mixture is again passed through the filter ; and the filtered fluid thus 

 obtained must be concentrated, so as to produce the crystallization of as much sugar as can 

 be separated in this manner, and the vacuum pan and crystallizing tubs may be used in the 

 usual way for this purpose. Sugar refined or purified in this manner may be again dissolved 

 or converted into syrup, and again submitted to the process, for the purpose of further 

 purifying it. 



The crystallized sugar thus formed is then to be separated in the usual way from the resi- 

 dual juice or syrup with which it is mixed. 



From this residual juice or syrup a further quantity of sugar may be obtained by the 

 following process: The juices or syrups are diluted to about 28 Beaume with water or 

 with some sweet juice, (the defecated juice of beet-root being preferred,) and lime or 



