44 Boiling of Sugar. [Book VIII. 



however in larger quantities, and affords it more readily, 

 than any other plant. The ripe canes are twice crushed 

 between iron cylinders, by which they are fqueezed 

 completely dry, and fometimes even reduced to powder. 

 The cane juice or melaiTes is received in a leaden bed, 

 and thence conveyed into a veffel called the receiver ; 

 thence it runs to the boiling-houfe, where it is received 

 into a copper pan or caldron, which is called a ciarifier. 

 Of thefe there are generally three, and their dimensions 

 are determined by the extent of the owner's planta- 

 tion. Methods of quick boiling are indifpenfably ne- 

 ceflary, as the pureft cane juice will not remain twenty 

 minutes in the receiver, without fermenting and be- 

 coming tainted. As foon as the flream from the re- 

 ceiver has filled the boiler or c|ariper with frefh liquor, 

 and the fire is lighted, the temper, which is generally 

 Briftol white lime in powder, is ftirred into it. This is 

 done in order to neutralize the fuperabundant acid, to 

 get rid cf which is the great . difficulty in making 

 fugar. As the force of the fire jncreafes, a fcum is. 

 thrown up, which proceeds from, the gummy matter of 

 the cane, with fome of the oil, and fuch matters as are 

 entangled in the mucilage. The heat is now fuffered 

 to increase gradually, till it approaches to that qf boil- 

 ing water; but it mult by no "means be fuffered to 

 boil. When the fcum begins to rife into biifters, and 

 break into white froth, which generally appears in about 

 forty minutes, it is known to be fufficiently heated. 

 The fire is then extinguifhed, and, if circumftances will 

 admit, the liquor is left a full hour undifturbed. The 

 liquor is now carefully drawn of, fo as to leave the 

 fcum, and conveyed by a gutter to the evaporating 

 boiler ; and if produced from good materials, and well 

 managed, it will appear almoft tranfparent. In this 

 ycITel it is fuffered to boil a and the fcum as it riles is 



continually 



