28 SUGAR 



cane, and that a larger quantity of cane could be worked 

 with the same power if the cane could be cut or torn 

 up to a certain extent before entering the first rollers. 

 Cane cutters or " shredders " were, therefore, intro- 

 duced in front of the triple arrangement of mills. An- 

 other and perhaps better contrivance was afterwards 

 adopted, a pair of rollers with V-shaped corrugations, 

 which slightly break the canes, and thus enable them 

 to be more thoroughly and quickly crushed in the 

 first mill. 



But still there was too much sugar left in the final 

 megass. The next scheme, therefore, was to pour 

 water on the carriers between the first and second, 

 and the second and third mills. This water, if properly 

 sucked up by the megass, dilutes the juice and, therefore, 

 the juice in the final megass, being thus diluted, contains 

 less sugar. Dilution of the juice is, of course, objection- 

 able, because it involves the consumption of more fuel 

 in the subsequent evaporation. Very careful calcula- 

 tions are, therefore, necessary, based on the value of 

 sugar and the cost of fuel, in order to arrive at the point 

 where saving of sugar costs more than the value of the 

 sugar saved. To reduce the dilution as much as possible 

 it is now customary to use the diluted juice from the 

 last mill to wash " macerate " it is called the megass 

 on its way from the first to the second mill. A careful 

 note of the density specific gravity, tested by the 

 hydrometer is taken at the last mill in order to main- 

 tain uniformity of maceration, and to make sure that 

 the dilution does not exceed the calculated maximum 

 to be permitted. 



The exhausted megass goes straight to the boiler- 

 house for fuel. The great improvement in special 

 boiler furnaces for the consumption of megass now 

 generally enables cane sugar factories to raise all the 



