140 



FARxMERS' REGISTER— IMPROVED RAW SUGAR, &c. 



late as possible in the afternoon. The mould for 

 potting should never be shitted, but chopped up 

 finely with the spade with the turf. This keeps 

 the soil light and loose, it allows the roots of the 

 plants to spread, and the water to penetrate; while, 

 on the other hand, silted mould hardens and be- 

 comes sour. Cuttings of greenhouse jilants require 

 putting in at various seasons. If they are to be 

 ripened cuttings, they sliould. be i)lanted early in 

 the spring; but if young, the time to plant them is 

 when the shoots have grown a sulficicnt length 

 for that purpose. In po'tting of plants raised for 

 cuttings, care is requisite not to injure the fibres. 

 Put them in small pots first, and increase the size 

 as they grow; but be careful not to put them in too 

 large, or to give them too much water. Sow the 

 see'ds early in the spring, place in a little bottom 

 heat, and pot the young plants separately when 

 they have grown an inch high. — Mr. George Don, 

 on Gardening and Botany. 



IMPROVED RAW SUGAR. 



A most decided improvement has taken place 

 in the manufacture of sugar from the cane juice, 

 and some samples introduced into the market have 

 exched the most eager anxiety from all parties in- 

 terested in this branch of colonial and commercial 

 intercourse. It is pure raw sugar, obtained direct 

 from the sugar cane, without having undergone 

 any subsequent process of decolorization or refin- 

 ing, prepared by eflecting the last sttxges of the 

 concentration of the cane juice in vacuum, at a 

 temperature insufficient to produce any chemical 

 changes in its constituent jjarts. By this improved 

 and scientific process of manufacture, no molasses 

 or uncrystallizable sugar is formed, and there is 

 hence an increase in the quantity of sugar ob- 

 tained of 25 per cent. Whilst this establishes the 

 philosojihical fact, that molasses are not an edact 

 of the cane, but were merely a product of the 

 former operation, from the intense and long con- 

 tinued degree of heat emj)loyed in the processes, 

 this saving firom the vast quantity of deteriorated 

 material must be considered an object of the very 

 first importance to the planter, in the increased 

 quantity of his production, which is likewise ob- 

 tained in a very far superior degree of quality and 

 purity; and readily commands a price of £ 10 to 

 jel2'per cwt. additional in the market. 



The sugar, thus obtained, is in perfect, pure, 

 transparent, granular crystals, devellojiing the true 

 crystalline form of the sugar, and being entirely free 

 from the least portion of' uncrystallizable sugar or 

 coloring matter. It cannot fail to ensure a pre- 

 ference in the market for all purposes of manufac- 

 ture, solution, or lor domestic economy, as it is a 

 purer s\v'eet than even the best refined, and pos- 

 sesses a rich melifluous taste, not ap])roached by 

 that obtained by any other process, whilst it is not 

 apt to become acescent in solution. 



In addition to the great advantages to the 

 planter, in saving from the vast quantity of de- 

 teriorated material, and that extensive state of 

 partial decomposition, in which the raw sugar has 

 uniformly been transmitted to our hands, the time 

 and labor of the operation is greatly decreased, 

 the apparatus possesses the power to make double 

 the quantity in the same space of time as the old 

 methotl; and this is ready for shipment in four 

 days, in lieu of three weeks, as heretofore. In the 



manufacture of rum, all danger of detei'ioration in 

 the production of empyremua is avoided, and a 

 far purer spirit is obtained by the use of the mo- 

 lasses, Avhicli are separated by this process. 



The new process is now in complete and suc- 

 cessful operation in eight estates in Demerara. 

 From the results of the first trials, the introduction 

 of the present improved process cannot fail soon 

 to become general; while it is considered by the 

 best practical judges, to open sure and certain 

 means of re-vivilying the spoiled fortunes of the 

 planters, and to be of the most material influence 

 in promoting the future prosperity of our West 

 Indian Colonies. — 3Iedical and Surgical Journal. 



GOLENOS OAK. 



This large tree, which was felled in 1810, grew 

 about four miles from the town of Newjjort, in 

 IVIonmouthshire. The main trunk at 10 feet long, 

 produced 450 feet; one limb 355, another 472, a 

 third 235, a fourth 156, a fifth 106, a six 113, and 

 six other limbs of inferior size, averaged 93 feet 

 each, making the whole number 2426 cubic feet 

 of sound and convertible timber. The bark waa 

 estimated at six tons; but as some of the heavy 

 body-bark was stolen out of thebar^e at Newport, 

 the exact weight is not known, h ive men were 

 twenty days stripping and cutting down this tree; 

 and a pair of sawyers Avere five months convert- 

 ing it, without losing a day, Sundays excepted. 

 The money paid for converting only, independent- 

 ly of the expense of carriage, was £82; and the 

 whole prodiice of the tree, when brought to mar- 

 ket, was within a trifle of £ 600. It was bought 

 standing lor £405. The main trunk was 9^ feet 

 in diameter, and in sawing it through, a stone was 

 discovered, six feet from the ground, above a yard 

 in the body of the tree through which the saw 

 cut; the sione was about six inches in diameter, 

 and completely shut in, but round which there 

 was not the least symptom of decay. The rings 

 in its butt were carefully reckoned, and amounted 

 to above 400 in number, a convincing proof that 

 this tree was in an improA'in^ state for upwards of 

 400 years; and as the ends of some of its branches 

 were decayed, and had dropped ofl', it is presumed 

 it had stood a great number of years after it had 

 attained maturity. — Time's Telescope, vol. 3. 



d'arcet's apparatus for EXTRACTIIVG GE- 



On March 9, at the Royal Institution M. D'Ar- 

 cet's improved ai)])aratus for extracting gelatine 

 from bones was exhibited, and some of the soup 

 made in the theatre. It is an improvement of 

 Papin's digester. It is a pity that these machinea 

 are not more used in England, for we heard that 

 800,000 rations of soup are made in Paris weekly 

 from bones; and we are informed, that if the bones 

 of an ox were put into the digester, and the whole 

 of the flesh into any other vessels, that the bones 

 would yield one-third more gelatine for soup than 

 the whole of the meat; i. e. the proportions of the 

 tbrmer would be as three, the latter as two. The 

 fibrine, of course, would be eatable and useful: it 

 is of the soluble matter only that account is here 

 taken. The refuse of the "bones, after the gela- 

 line is removed, forms excellent materials for mak- 

 ing animal charcoal. — Medical Gazette, 



