662 HORTICULTURE, FORESTRY, FLORICULTURE 



supply house, through the local druggist. They cost about 50 cents 

 each. Ask for Beaume's hydrometer for liquids heavier than water, 

 graduated from 40 degrees, divided into single degrees. Sirup of 

 the proper density should register 33 % to 34 degrees on this hy- 

 drometer, tested while near the boiling point. When the syrup has 

 cooled to the ordinary temperature it should register 40 degrees 

 Beaume. Having arranged for accurately gauging the specific grav- 

 ity of the sirup, the next step is to decide whether or not the juice 

 shall be limed and sulphured. In case it is not, it must be carefully 

 strained or filtered through some material that will not only take out 

 the suspended or mechanical impurities, but that will also improve 

 the color of the juice, or partially bleach it, and remove from it some 

 dissolved solids that are not sugar. In other words, it must in some 

 degree at least take the place of sulphuring and liming the juice, 

 which have for their object the bleaching and removal of dissolved 

 impurities. Several substances have been tried for this: Excelsior, 

 straw, hay, charcoal, sand, shavings, etc., but Spanish or gray moss 

 is by far the best material. In localities where this can be used, it 

 can take the place of lime and sulphur, though it is not quite so 

 effectual. 



The Use of Spanish or Gray Moss. The moss should be col- 

 lected, hand-picked, to free it of foreign matter, and then thoroughly 

 washed, and lightly scalded with water. It is then tightly packed 

 in a half-barrel connected at the bottom with the supply pipe to the 

 skimming pan. The barrel is placed so that it catches the juice as 

 it runs from the mill, the juice filters through the moss and goes 

 directly to the skimming pan. The second day, before beginning 

 the run, the moss should be removed and put in a tub and well 

 scalded, to correct any sourness or fermentation that may have set 

 up during the night. The moss may be used in this way day after 

 day until it begins to clog, and fails to remove the color from the 

 fresh juice as it comes from the mill, which will usually be the sec- 

 ond or third day, when fresh moss must be supplied. It is safer 

 to collect fresh moss every other day. 



The Use of Sulphur and Lime. When gray moss can not be 

 obtained, or when it is desirable to make sirup of a little higher 

 grade, or on a larger scale, it becomes necessary to treat the juice 

 with the fumes of sulphur, and subsequently with slaked lime. The 

 object of this combined treatment is to remove dissolved impurities 

 from the juice, and somewhat bleach it at the same time, giving a 

 clearer, lighter colored sirup. The juice of the cane has a slight 

 acid reaction or test, and this acid condition should never be entirely 

 neutralized ; if it should be, the keeping quality of the sirup is im- 

 paired, and the sirup darkened at the same time. Burning sulphur 

 gives a gas which shows an acid test, and slaked lime shows an 

 alkali test, such as that characteristic of wood ashes. The first step 

 is the construction of the sulphur furnace, for which any kind of 

 crude masonry enclosing three sides, with a wooden flue attached, 

 will prove sufficient. A small fire is lighted in the furnace, and 

 roll sulphur added as needed to keep up copious fumes, which are 



