668 HORTICULTURE, FORESTRY, FLORICULTURE 



Boiling for Sugar. After the syrup stage has been reached, if 

 sugar is desired, great care should be exercised that all danger from 

 scorching or overheating may be avoided. Indeed, the lower the 

 temperature, the less the actual amount of boiling till the density 

 necessary for sugar forming is reached, the better. High tempera- 

 ture and vigorous boiling having a tendency to invert the sugar 

 and thus prevent crystallization, should be carefully guarded against. 

 Indeed, so important is this fact that the crude iron kettle, with all 

 its faults, possesses some advantage as the finishing receptacle in sugar 

 boiling because of the less surface exposed to direct heat and conse- 

 quently the diminished danger from over boiling. After the syrup 

 stage has been reached, as determined by the improvised "syrup 

 tester," the process should be continued according to temperature 

 for twenty or thirty minutes, at which time the density should have 

 proceeded about one-tenth beyond the syrup stage. In other words, 

 the volume of the syrup should have been diminished by about one- 

 tenth. 



The final test for determining when the proper consistency has 

 arrived does not rest entirely upon density or thickness, and there- 

 fore the saccharometer is useless. The test must be the actual crystal- 

 lization of the sugar. If, however, a sample of syrup is found to 

 grain and it then be tested with the "syrup tester" and an additional 

 or lower mark be placed upon the stem of the same, this will serve as 

 the safest indicator of the proper time to stop boiling for future runs. 



When the syrup has been condensed, as mentioned, it should be 

 removed to a barrel, tub or trough, or where a kettle is used it may 

 be allowed to remain in the same after withdrawal of the fire. 



Graining. The condensed syrup is now ready for graining or 

 crystallization, which process will inevitably take place in it, but may 

 be advantageously hastened by stirring the mass while cooling with a 

 stick or wooden paddle. Not only is the process of crystallization 

 or sugar formation thus hastened, but the quality of the product, 

 particularly its degree of whiteness, is very materially improved 

 thereby. The time which will be required for completing this grain- 

 ing process will depend upon density, amount of impurities present 

 and the relative sucrose or sugar content of the syrup. With reason- 

 able success in quality, the period, however, should rarely continue 

 over one hour, and may be completed in a very few minutes. When 

 the graining or crystallizing has been thus affected the process is, for 

 the time being, at an end. 



Purging. The soft sugar thus formed is a mixture of sugar 

 and molasses, and the next step in the process is the separation of 

 these two constituents. This is best and most simply effected by 

 turning the soft mass, the so-called masse cuit, into flour barrels, 

 through the bottom of each of which three or four one-inch auger 

 holes have been bored, into each of which a stalk of cane as long as 

 the barrel and from which three peelings have been taken their 

 entire length, should be thrust. The barrels filled with the masse cuit 

 should then be placed on blocks, benches or tables so that they are 

 raised sufficiently from the floor or ground to allow the placing of 



