100 MANUAL FOR SUGAR GROWERS. 



turing muscovado sugar on estates not provided with 

 steam machinery. Its chief defect lies in the fact 

 that as the evaporation of the syrup is finished over 

 the open fire there is considerable inversion : at 

 the same time the process is difficult to control, 

 hence the resulting syrup contains much glucose and 

 is subject to great variation in density. 



On estates possessing steam plant this process is 

 modified by evaporating the syrup to a moderate de- 

 gree over open fires, and finishing the evaporation in 

 steam-heated pans. By employing this method the 

 inversion is very much less than in the one just de- 

 scribed, though even here the inversion is very rapid 

 and has led to the abandonment of this method of 

 working in those places where sufficient juice is dealt 

 with to justify a large outlay for machinery. 



To complete the description of the muscovado 

 process : the syrup is boiled until the workman in 

 charge of the pan judges by the manner in which 

 the liquid boils that it is sufficiently concentrated, 

 it is then run out in thin layers in coolers to crys- 

 tallise. It is better to use a thermometer to ascer- 

 tain the correct point at which to " strike " or dis- 

 charge the contents of the pan. It is found that 

 good results follow from striking when the temper- 

 ature of the boiling mass reaches 238 to 240 R ; 

 in this way much more regularity in the character 

 of successive strikes is secured. 



The coolers into which the concentrated syrup is 

 run are usually about 10 x 6 feet and 2 feet deep ; a 

 number of these are employed, and the syrup is run 

 into them in thin layers at a time. After being run 



