2 



Manufacturer of December 1, 1888, a report is found on a part of the 

 work done. As high as 240 pounds of sugar have been obtained per 

 ton of cane. The results of the work are in every way encouraging. 



From the above it is seen that diffusion with sugar-cane is an assured 

 success, and we may expect to see it gradually displacing the milling 

 process throughout the sugar-producing world.* 



THE USE OF LIME IN THE DIFFUSION BATTERY. 



The use of carbonate of lime in the diffusion battery and the patent 

 obtained for this process by Prof. Magnus Swenson are fully discussed 

 in Bulletin No. 17, p. Cl, et seq. 



Since the publication of that bulletin and of Bulletin No. 14, further 

 experiments at Conway Springs have demonstrated that the method 

 originally proposed by me for the use of lime to prevent inversion in 

 the battery by evenly distributing finely-divided lime upon the fresh 

 chips has proved satisfactory. An apparatus constructed by Mr. E. 

 W. Deming succeeded fairly well in evenly distributing the lime over 

 all the chips entering the cell in such a fine state of division as to pre- 

 vent any portion of the contents of the cell from becoming alkaline. 

 The lime was prepared by air slaking and sifting through a fine sieve 

 into a barrel covered by a cloth to protect the laborer. 



During the past year the use of lime in the diffusion battery for clari- 

 fying the juices has received a good deal of attention. The first person 

 who proposed this process and took out a patent upon it w r as Mr. 

 O. B. Jennings. Letters patent, No. 287544, dated October 30, 1883, 

 were issued to Mr. Jennings on an application filed on the 2d of April, 

 1883. Following is an abstract of Mr. Jeuuings's patent: 



Be it known that I, Orlando B. Jennings, of Honey Creek, in the county of Wai- 

 worth and State of Wisconsin, have invented certain new and useful improvements 

 in the manufacture of sugar from sugar-cane, sorghum, maize, and other plants, of 

 which tbe following is a full, clear, and exact description: 



This invention relates to the manufacture of si^gar from different sugar-producing 

 plants, including sugar-cane, maple, sorghum, and maize ; but it has more especial 

 reference to defecating the juice in the stalks of sugar-cane, sorghum, and maize, and 

 extracting the juice from the residue or bagasse for subsequent boiling into sugar and 

 sirup. 



In making sugar from sugar-producing plants with my invention, it is my purpose 

 to extract and utilize all of the saccharine juice and to obtain entire control of its 

 defecation, so as to make a sirup free from foreign matter and elements of fermenta- 

 tion. By it the juice in evaporating is free from skimmings or precipitates, thai ;uv 

 always liberated in the ordinary method of extracting, which waste my invention 

 avoids. 



Applied to the manufacture of sugar from cane and other stalks, the invention con- 

 sists in ;i process of preparing said stalks for the more perfect extraction of the juice 

 ly reducing the .same to a finely-comminuted or dust-like condition, and whereby the 

 juice cells are thoroughly crushed and ruptured. This part of the kivention also in- 

 cludes a combination of circular saws, forming a compound saw, for reducing the 

 canes or stalks to such finely-comminuted condition, likewise sprinkling or mixing 



*A report of the work done in Louisiana during the past sasou will soon be isued 

 as Bulletin No. 21. 



