SYRUP, BROWN OR WHITF, SUGAR, FROM GRAPES. 



143 



also be evaporated by means of steam. — 

 Syrup evaporated to 30° or 32° of the hy- 

 drometer, acquires in a month's time such 

 consistency, that the vessel may be turn- 

 ed bottom upwards, without the syrup 

 falling out : some syrup evaporated not 

 quite so far, acquired this consistence in 

 15 or 20 days. 



The juice of the white grapes, called 

 at Paris, nielier, yields 22 per cent, of 

 dry saccharine matter, the red grapes IS, 

 and the chasselas only 16. In Spain, 

 the grapes being richer, yielded 33 per 

 cent, of sugar. 



Four hundred pounds of saturated juice 

 of grapes usually grown about Paris, 

 yielded from 100 to 125 lbs. of syrup 

 at 30° hydrometer, in which spherical 

 crystals were afterwards formed; these 

 crystals when drained on a cloth weighed 

 75 lbs., but on being strongly pressed, 

 their weight was reduced to 60 lbs. 



On submitting the crystals to the usual 

 method of refining, they were further 

 reduced to 40 lbs. of good clayed Lisbon 

 sugar, from which a loaf, weighing 16 

 lbs. of white sugar was afterwards ob- 

 tained. {Journ. de Phys.) 



Note. — The quantity of chalk, ordered 

 by M. Facque, appears very great. In India, 

 about three spoonsful of lime are added 

 to fourteen gallons of cane juice. In 

 America, a spoonful of lime is considered 

 sufficient for fifteen gallons of sugar maple 

 juice. According to Dubuc, apple juice 

 requires about one drachm (gros) of chalk, 

 and the juice of pears about two drachms 

 per quart. Some error must therefore 

 exist in this part of the original, espe- 

 cially as he orders the wood-ashes to be 

 elixiviated before they are used, which, 

 taking away their alkali, must render 

 them less useful, and, indeed, nearly 

 useless. 



Parmentier orders half an ounce of 

 washed wood-ashes, chalk, or whiting, to 

 be added to 25 quarts of the juice of 

 grapes in the South of France, and twice 

 that weight of alkaline substances to be 

 used in the North, where they do not 

 ripen perfectly, so that it should seem as 

 if four ouncesof chalk would be sufficient, 

 and then a much less quantity of water 

 will be required for the purpose of wasli- 



ing out the saccharine matter from the 

 residuum. 



The juice of the sugar cane is said to 

 contain on an average about one eighth of 

 its weight of raw suaiar. If we take a 

 medium between the richest grape juice 

 stated above (33 per cent.) and the poor- 

 est (16 per cent.) will give 24^ which is 

 within one-half per cent, of one-fourth its 

 weight of raw sugar or nearly twice the 

 richness in saccharine matter as cane juice. 

 Now, as grapes can be cultivated in lati- 

 tudes where the temperature is too low 

 for the sugar cane, it would seem an ob- 

 ject worthy of consideration for the in- 

 habitants to direct their attention to the 

 subject, and instead of converting the 

 grape into wine and brand}'^, produce, 

 raisins, sugar, and molasses, not only suffi- 

 cient for the inhabitants, but as articles of 

 export. 



CHARCOAL MANUFACTURED IN CLOSE 



VESSELS. 



The advantages of this process are said 

 to be these, viz: The quantity of charcoal 

 obtained from a given quantity of wood 

 is double that obtained in the ordinary 

 method, while only one-eighth part of the 

 wood is required to be consumed in the 

 distillation. It is also better than the 

 common, as a given quantity evaporates 

 one-tenth more water than the other; 

 hence iron masters may obtain twice as 

 much iron from the use of a given quan- 

 tity of wood, and in addition to this there 

 is also prepared a number of other 

 articles, each of which in order, 35Q 

 killogrammes(700 lbs.) of wood is said to 

 yield 25 to 30 of tar, which retains sa 

 much acid that it is soluble in water; but 

 when it is washed, and rendered thick by 

 boiling for some time, it oflers more re- 

 sistance to water. If mixed with one-fifth 

 of rosin it is rendered equally fit for the 

 use of ships, &c., as the common tar. 

 Four sorts of vinegar are prepared, all of 

 which are perfectly limpid, which do 

 not, like the common, contain any tartar, 

 malic acid, resinous or extractive matter, 

 nor indeed any mineral acid, lime, cop- 

 per, or other substances. The simple 

 vinegar marks=2° liyd. for salts, at 12*^ 

 therm, cent. — it is stronger tasted than 

 common vinegar, and produces a dis- 



