308 



Maize or Corn-Sugar. 



Vol. VI. 



after several days; and in no case was this 

 process so far completed as to allow the sugar 

 to be drained in less than three weeks from 

 the time of boiling. The reason why so great 

 a length of time was required, I have not yet 

 been able to discover. There is no doubt but 

 that an improved process of manufacture will 

 cause it to granulate as quickly as any other. 

 For evaporation, flat-bottomed pans are re- 

 commended, made either of copper or boiler 

 sheet-iron. If the situation will admit, they 

 should be so arranged, that the juice will run 

 from one to the other, and thus save the trou- 

 ble of lading. The lower pan should be fur- 

 nished with a spout at the bottom, (not less 

 than four inches in diameter,) by which its 

 contents can be drawn off. The shape of 

 these vessels should be oblong, their sides 

 and ends sloping at angles somewhat different 

 in each. In the upper pan where the juice 

 first enters, the sides form an angle with a 

 line perpendicular from the bottom of about 

 30°. In the lowest pan, this angle should 

 not be less than 45°. Skimmers with rec- 

 tangular, instead of circular edges, must be 

 employed for removing scum. The syrup is 

 brought, in the latter vessel, to about 2-5° by 

 the saccharometer, when it is withdrawn into 

 a large wooden reservoir, whose depth should 

 be at least three feet. To finish the evapo- 

 ration the Bascule pan is recommended; this 

 is extensively used in Louisiana, and has over 

 the kettles the advantages of completing the 

 operation with greater rapidity and safety — 

 of enabling the operator to carry the boiling 

 completely to the point of granulation, and 

 to decant the whole charge instantaneously 

 into the cooler; also of giving to the syrup 

 time for depositing a heavy sediment of im- 

 purities, not otherwise separable from it, but 

 which, on the old plan, goes forward to im- 

 pair the granulation, and to discolour the 

 sugar; and, finally, of allowing the proprietor 

 to superintend in person the concluding and 

 most delicate part of the manufacture: one 

 Bascule pan being sufficient to evaporate to 

 the granulating point, in twelve or fifteen 

 hours, all the juice which two sets of kettles 

 can evaporate in twenty-four hours, to the 

 point of concentration mentioned above. This 

 pan is of a circular form, made of copper, four- 

 teen inches deep, five and a half feet in diam- 

 eter, and si.xteen inches deep near the lip, or 

 in these proportions. It is mounted over a 

 separate furnace, is moveable upon its axis, 

 and IS furnished with a large lip, over which 

 the whole contents may be poured into a re- 

 ceiver. On the side of the vessel opposite 

 the lip is a rope or chain attached to a pulley 

 over head, by means of which it is quickly 

 emptied. '-In using this pan, the juice is 

 evaporated in the kettles as before, but is 

 struck, between 25° and 28° of the hydrome- 



ter of Baume, into a large cistern capable of 

 containing at least four or five hogsheads, 

 where it cools, and deposits a thick sediment. 

 From this reservoir, it is pumped up, from 

 time to time, into a smaller one situated just 

 above the Bascule pan. The operation with 

 this apparatus is as follows: — The gate at- 

 tached to the reservoir of syrup is raised, and 

 the bottom of the pan covered to the depth of 

 four inches. A brisk fire being kindled under 

 it, boiling soon commences; a slight scum 

 rises, which flows down into the lip, whence 

 it is removed by means of a hand skimmer. 

 The striking point is ascertained as in the 

 kettles, except that a thermometer is often 

 made use of to learn its approach. When 

 struck, the thermometer stands from 236° to 

 238°. 



" To assuage excessive ebullition, it is cus- 

 tomary to throw in a small piece of lard or 

 of butter just previous to the completion of 

 the cooking; and at the moment of decanting 

 the charge, notice is given to the fireman, 

 who closes the ash-pit door to prevent the 

 flames from rushing up into the boilinsr apart- 

 ment, to the inconvenience of the operator, 

 who is stationed upon the rim of the furnaco 

 by the side of the pan. Immediately on its 

 being discharged, it is sufiered to fall back to 

 its place, and the gate of the reservoir is lifted 

 as soon as possible, in order to cover the bot- 

 tom of the pan before it becomes too hot from 

 the action of the flame. The time required 

 to perform the operation varies from twenty 

 to thirty minutes, and the result is a highly 

 improved sugar, with the estimated gain of 

 one hogshead in fourteen over the old me- 

 thod." 



Enough has been said to enable any one so 

 disposed to manufacture sugar from maize, 

 either on a large or a small scale. As to the 

 profits of the business, I shall make no posi- 

 tive assertions; experience on the subject ia 

 yet too limited to warrant them; and as all 

 the facts in relation to it are now before the 

 public, every one interested can draw his own 

 conclusions. It is said by those acquainted 

 with the cultivation of the cane, that the bu- 

 siness cannot be carried on profitably on less 

 than one hundred acres in crop, and that at- 

 tempts on a small scale will be certain to fail 

 with a great loss of time and labour. How 

 far this may be applicable to corn, remains to 

 be seen. Some comparison between the cul- 

 tivation of cane and that of corn, may perhaps 

 be interesting. 



The cane-lands in Louisiana are redeemed 

 to agriculture, by strong embankments along 

 the river, and by numerous ditches, which 

 extend back into the swamp to a considerable 

 distance beyond the line of cultivation. The 

 ground is still further divided by smaller 

 ditches into lots of from one to two acres in ex- 



