No. 6. Experiinents in the Manufacture of Corn-stalk Sugar. 



187 



stalks were then cut and placed upon the 

 wagon, — taking care to keep them straight 

 and'' in- order — driven to the mill and ground 

 without delay. A load of this kind in a 

 lioht wagon, with lumber box, wilLmake a 

 batch of fifteen to twenty gallons; this 

 would be ground in about thirty minutes. 

 Lime water was mixed with the juice while 

 it was running from the mill. The juice is 

 then strained through a flannel cloth into 

 the pan, and heated", rather moderately, to 

 the boiling point, when the scum is removed 

 with a skimmer: then boiled rapidly for a 

 few minutes. The .syrup is then removed 

 from the fire, and again passed tlirough tlie 

 flannel strainer, when the boiling is finished 

 as rapidly as possible. 



This process, from the cutting of the stalk 

 to taking the sugar from the fire, could not 

 possiblylje performed in less than two hours; 

 and if the batch was larger, would often ex- 

 ceed three. Five batches were made in one 

 day, from which one hundred pounds of su- 

 gar were produced. 



The Boiler. — The boiler or pan, I made 

 of a sheet of Russian iron, turned up at the 

 sides and ends, lapped and rivetted at the 

 corners; would hold about twenty-five gal- 

 lons, five and a half inches deep, but from 

 fifteen to twenty gallons is as much as 

 would boil to advantage. The pan is placed 

 upon an arch of brick, so that the fire«comes 

 in contact with only the bottom. 



]\lill — To construct this was a matter of 

 much more difficulty. Some drawings and 

 descriptions are given by Mr. Ellsworth, but 

 little more could be known from them than 

 tliat there must be three rollers, so placed 

 and put in motion that the stalks in passing 

 between them should receive two crushings. 



To plan and construct a mill, with the 

 proper dimensions and with tiie strength re- 

 quired, so that the work of crushing the 

 stalks should be performed with certainty 

 and despatch, was no easy task. I flatter 

 myself that I have in this been tolc-j-ably 

 successful. The rollers and iron-work, pat- 

 terns, «S:c., for my mill, were made by A. J. 

 Langwortliy, of Rochester, at a cost of sixty- 

 five dollars. The whole weight of iron is 

 about nine hundred pounds. 



About one half of the expense of the mill 

 is in the horse-power. ' The iron rollers 

 being placed horizontal, it was necessary to 

 have" a horse-power wheel and gearing in 

 order to give them motion. If the more 

 simple, and it Would seem at first view, less 

 expensive forms, given in Mr. Ellsworth's 

 Report, had been adopted, placing the rollers 

 perpendicular, the horse passing around 

 them, the rollers must have been of large 

 diameter in order to take through the length 



of corn-stalk at one revolution of the liorse. 

 These large rollers, when made of iron, 

 would have been very expensive, and pro- 

 bably not work as fast as the small ones I 

 use, giving them a quicker motion by gear- 

 ino". In my mill the circumference of the 

 rollers has such a proportion to their motion, 

 that their velocity is equal to about one-sixth 

 the velocity of the horse; or in other words, 

 a corn-stalk six feet long, will pass through 

 between the rollers in the same time that 

 the horse will walk thirty-six feet. The 

 grinding is a beautiful operation, the amount 

 of juice contained in the stalk is surprising 

 to everyone. The stalks in passing through 

 the mill are crushed very fine, and the juice 

 entirely separated from' them by the pres- 

 sure of the rollers. 



Clarifying. — This has been to me a diffi- 

 cult, and to some extent an unsuccessful 

 joperation. All the various methods recom- 

 mended by different persons who have made 

 some experiments on corn-stalk sugar, and 

 all that my own exijericnce in clarHying 

 maple sugar could suggest, failed of pro- 

 ducing fully the desired" effect. In all the 

 faihires which have been experienced to 

 produce crystallized sugar, the cause should 

 be sought here. Unless the juice of corn- 

 stalks can be clarified, it is vain to expect a 

 pure article of crystallized sugar. All the 

 obstacles to the complete success of this en- 

 terprise are met at this point ; hut that they 

 v.'ill be completely overcome, there cannot 

 be the least doubt. Lime water applied to 

 the juice as soon as it comes frcm the mill, 

 one gill to fifteen gallons, was thought to 

 produce the best effect. But experiments 

 w-ere made with various other things, such 

 ^as milk, eggs, charcoal, &c.; these were 

 used separately and combined, but nothing 

 appeared to raise the scum as well and ren- 

 jder the juice as clear and well-flavoured as 

 [the lime water. One experiment was made 

 [by filtering the juice through sand and char- 

 coal. This rendered it very transparent and 

 improved the taste, but there are very many 

 'objections to this process— the length of tune 

 Ireqim'ed for the operation is a suflicient one. 



Strai7iirig. — This operation is performed 

 both before and after clariiying. The strain- 

 er used was a square yard of good new flan- 

 nel, of fine texture; so great is the amount 

 'of mucilage, or very minute particles of the 

 'cornstalk "contained in the juice, that the 

 strainer has to be rinsed in water once or 

 twice in straining a batch. The second 

 time straining is rendered more difficult by 

 the juice being hot, as the hands have to be 

 used in forcine' it through the cloth. As 

 knowledge and experience are gained on 

 the subject of claritying, the straining will 



