PRACTICAL FARMER, 



55 



3. By stirring? the liquor with a large spatuhi. 



4. By mixing with it a little animal charcoal. 



5. By moderating the heat. 



To avoid a portion of these evils, I throw a flood 

 of sirup into the boiler, &nd remove the whitish 

 foam that arises ; I stir the sirup strongly three 

 or four times before boiling comnjences, and skim 

 it each time. The scum that is removed is thrown 

 into a bucket with that which is produced during 

 all the time that the liquor is boiling ; these skim- 

 mings are afterwards subjected to the lever press, 

 and the remainder washed, to obtain from it all 

 the juice contained in it. The sirup obtained by 

 pressing upon one day is added to the liquor that 

 is boiled the next, and the water of the leaching is 

 thrown into the evaporating boiler. 



When the syrup in the drying vessel shows iX- 

 self to be bad, especially when it gives out puffs 

 of sharp steam, which declare the sul)stance to be 

 burnt, it is necessary to arrest the process and to 

 treat the sirup with an additional |K)rtion of ani- 

 mal charcoal. In this case the litjuor is diluted 

 with water till it falls to 18 or 20^ of concentration, 

 (=specific gravity of 1.143 to i. 161,) and then the 

 charcoal is added ; after which ebullition is re- 

 newed till the sirup rises to 28°, (=1.242,) when 

 it is filtered and dried. I have found this to be 

 the only way in which 1 could restore a sirup 

 which had been injured iu the process. 



I have myself njade particular observations up- 

 on the thick, whitish, unctuous and paste-like sub- 

 stance, which is almost always found upon the 

 sirup, and which, when it is abundant, prevents the 

 drying from being well terminated. This sub- 

 stance renders the sirup ropy, adheres to the 

 sides of the boiler, which are blackened by it, sep- 

 •iu-ates itself from the sirup, in proportion to its 

 <-oiiceMtraticii, and prevents the object proposed 

 froiii Inking attained. 



I iiave nv)ticHd that the quantity ofthissviiistance 

 WHS in pr()f)urtion to the germination of the roots, 

 and that it was increased by tho incomplete puri- 

 fication of the sirup, and also by a slow evapora- 

 tion. Animal charcoal produces an astonishing 

 eflfect in lessening the quantity of it; sometimes, 

 if well eiiiployefl, the formation of it is prevented 

 or that which is produced is made to disappean 

 This substance, which during the first years of 

 t)iy establishment, I often collected in large quan- 

 tities, is thickened and hardened by cold* it is in- 

 soluble in watir or alcohol: it burns with a white 

 and inodorous flume ; and possesses all the char- 

 acteristics of vegetable wax, from which it is in no 

 wise different. 



The drying is ended when the boiling sirup 

 marks 44 or 45'^, (= specific gravity of 1.440 to 

 1.454.) The time for removing the sirup from • 

 jhe boiler njay be known by the following signs. 

 1. Plunge a skimmer into the boiling sirup, 



and upon withdrawing it pass the thumb of the 

 right handover its sin-face ; mould the sirup which 

 adheres to the thund) between that and the fore 

 finger, till the temperature be tli* same as that of 

 the skin ; then separate the thundj and finger sud- 

 denly ; if the boiling be not completed, no thread 

 will be formed between the two ; if there be a fil- 

 ament, the boiling is well advanced ; and the 

 process is completed as soon as the filament breaks 

 short, and the upper part, having the semi-trans 

 parency of horn, curls itself into a spiral. This 

 manner of trying the sirup is known by the name 

 proving. 



2. The second mode of judgini^of the com- 

 pletion of the process, is by observing the time 

 when the sirup ceases to moisten the sides of the 

 boiler, and then blowing forcibly into a skimmer 

 which has just been immersed in it; if bubbles 

 escape through the holes of the skimmer which 

 ascend into the air in the same nianner as soap 

 bubbles do, the liquor is considered to be suffi- 

 ciently boiled ; the fire is therefore immediately 

 extinguished, and the sirup in a few minutes after 

 conveyed to a great copper boiier, which is called 

 the tooler. 



The cooler is placed in an apartment of the 

 manufactory near the boilers ; its capacity should 

 be such as to allow of its receiving the product of 

 the fo=iir successive boilings. The cooling which 

 the sirup experiences in this vessel, quickly pro- 

 duces crystalliz^ation ; the crystal's form first at 

 the bottom, w'nere they collect in a thick bed, hav- 

 ing however no unici'i of particles. Gradually 

 the sides bfjcome covered with solid crystals, and 

 at length there is fOrtjaed upon the surface a crust 

 of sugar which thickens insensibly. At this time 

 the contents of the cooler are taken ppt to fill the 

 moulds in which the process of crystE^llization it? 

 to be completed, 



Theiuo:dds used in this operation are known 

 ill •"<;fineries by the name of grandes batardes. 

 'Lliey are large conical vessels of baked earth, 

 w th a small opening at the apex, and capable of 

 containing about 100 pounds of the evaporated 

 sirup. '] he different sizes are distinguished in 

 the manufactories as grandes et petites hatardes, 

 according to their different capacities ; they are 

 numbered 1, 2, 3, 4, &c. Moulds made of resin- 

 ous wood have supplied the place of these ia 

 some manufactories ; this change was proposed 

 by M. Mathieu de Dombasle, and in those coun, 

 tries where wood is abundant, it is a good one in 

 point of economy. 



The moulds must be soaked iu water and then 

 drained, before the sirup is put into them; the 

 opening at the point is stopped with old linen, and 

 the vessels themselves supported against the walls 

 to receive the liquor. 



The contents of the cooler are first tlmroughly 



