PRACTICAL FARMER 



57 



out through small gimlet holes bored in the 

 bottom and around the circumference of the 

 cask. 



The sugar when deprived of ail the molasses 

 which can be made to flow from it, still forms only 

 nn adhesive paste which can scarcely be refined ; 

 1 therefore put this paste into bags of coarse, strong 

 cloth, and subject it to a strong compression. The 

 sugar thus freed from molasses is very dark color- 

 ed, but the quality of it is excellent, and it is as ea- 

 sily refined as the best brown sugar. 



When the brown sugar boilings turn badly, and 

 crystallization in the mould is imperfect, and, in a 

 word, at all times when sugar is ropy and parts 

 but imperfectly with its molasses, it is necessary 

 to subject it to the action of the press before at- 

 tempting to refine it ; as si ion as it has in this way 

 been freed from all its molasses, it may be refined 

 without any difficulty. 



In most of the beet-sugar manufactories they 

 have adopted the swinging boilers for preparing 

 their sirups ; concentration is performed speedily 

 in these, and they have the advantage of being 

 emptied in a moment ; but they are useful only 

 when the operation is performed upon dry sugars, 

 like the American, which contains but little mo- 

 lasses. Our beet-sugar is never so well drained 

 as the imported sugars are, and requires much 

 more care in the boiling. These boilers appear 

 to me more apt to cause the burning of the sugar 

 than the old kind, and I therefore give the prefer- 

 ence to the latter. 



Oy THE REFINING OF SUGAR OBTAINED FROM BEET 

 ROOTS. 



When the sugar is dry, the refining of it is ea- 

 sily performed ; all possible pains then should be 

 taken in the preceding operations to free it from 

 all its molasses. 



All the operation of refining may be brought 

 under two heads, clarification in the boiler, and 

 whitening in the moulds. 



To refine sugar well, it is better not to operate 

 ujion too large quantities. I have always observ- 

 ed, that when 1 subjected to the same boiling |>ro- 

 cess 2000 or 3000 lbs. of sugar, the last boilings 

 were ropy, and each operation less perfect than 

 when performed upon 400 kilogrammes (about 

 890 lbs.) at one time ; it is upon tbis last quanti- 

 ty that I shall found my calculations. 



I have never been able to assign a rtasi)n for 

 this difference, but it actually exists; [)erhaps it 

 arises from my not being able to complete my 

 boilings in one day, and the clarified sirups have 

 become changed in the boiler ; or perhaps a large 

 quantity of sirup may be more difficult to manage 

 than a small one, though the ingredients be com- 

 bined in the same jtroportions. 



ON CLARIFICATION. 



A boiler four or five feet in diameter and twen- 

 tyeight inches in depth, is two thirds filled with 

 water, to which lime-water enough to fill the boil- 

 er is added ; in this mixture is dissolved at a low 

 heat 400 kilogrammes of brown sugar. 



The solution must not mark more than 32° 

 ( = 1.286) of concentration ; if it stands higher, it 

 must be weakened, if lower; more sugar must be 

 added. This state of concentration belongs only 

 to solutions of dry sugar; those of damp sugar 

 must be reduced to 30 or 25° (=1.261 to 1.210,) 

 otherwise it will be almost impossible to filtrate 

 them. 



The solution is then heated to ebullition. When 

 the temperature reaches 65=" (=178|^" Fahr.) fif- 

 teen kilogrammes (32f lbs.) of animal charcoal 

 are added to it ; the mixture is then carefully stir- 

 red and mixed with a wooden spatula; after al- 

 lowing it to boil an hour, the fire is extinguished. 



The quantity of animal cliarcral added ought to 

 vary according to the quality of the sugar , that 

 which is dry requiring a less portion than that 

 which is wet. 



The boiling li((uoris freed from the charcoal by 

 filtration through a course cloth and when the 

 heat has fallen to 40" (122^^ Fahr.) the whites of 

 forty eggs beaten and diluted with several quarts 

 of water are thrown into the boiler. The liquor Is 

 then carefully stirred, and is kept constantly in 

 motion till tJie temperature rises to 70" (=1805 

 Fahr.,) when stirring is omitted and tlie heat 

 raised to the boiling point. 



As soon as the first bubble appears upon the 

 surface, the fire is extinguishe*! ; a thick coat of 

 scum forms upon the surface of the liquor, and is 

 removed at the end of three quarters of an hour. 



The liquor is filtered through a coarse, thick, 

 rough yloth ; if the first portion that passes through 

 be not perfectly clear, it is to be thrown again up- 

 on the filter, and this operation is repealed till the 

 liquor appears completely limpid and free from 

 any floating particles. As soon as the liquor is 

 perfectly clear, it is boiled ; five or six boilings 

 being formed with the product of the clarification- 



The several boilings are thrown into the cooler 

 as fast as they are completed, and from thence in- 

 to the mouldsybttr, which can contain 5^ gallons 

 each. '[ hese operations are conducted in the 

 same manner as those which I have described in 

 speaking of brown sugar, but with this difference, 

 that the sugar contained in the moulds is stirred 

 and moved at two dift'erent times before it is taken 

 in the mass. 



After three days the moulds are placed upon 

 the pots into which the molasses drains, and at 

 the end of eight more, they are removed to the 

 second pots where the whitening is to be per- 

 formed. 



