MOLASSES. 



juices found in Demerara, and elsewhere; molasses on an average contain 

 about 4 per cent, of potash, so that the sale of the molasses implies the 

 removal from the soil of from 18 to 36lbs. potash per ton of sugar shipped. 



Sale as Cattle Food. The sale of molasses as cattle food was originated 

 on the large scale by Mr. O. Hughes, who observed that the finely divided 

 interior pith of the cane was capable of absorbing large quantities of molasses, 

 affording a product which could be shipped in bags ; this product was put on 

 the market under the name of ' molascuit.' 



The manufacture of this article requires plant of a very simple nature, 

 which is generally capable of being placed so as to fit in with existing 

 arrangements. The method of manufacture in a certain West Indian factory 

 is described below. The megass, before the manufacture of molascuit was 

 started, discharged itself from a scraper elevator on to the cross carrier which 

 conveyed the megass in front of the furnaces ; a sifter of one-eighth inch mesh 

 and of 8 ft. X 4 ft. dimensions was interposed between the elevator and cross 

 carrier ; the megass fell on to this sifter to which an oscillating motion was 

 given by an eccentric driven off a convenient engine ; in the passage of the 

 megass along the sifter to the cross carrier a number of the finer particles fell 

 through and these were directed down a shoot on to the flue wall of the 

 boilers. The brickwork on the top of the flue was replaced by sheet-iron 

 plates and a drying surface obtained for the megass; after the megass had been 

 dried it was again sifted through a sifter of mesh one thirty^second of an inch. 

 Kefuse molasses was mixed with the doubly sifted megass powder in the pro- 

 portion of seventy parts of molasses to thirty parts of megass ; the molasses 

 were concentrated to 85 Brix before mixing and a much more even product 

 was obtained when hot molasses were used ; before bagging, the molascuit was 

 allowed to cool ; the mixing was performed in a * Carter ' kneading machine. 

 The double sifting is of importance so as to eliminate the larger particles of 

 megass, especially splinters, consisting of the hard and indigestible outer rind. 

 In other installations more elaborate machinery is employed, and in large plants 

 the use of a drier similar to those used for drying sugar would be advisable 

 both for the megass and for the final product. The keeping qualities of the 

 product depend very largely on the extent to which it is dried. 



Molasses feeds are not a complete food and are very deficient in proteid, 

 the percentage of nitrogen being only about '15 percent. ; hence they require 

 supplementing with other material, especially in the case of working animals. 

 In Mauritius the seeds of an acacia-like shrub, Luccena glauca, are used in com- 

 bination with molasses, and in Louisiana the ration of molasses is frequently 

 balanced with cotton seed meal. T. U. Walton 18 advises a ration of 151bs. of 

 molasses to a 1,270 Ib. horse, and states that for working horses this quantity has 

 no undue fattening effect, that the salts in this quantity of molasses are not 

 deleterious, and that sugar is generally an efficient substitute for starch. 



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