CANE SUGAR. 



acterized by the abundant formation of a gum 'levan.' Lewton-Brain 

 and Deerr 13 isolated five forms of bacteria from Hawaiian sugars, all of 

 which were capable of causing deterioration ; of these five it was found that 

 three were remarkable for the formation of a gum similar in properties to 

 'levan/ and these forms were the most dangerous. Morris and Deerr 13 

 showed that sugars containing less than 1 per cent, of water were not liable 

 to deterioration, and Lewton Brain and Deerr proved that sterile sugars 

 under conditions favourable to deterioration remained unchanged. Bacteria, 

 as a cause of deterioration, have also been observed by Geerligs in Java. 

 The prevention of deterioration is best effected by the prevention as far as 

 possible of contamination of the products, as by rapid working (e.g., crystal- 

 lization in motion), the use of antiseptics about gutters and containers, the 

 use of sterile water at and about the centrifugals, and by controlling the 

 amount of water in the final product. 



In Java the bags have been noted as a source of infection, but gunny bags 

 from Indian jute mills examined in Hawaii by Norris and Deerr 21 were sterile. 



It has been shown by Watts and Tempany 22 that bacterial action in 

 muscovado sugars may actually cause a rise in polarization ; in this case the 

 levulose is first selected for attack. 



Fermentation Changes in Massecuites. Browne 24 has 

 investigated the nature of the scum which is often seen to rise on to the 

 surface of stored massecuites to which he attributes a fungus origin ; he 

 obtained from this scum chitine, a fat very similar in composition to butter 

 fat ; he also reports encountering dimethyl ketol in sour molasses. 



Manufacture Of Rum. The manufacture of rum as a product of 

 the fermentation of cane juice or of molasses forms an important part of the 

 cane sugar industry in Demerara, Trinidad, Jamaica, Cuba, the Leeward 

 Islands, the French "West Indies, Hayti, and the Argentine ; rum is also 

 manufactured in connection with sugar mills in Peru, Mauritius, Queensland, 

 and Natal. Molasses form the source of the spirit ' arrack ' in Java, and are 

 also utilized in British India ; in these two localities however the manufacture 

 of spirit is divorced from the sugar industry proper. The writer has been 

 unable to obtain statistics of the annual production of rum, but believes the 

 total production cannot be less than 20,000,000 gallons of spirit containing 

 75 per cent, of alcohol. 



Outlines of the processes used in different localities follow. 



Demerara. A process of adventitious fermentation obtains ; commercially 

 exhausted molasses form the initial product; the molasses are received directly 

 from the centrifugals, storage for a few days' supply only being provided. 

 The molasses and water generally trench water are usually mixed to the 

 required density in a mechanical mixer in the basement and pumped up to 

 the vats in the fermenting loft ; in other cases the molasses are pumped up to 

 the vat and mixed by hand with the requisite amount of water ; the density 



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