EXPERIMENTS WITH CRUSHER. 



It was the opinion of a number of men interested in this industry 

 that a very much larger yield and better quality of juice could be ob- 

 tained by the crushers if the cane, previously to being pressed, were 

 cleaned and macerated, and it was deemed best to give the matter a 

 thorough trial. For this purpose a 3-foot cane mill was purchased from 

 J. A. Field & Co., of Saint Louis. It consisted of a three-roller mill and 

 a supplemental two-roller mill. The principal trouble encountered was 

 in feeding the mill. Even with an arrangement lor forcing the chips 

 between the rolls not over three tons per hour could be forced through, 

 and the yield of juice was but little if any greater than when whole 

 cane was fed to the mill. 



The average yield of syrup was about 10 gallons per ton of cane 

 worked. The same kind of cane yielded by diffusion 25 gallons of syrup 

 per ton of cane. The cane used in this trial was very poor, being 

 mostly lodged. These experiments show conclusively the great supe- 

 riority of the diffusion process for syrup making, a very good quality of 

 sirup being produced from very poor cane. It was superior in both 

 color and flavor to the sirup from the mill juice. The juices from the 

 mill and battery were treated precisely alike and they were skimmed 

 and evaporated in an open steam evaporator. This is a matter of great 

 importance to all engaged in the sugar business, as both at the beginning 

 and close of the season there will be considerable cane that is not fit for 

 sugar-making, and the fact that 25 gallons of first-class sirup can be 

 made from such cane by diffusion makes it possible to work even such 

 material at a good profit. 



The first run for sugar was begun on August 20. The juice was made 

 alkaline with lime, and about 2 per cent, of carbonate of lime was added. 

 It was then filtered. To other portions of juice, instead of carbonate of 

 lime, 3 per cent, of ground shale, bituminous coal, and sandy loam were 

 added respectively. The filtrations were very imperfect except with 

 the carbonate of lime and in every way corresponded with the pre- 

 liminary experiments. Lignite was not used on a large scale because 

 I had at the time no means of grinding it; but judging from a large 

 number of experiments made in the beginning of the season, it is safe 

 to conclude that it would not have filtered any better than the other 

 materials used. 



Satisfactory filtrations were only produced when the juice had IHHMI 

 made strongly alkaline, and no material was found which would filter 

 the juice when left slightly acid. 



On August 30 the first strike was made, and the yield was a little 

 more than 100 pounds of washed sugar per ton of clean cane. 



INVERSION OF CANE SUGAR. 



To prevent the inversion of the sugar in battery, about 10 pounds of 

 dry precipitated carbonate of lime was mixed with enough water to pro- 



