78 



On February 18, 1887, the following additional instructions were sent 

 to Mr. Barthelemy : 



First of all, however, I desire to secure a comparative test of diffusion with mill- 

 ing. When all is in readiness for work,, only a few days will be required to make 

 this test, and therefore it would not interfere very much with the regular milling 

 work. 



I have contracted for a 12-cell circular Lattery, to be built on the plan for the 

 Sangerhausen apparatus. All the plans and specifications for the new battery have 

 been purchased by the contractors (the Colwell Iron Works of New York) from the 

 Sangerhausen Company. The battery is to be erected by the Colwell Company, and 

 delivered to the Department there ready for use on or before the first of October. I 

 think it is important to select a place, such as you describe Judge Host's to be, where 

 all the evaporating and other machinery for working the juices is ready for work. 



I propose to make the machinery as simple as possible and to devote all our ener- 

 gies to solving the problem of diffusion. 



I expect to go to Louisiana early in March and hope to be able to make some favor- 

 able arrangement without delay. The only hope for the success of our experiments 

 is to work with some one who will use every endeavor to make success possible. 



The work of the Department will be purely experimental. If it is successful the 

 planter will reap the full benefit of the success ; if it is not, no one will suffer any 

 loss. 



I do not think I shall ask for more than ten days for the experimental work, and 

 would like to have five days of that time jiear the first of the season and the other 

 five near the middle of it. 



Do you know of any other place where there is a complete apparatus for sugar 

 making which you think would be more favorable than Judge Eost's ? 

 Respectfully, 



NORMAN J. COLMAN, 



Commissioner. 



In March, 1887, the honorable Commissioner of Agriculture visited 

 Louisiana to consult with a committee of the Sugar Planters 7 Association 

 of that State respecting a suitable plantation on which the work should 

 be done. This committee was composed of the following gentlemen, 

 viz : Hon. D. F. Kenner, John Dymond, Henry McCall, T. S. Wilkin- 

 son, L. C. Keever, W. B. Schmidfc, J. 0. Morris, VV. 0. Stubbs. 



The Commissioner of Agriculture visited, in company with the gentle- 

 men named, the plantations which were thought suitable for the exper- 

 imental work. After a careful examination the committee made the fol- 

 lowing report : 



Whereas the Government of the United States has determined to test the practical 

 effect of the diffusion process upon the sugar manufacturing interests of the country, 

 and Hon. N. J. Colman, Commissioner of Agriculture, accompanied by Chief Chemist, 

 Dr. H. W. Wiley, having come to Louisiana to arrange for a competitive test with the 

 methods now in use in our State, and Commissioner Colman having requested the aid 

 of the Sugar Planter's Association to select a locality for making the test, the associa- 

 tion appointed the undersigned a committee for that purpose. We have therefore 

 inquired into and examined all the places available uuder the conditions required by 

 the Department of Agriculture. 



One of the principal considerations that has guided the committee in making the 

 selection has been to choose that locality which has furnished the most favorable re- 

 sults under the old system, in order that the test should be as severe, as thorough, as 

 complete, and as decisive as possible. 



