18 



however, be inverted by this treatment, I should say, to speedily induce 

 any one to stop its use. 



As a result of Calumet's work, I can not but be very favorably im- 

 pressed with the use of sulphur as an aid in improving the quality of 

 the output of a sugar-house. 



The total inversion for the crop was 6,111.91 pounds sucrose, of which 

 a loss of 4,865 pounds as already mentioned, was sustained mainly 

 through inattention during the second stubble run. This is undoubt- 

 edly a smaller loss than would be occasioned by the use of a bone- 

 black plant that can be operated on any Louisiana plantation. 



The entire loss by inversion, with the exception of 317 pounds, was 

 confined to two runs, and in another year's work will be almost en- 

 tirely overcome by a new arrangement, designed by Mr. Daniel Thomp- 

 son, for cooling the sulphur dioxide fumes as they come from the 

 furnace. 



This improvement was put in at Calumet the latter part of the season, 

 and after its introduction the inversion was practically nothing. 



It consists of a box about 18 feet long by 2 in width and depth, and 

 is divided into two parts, the first division containing about 16 feet of 

 6-iuch lead pipe, through which the sulphur fumes passed, and around 

 which cold water was kept continually circulating. This effectually 

 cooled the fumes and allowed the absorption in the second division of 

 the box of any sulphuric acid which had been formed. In this sec- 

 ond division the fumes came in actual contact with water, allowing, as 

 mentioned above, the absorption of sulphuric acid, while having been 

 cooled by the previous treatment the sulphur dioxide formed no fresh 

 sulphuric acid. A further trap for sulphuric acid, which had been in 

 use with the old sulphur-box, was kept in place and allowed any sul- 

 phuric acid present to drop perpendicularly down, on account of its spe- 

 cific gravity, into a suitable receptacle, while the lighter sulphur diox- 

 ide is drawn off by suction at right angles into the juice. 



After the new arrangement for cooling the fumes had been put in, 

 two runs were made, one with an acid defecation, the other with a 

 neutral. Each run contained a little over 197,000 pounds of sucrose in 

 the juice extracted, and with the acid defecation only 317 pounds of 

 sucrose were lost by inversion, while in the neutral not a pound disap- 

 peared from this cause. From this I am led to believe that in another 

 year the inversion caused by sulphuric acid will be entirely stopped, 

 but, since to secure the best results with sulphur the juices must be 

 left a little acid after defecation, there will always be a slight inversion, 

 but the acidity will be from a weaker acid, and will amount to nothing. 



That sulphur in cane-juice can be made a dangerous and formidable 

 enemy in the hands of untrained and unskilled workmen can not for a 

 moment be denied, but when properly and scientifically handled it is 

 one of the most, if not the most, valuable aid in a mill-house. With dif- 

 fusion it will wot be as important, if used at all ? as the diffusion juices 



