13 



cose to be already in actual excess of sucrose present, graining was 

 rapid and copious and maturity rapidly attained. First sugars were 

 washed with 2 pints of water, in which is dissolved a minimum of stan- 

 nous chloride crystals. Seconds and thirds with one pint, more or less. 

 Analyses of these sugars and of the molasses from them are given 

 further on. The weights or gauges of all products being now ascer- 

 tained, no estimates are incorporated in the returns to follow, and no 

 allowances have been made for trash weighed as cane. 



MECHANICAL CONTROL. 



The system of department reports referred to constitutes an excel- 

 lent mechanical control. The amount of coal and cane consumed, the 

 number of laborers employed in each department, the quantities of 

 juice, sirup, sugar, and molasses produced, and the number of pack- 

 ages used, give daily the amount of work done by each department 

 and the daily cost of each operation, and exhibits mechanical derange- 

 ments and wastes before the loss from these can become important. 

 The stop and start of all portions of the apparatus has been long re- 

 corded and the average possible hours of daily operation and the hourly 

 capacity of each machine thus established. The causes of lost time, 

 with means for their remedy, have also been carefully determined; the 

 house is thus found to be remarkably well balanced throughout and 

 correspondingly economical in operation. The average performance of 

 mill and vacuum pan, per actual running hour, the last three seasons, 

 expressed in pounds of commercial sugar, has been 



This indicates the maximum capacity of the establishment to be 

 something over 60,000 pounds commercial sugar per diem. 



Previous to my arrival at Calumet a general plan of work had been 

 arranged for the chemist, in which the main features were experiments 

 in connection with the mechanical filtration of cane juice. 



With this end in view, a physical laboratory, equipped as a ininature 

 sugar-house, had been added to the "plant." This included a small 

 mill, small diffusion battery of the Hughes system, with defacators, filter 

 press, open evaporators, and vacuum strike pan of corresponding ca- 

 pacity. 



These experiments, the mechanical part of which was under the 

 direction of Mr. B, Beinmers, who worked most intelligently and per* 



