20 



Table giving comparison of available sugar in juice, with actual yield in acid and neutral 



clarification. 



There can be little doubt but that a neutral clarification greatly less- 

 ens loss by inversion in the sugar house. Sugar made from a u heavy" 

 clarification will not be quite so light in color, however, as where the 

 juice is left slightly acid, and it is a question that still remains to be 

 settled whether it is not more profitable to submit to some loss by in- 

 version in order to improve the quality of the sugar. In our experi- 

 ments the first and second sugar from juice clarified neutral was only 

 a shade darker than that from acid juice, but the third sugar and 

 molasses suffered more. Where the clarification is under chemical 

 supervision and can be carefully watched, it may be best to use a 

 slightly acid clarification, otherwise it is much safer to adhere to a 

 neutral or even slightly alkaline clarification. The color of the juice 

 is a- very poor guide to go by, and the clarifier men should be trained 

 to use test papers. A clarification that does not turn blue litmus paper 

 red nor turmeric paper brown is a pretty safe neutral clarification. 



LOSS BY INVERSION IN BOILING AND SKIMMING IN OPEN PAN. 



From the table giving losses by inversion it will be seen that a con- 

 siderable amount of inversion occurred in the operation of reducing the 

 juice to sirup, and that this inversion persisted even through the neu- 

 tral work of the eighth week. This was due partly to the boiling and 

 skimming of the sirup in an open pan after it came from the double 

 effect, and partly to same cause of inversion in the vacuum evaporator 

 itself, which the limited time at my command did not allow me to in- 

 vestigate. A series of experiments to ascertain the amount of inver- 



