SUGAR. 



157 



ing white syrup over it and forcing it through the mass. It is 

 said that the process is attended with considerable loss in weight, 

 but as all that drains from the pan may be boiled over once or 

 twice, it is not easy to conceive how the loss can occnr. 



Cane juice contains many ingredients besides sugar, the prin- 

 cipal of which are albumen, gluten, gum, starch, resin, wax, color- 

 ing matter, and certain salts, all of which, either collectively or 

 individually, have the power of preventing granulation, as may be 

 proved by their addition to a syrup of pure sugar, which will then 

 defy all attempts to make it crystallise. If, therefore, we want to 

 make good sugar, we must endeavour to free onr cane juice as much 

 as possible . from those substances. 



Now, cane juice is no more the sap of the cane, than apple jnice 

 is that of the apple tree ; it is the natural product of the cane, and, 

 in all probability, would contain but a small proportion of these 

 foreign matters if it could be expressed without being accompanied 

 by the sap, they being the natural constituents of the last-named 

 fluid. A patent has, I believe, been lately taken out for separating 

 the cane juice without the sap. However, in. the absence of such 

 an improvement, much may be done by care and attention at the 

 mill ; the green bands and trash which usually accompany the canes 

 from the field, should, therefore, be carefully removed before they 

 are passed through, as they contain no saccharine matter, abound 

 in the deleterious substances already mentioned, and communicate 

 a bad color to the juice ; therefore, the ripe cane only should pass 

 through the mill. There are but few planters who have not had to 

 contend with sour juice, and they attribute the difficulty they ex- 

 perience in making sugar therefrom, to the presence of acetic acid, 

 or vinegar ; but this is quite an erroneous idea, as the acetic acid 

 is very volatile, and evaporates quickly on the application of 

 heat, which may be proved by throwing a gallon of strong vinegar 

 into a pan of liquor; it will do no harm, provided it be boiled 

 before tempering ; on the contrary, the effect, if it be properly 

 done, will be beneficial, as it will promote the coagulation of the 

 albumen ; it is the gum which is always formed during the acetous 

 fermentation of sugar that prevents granulation; hence, then, 

 acidity is strictly to be guarded against, as fermentation once com- 

 menced, it will be impossible to make good sugar, it will continue 

 throughout the process, and even in the hogshead ; so that canes 

 should be ground as soon as possible after they are cut, and all 

 rat-eaten and broken ones carefully excluded. Canes may, how- 

 ever, be kept some days without fermenting, provided they be not 

 broken or damaged, it being, as we said before, the mixture of the 

 sap and the caue juice that makes the liquid so prone to fermenta- 

 tion ; and the mill, gutters, and everything with which the juice 

 is likely to come in contact, should be kept carefully clean, and 

 whitewashed immediately after, and the whitewash removed before 

 use, as acetate of lime being an exceedingly soluble and deliquescent 

 salt, will not improve the quality of the sugar ; whilst the gutter 



