AND GA R DENE ii'S JOURNAL. 



9 



PtlBLISHCD nV GEORG!.: C. BARRETT, NO. ,t NORTH MARKET «TKEET. ( AaK,c....„a>,. W.«k„o„s..)-T. Gr^^^^S^;.^;,^;^^,^,^ 



VOt,. XV. 



BOSTON, WEDNESDAY EVENING, AUGUST 10, 1836. 



NO. 5. 



^<S35!22-^WIS,E'W2IS;^3La 



(From ChaptKl's Agricullural ChemWry.) 



ON THE CULTIVATION OK THE HEET ROOT, 



AKD 'J HE E3lTR.«;TION OP SUGAR PROBI IT. 



(Cuntinued.) 



ON BOILING THE MOLASSES AND LEACHI.NG SIRUPS. 



I mix tlic iiiolassos obtained from the brown 

 sug.ir with the sirups whicii have beeei filtrated 

 through the loaves, and proceed to boil the mix- 

 ture. The molasses marks 22 or 24", (^1.171 to 

 1.180,) and the mixture 22 or 23", 1.180 to 1.190.) 

 ! throw from 32 to 35 gallons of this mi.xture into 

 tlie boih'r, and when the lieat a|)proaches to ebul- 

 lition, I add about one pound of animal cliarcoal 

 which I mix rarefully vvith the liquor. 



Tfje boiling of this Tniuor is more difficult than 

 that r,t the sirup which produces the brown sugar, 

 but with care and patience it may be done to very 

 good advantage. This liquor yields at least one 

 sixth of thi: quantity of sugar that has been pro- 

 duced by the first operation ; this product is suf- 

 ficiently important to render it advisable to boil 

 down the molasses, instead of <lisposing of it, as is 

 almost everywhere done, for distillation. 



If the molasses procured from liects was of the 

 same quality as that obtained from the sugar cane, 

 it couhl be sold with advantage, but it has a bitter 

 taste which renders it unsaleable ; it is then best 

 to exhaust it of crystallizable matter, and to sub- 

 ject the remainder to distillation. The difference 

 In the quantity of alcohol obtained from the two 

 kinds of molasses is almost nothug. 



Instead of depositing the product of this last 

 boiling in moulds, I throw it, iVom day to day, in- 

 to a hogshead open at one end, and thus gradual- 

 ly fill the cask ; the sugar crystallizes wonderfully 

 in these vessels, so that they become iialf full 

 of it. 



When this sugar, which 1 call molasses sugar, 

 to distinguish it from brown sugar of the first boil- 

 ing is to bo refined, the molasses which lies on 

 the top is dipped out,and the rest is made to flow 

 out through small gimlet boles bored in the 

 bottom and around the circumference of the 

 cask.- 



The sugar when deprived of all the molasses 

 which can be made to flow from it, still forms only 

 an adhesive paste which can scarcely be refined ; 

 I therefore put this paste into bags of coarse, strong 

 cloth, and subject it to a strong compression. The 

 sugar thus freed from molasses is very dark color- 

 ed, but the quality of it is excellent, and it is as ea- 

 sily refined as the best brown sugar. 



When the brown sugar boilings turn badly, and 

 crystallization in the mould is imperfect, and, in a 

 word, at all times when sugar is ropy and [larts 

 but imperfectly with its molasses, it is necessary 

 to subject it to the action of the press before at- 

 tempting to refine it ; as S( on as it has in this way 

 been freed from all its molasses, it may be refined 

 without any difficulty. 



In most of the beet-sugar inanufactories they 



have adopted the swinging boilers for preparing 

 their sirups ; concentration is performed spcetlily 

 in these, and they have the advantage of being 

 emptied in ji moment ; but they are useful only 

 when the operation is performed U[ioi)drv sugars 

 like the American, which contains but little nio! 

 lasses. Our jieet-sngar is never, so well drained 

 as the im(>orted sugars are, and requires much 

 more care in the boiling. These boilers appear 

 to n)e more afit to cause the. burning of the sugar 

 than the old kind, dnd I therefore give the prefer- 

 ence to the latter. 



ON THE REFINING OF SUGAR OBTAINED FROM BEET 

 ROOTS. 



When the sugar is dry, the refining of it is ea- 

 sily performed ; all possible pains then shoiiM be 

 taken in the [ireceding operations to free it from 

 all its mol.isses. 



All the operation of refining may be brought 

 tinder two heads, clarification in the boiler, and 

 whitening in the moulds. 



To refine sugar well, it is better not to operate 

 upon too large quantities. I have always observ- 

 ed, that when I subjected to the same boiling pro- 

 cess 2000 or 3000 lbs. of sugar, the last boilings 

 Were ropy, and each operation less perfect than 

 whrn performed upon 400 kilogrammes (about 

 89' Ib.c.) at one ti!»i» • it is upon ibis last quanti- 

 ty that I shall found my calculaLons. 



I have never been able to assign a reason for 

 this difference, but it actually exists; perhaps it 

 arises from my not being able to conqjlete my 

 boilings in one day, and the clarified sil-U(is have 

 become changed in the boiler ; or perhaps a large 

 quantity of sirup may bo more difficult to Dianage 

 than a small one, though the ingredients be com- 

 bined in the same pro|)ortions. 



heat has fallen to 40" (122^ Fahr.) the whites of 

 forty eggs beaten and diluted with several quarts 

 of water arc thrown into the boiler. Tlie liquor is 

 then carefully stirred, and is kept constantly in 

 motion till the titnpcraturr ris( s to TO" (=180'' 

 Fahr.,) when stirring is omitted and the Iieat 

 raised to the boiling point. 



As .soon as the first bubble appears upon the 

 surface, the fire is extinguished ; a thick coat of 

 scum forms upon ihe surfice of the liquor, and is 

 reriiove.l at the end of three quarters of an hour. 

 The liquor is filtered through a coarse, thick, 

 rough 5:0th ; if the first |iortion that passcsthrough 

 be not perfectly clear, it is to be thrown again up- 

 on the filter, and this operation is repeated till Ihe 

 liquor aiqiears completely limpid and free from 

 any floating par'i.des. As soon as the liquor is 

 perf.ctly c!ear, it is boiled ; five or six boilings 

 being formed with the product of the clarification. 

 The several boilings are thrown into the cooler 

 as fast as they are completed, and from thence in- 

 to the mouhls/our, which can contain 5^ gallons 

 eacfi. These operations are conducted in the 

 same manner as those whicli I have des<'ribed in 

 speaking of brown sugar, but with this difl'erence, 

 that the sugar contained in the inouhls is stirred 

 and moved at two d'fTerent times before it is taken 

 in the mass. 



AftF/ tl.iv.-.v-Iayi t!io u.o'Jds nio jiiaced upoii 

 the pots into which the molasses drains, and at 

 the end of eight more, they are removed to the 

 secoml j.ots where the whitening is to be jier- 

 fornied. 



(To be coniinued.) 



O.N CLARIFICATION. 



A boiler four or five feet in diameter and twen- 

 tyeight inches in depth, is two thirds filled with 

 water, to which lime-water enough to fill the boil- 

 er is added ; in this mixture is dissolved at a low 

 beat 400 kilogrammes of brown sugar. 



The solution must not mark more than 35" 

 ( = 1.286) of concentration ; if it stands higlver, it 

 must be weakened, if lower, more sugar must be 

 added. This state of concentration belongs only 

 to solutions of dry sugar ; those of damp sugar 

 must be reduced to 30 or 25" (=1.261 to 1.210,) 

 otherwise it will be almost impossible to filtrate 

 them. 



The solution is then heated to ebullition. When 

 the temperature reaches 65" (=178^" Fahr.) fif- 

 teen kilogrammes (32f lbs.) of animal charcoal 

 arc added to it ; the mixture is then carefully stir- 

 red and mixed with a wooden spatula ; after al- 

 lowing it to boil an hour, the fire is extinguished. 

 The quantity of animal charcoal added ought to 

 vary according to the quality of the sugar , that 

 whicli is dry requiring a less portion than that 

 which is wet. 



The boiling liquor is freed from the charcoal by 

 filtration through a course cloth and when the 



sciektipic tracts. 



The 5th No. of the present volume is a treatise 

 upon water. The whole of the tract is interest- 

 ing to the general reader, fcnt the latterpart which 

 gives us the quality of Boston cooking water, must 

 be especially so to the residents of this city. Our 

 cooking water is very im|-nre, the best of it con- 

 taining sulphurate carhonati-, and muriate of lime, 

 chloride of Fodium, carbon.ite of iron, and animal 

 and vegetable matter. It is not an uncommon 

 thing, for drains to fiiid their way into wells, and 

 we have known instances, where water has been 

 for a long time u.sed, for drinking, and for culinary 

 purposes, while a common sewer or drain was 

 constantly discharging its filthy contents into it. 



As water drinking is becoming more common 

 in this city, or, as many persons make water their 

 only drink, and as this number is rapidly increas- 

 ing, it is to be ardently hoped, that some measures 

 will speedily be adopted, for a supply of pure soft 

 water from some of the | onds in the vicinity. A 

 greater ].ublic benefit could hardly be eonferrfed 

 upon the city. We give in the paragraph below, 

 the opinion of Dr. Jackson, the writer of the tract 

 under consideration. 



The water of Boston is continnally deteriorat- 

 ing in purity, and the time will soon arrive when 

 it will become intolerable, owing to the increased 

 sources of filth produced by new buildiogs, drains 



