34 THE CANADIAN IIORTICULTUiaST. 



a pipe into the defecating tanks, and from there into the evaporating 

 pans. A strainer of wire gauze should be so placed that the particles, 

 of pith and cane may not be allowed to run into the tanks. 



Two heating tanks, each of a capacity of a hundred gallons, to be 

 used alternately, should be prepared to receive the juice as it flows 

 from the tank at the mill ; and these should be so situated that the 

 juice may be let out of them into a cooling tank, which may be made 

 of two inch plank, and of sufficient capacity to hold as much as the 

 other two. The evaporating tanks may be made entirely of metal, 

 or the bottom may be of sheet copper, and the sides of wood. 

 These should be placed over a separate flue of a furnace, or, what is 

 perhaps better, be heated by a steam coil or jacket arranged so that 

 the steam may be turned off when the scum has formed on the surface. 

 If however an open fire is employed, an arrangement should be made 

 so that the heat could be turned off into another flue when the proper- 

 temperature is reached. The heaters should be of such a capacity 

 that they will contain all the juice received from the mill in an hour. 

 Tlie evaporater may be of any capacity or shape, provided a thin 

 sheet of juice is spread over a large even surface, with a continual 

 descent; but it must be so arranged that the scum, which forms 

 immediately the juice enters, may be easily removed. Sometimes an 

 endeavor is made to finish the sugaring off process in this pan, but it 

 is best to have a separate furnace with a finishing pan attached ; or if 

 a steam jacket is used in the other tanks, it is only necessary to have 

 one for this process also. Steam is found to be decidedly the best, 

 ^eat to use, as it is more under control, and not so liable to injure the 

 sugar. The coolers, of which there should be two, into which the 

 finishing pan discharges, should be close jointed wooden troughs, 

 broad and flat, and large enough to contain a day's boiling ; these may 

 each be used on alternate days. ' 



The crystalizing vessels moiy be tubs or half barrels, with plugs in 

 the bottoms which may be easily removed, to secure drainage ; these 

 must be kept in a room of 80° or 90° fahrenheit. They should be 

 placed so that they will drain into some convenient vessel to catch 

 the molasses. 



The necessary apparatus above described is in use in many of the 

 neighboring States, from whence either they, or patterns of them, 

 could be procured. One of our members who is going into the 



