■P^F/**v^.T"r ;. •■ 



THE ILLIlSrOIS FA^HjMEH. 



275 



yen by my record trial. On the latter 

 occasion I placed 72 J gallons of juice 

 marking 5 ° B in the kettle which boiled 

 in 20 minutes and was reduced to 15 gal- 

 Ions at 34 ^ B, in one hour and fifty min- 

 utes after commencing to boil and con- 

 sumed 815 lbs of wood. The latter 

 batch had the advantage of a hot furnace 

 to commence with. 



On another occasion I made a trial 

 less satisfactory perhaps in rapidity of 

 inpissating the juice, but interesting 

 nevertheless in furnishing some date of 

 a practical nature, which is given be- 

 low. 



I divided 74 gallons at 10 *^ B placing 

 a portion in the kettle and the balance in 

 a tank convenient to draAv from into the 

 kettle and as soon as boiling commenced 

 in the latter I j^ermitted a stream to flow 

 in from the tank. In 34 hours I had 

 reduced this to 12 gallons of very pleas- 

 ant syrup marking 40 ° B, cold. I be- 

 lieve that syrupf of this consistency will 

 keep through hot weather without fo- 

 menting. 



I was aided on the above occasion by 

 one man who with one horse, and a one 

 horse mill, expressed 50 gallons of juice 

 per hour, averagmg 10 stalks or canes 

 in the mill, which were pressed quite 

 dry. A boiler of double the capacity of 

 that used by me would have enabled me 

 to have kept pace with the mill and have 

 alloAved ample time to keep up my own 

 fire, thus yielding as the product of the 

 labor of two men and one horse, eight 

 gallons of syrup per hour with the aver- 

 age consumption of fuel of three fourths 

 of a cord of wood in 12 hours. By the 

 preceding it appears, — allowing one 

 dollar each for men, fifty cents for horse 

 two dollars for wood, and fifty cents for 

 use of mill and boiler, you will have five 

 dollars as the cost of manufacturing in 

 ten hours 80 gallons of syrup or six and 

 one fourth cents, per gallon. This cal- 

 culation admits that day wages be paid 

 to the producer himself; omitting which 

 wc reduce the estimate to 4^ cen:(S per 

 gallon exclusive of producing the cane for 

 which §15 per acre is a liberal allowance 

 or say 5 cents per gallon, with juice 

 marking 10 ® B. I believe these figures 

 can and Avill be realized, especially when 

 the fact is considered that my boiling 

 was not conducted under as favorable 

 auspices, nor with as happy results as in 

 the experiment previously alluded to with 

 the flue boiler. I omitted in the proper 

 place to state the advantages gained by 

 having the boiler arranged with a draw 

 off valve, by which the "strike'' can be 

 accomplished in less than a minutes time. 

 This lessens labor vastly and decreases 

 the danger of scorching while that oper- 

 ation is proceeding. A wide fire place 

 Y,ith corresponding doors, are desirable 

 as they permit the temporary smothering 

 ui: the fire with green be<jasse at that 



juncture when the "striking" is com- 

 menced. Juice measuring 10 ° B has not 

 been generally obtained, though where 

 the cane was produced in favorable lo- 

 calities and matured perfectly, has I be- 

 lieve usually attained these figures and 

 has in some instances considerably ex- 

 ceeded them. I do not deem 10 as an 

 extravagant calculation, therefore fot a 

 general standard. 



The clarification or cleaning of the 

 juice at an early stage of the boiling, or 

 as a preliminary to that process, has not 

 I think been too strongly insisted on, 

 though some of the modes for its accom- 

 plishment; appear more ingenious than 

 necessary. The use of any considerable 

 quantity of lime is certainly not requisite 

 and tends to blacken the syrup as do all 

 alkalies. They are believed, howe er, 

 to be preservative, removing liability to 

 fermentation and neutralizing the acids 

 which, when largely prevalent, impedes 

 chrystalization. As in treating the j uice 

 of the Southern or India cane, lijjeral 

 skimming is not only a virtue but a ne- 

 cessity, and should not be discontinued 

 until the batch approaches completion, 

 or in fact, until the feculent matter has 

 been removed entirely. 



Much speculation has been indulged 

 in as to the cause and prevention of a 

 peculiar scorched or slightly bitter taste 

 often prevalent in the syrup when there . 

 was good reason to suppose that it could 

 not have been burned in cooking or con- 

 centrating. The opinion has obtained 

 entertainment recently that this is the 

 result of a gluey or gummy feculancy 

 peculiar to the juice, which, as the heat 

 is raised and the lighter portions are 

 floated to the tops ispreeipitated upon the 

 sides or bottom of the evaporator and 

 there actually scorched, and at a subse- 

 quent peri'jd of the boiling process in- 

 corporated in the general mass either in 

 a state of solution or otherwise. My 

 own investigations do not dispel my uncer 

 tainty on this point, but a correspondent 

 in whose opinion I have much confidence 

 asserts that stirring the juice constantly 

 until the heat is raised to or beyond 160 '^ 

 Fah. will prevent this precipitation. I 

 beg to call the attention of practical op- 

 erators to the matter as worthy their 

 most earnest consideration another sea- 

 son. 



Notwithstanding the unexpected length 

 of this report I cannot forbear to consid- 

 er the application of steam to the expres- 

 sing and evaporation of cane juice. — 

 This agent has only been tested with 

 the Sorghum to a limited extent during 

 the year just closed, but enough to pro;:e 

 that it serves as well with this as with 

 the Southern cane. I think thai the 

 expense of an outfit for working off a 

 crop by steam will hardly be justified 

 except in cases where it is contciTipla- , 

 ted to refine, or use the machinery for 



running a saw or grist mill, or for other 

 work, during the vacations of the cane 

 season. Steam boilers with coil pipe 

 covering the bottom and with wide flar- 

 ing rims like a hatters kettle and with a 

 draw ofi" valve at the bottom to facilitate 

 the "strike," seem to combine more ad- 

 vantage for evaporating than any other 

 arrangement I have examined. 



The vacuum pan is most esteenied in 

 sugar making but is only used when the 

 juice has been concentrated to or beyond 

 25 ® B and when the clarification is com- 

 plete. 



The power of refining is by no means 

 an elaborate or at least intricate one. — 

 In the first place a supply of granulated 

 animal (bone) charcoal is requisite. In 

 the preparation of this large solid bones 

 are preferred, which are placed in clos- 

 ed retorts and burned or heated by fire 

 admitted from a suitable furnace around 

 the retorts, until nothing but the pure 

 coal or carbon remains. This is then 

 removed and the coal broken or ground 

 coarsely in a corn crusher or other mill 

 of some sort. That which passes a No. 4 

 seive is esteemed by refiners as sufficient- 

 ly coarse. That which is not fine enough 

 for passage through such a seive is to be 

 again ground and all of the remainder 

 which passes a No. 10 seive is consider- 

 ed too fine and is to be rejected for this 

 use. This granulated or coarse coal is 

 placed in wooden tubs, frequently six or 

 eight feet deep, with faucets at their 

 lower ends, which may be opened or 

 closed at pleasure. A thick blanket or 

 piece of carpeting covers the bottom of 

 the tub underneath the coal, to act as a 

 strainer. The syrup is now emptied into 

 a tub or tank called a "blow up," in the 

 bottom of which is a wrought metal pipe 

 perforated at intervals with small holes, 

 admitting the steam directly into the 

 syrup when let on from the boiler. This 

 raises the temperature to the boiling 

 point in due time, but as aconsiderab e 

 of it condenses meanwhile, tho syrup is 

 reduced to 25 or 28 ® B by this conden- 

 sation, and a thick gcura is generally 

 thrown up, which, is to be carefully re- 

 moved. If now drawn off and allowed to 

 stand two or three hours a considerable 

 amount of sediment will be precipitated. 

 It is then ready for the coal upon which 

 a stream about the size of a pipe stem is 

 allowed to run; the faucet at the bottom 

 of the coal filter being closed, until the 

 filter tub is full. This should stand 

 about ten hours thus, when the faucet 

 below may be opened, and a small stream 

 allowed to run out, and again the supply 

 of syrup above be permitted to run in 

 once more in the same slow manner as 

 before. This liquid is next to be re-boil- 

 ed to about 32 = B while hot, if for syrup 

 and then drawn into a cooler, and stir- 

 red with a sort of plunger until cooled 

 down to about 150 ^ Fah. othencise there 



