6 TiMEHRI. 



readily through ordinary grate bars, and they lie packed 

 so closely together that the free passage of the air 

 required for combustion is impeded. Hence if their 

 theoretical value as fuel is to be made available, some 

 special arrangement of furnace will have to be adopted. 

 We do not doubt that this will be done, as there does 

 not appear to be any greater inherent difficulty in 

 rendering these chips available as fuel than in the 

 case of sawdust. If we assume that their theoretical 

 value can be utilised, let us try to estimate this, and 

 compare it with the fuel value of megass from mills 

 with an extra6lion of 72 per cent. With such an 

 extra6lion every 100 lbs. of cane yields 28 lbs. of 

 megass, this megass contains 13 lbs. of woody fibre 

 and about 2'6 lbs. of sugar. The woody fibre and 

 sugar together contain about 7*65 lbs. of carbon. 

 With diffusion the sugar in the megass pra6lically 

 disappears altogether and we have the 13 lbs. of woody 

 fibre per 100 lbs. canes containing 6^ lbs. of carbon. 

 Thus assuming the quantity of water per lb. of carbon 

 is the same in double-crushed megass and double- 

 crushed chips, the value of the fuel in the two cases 

 will be as 7*65 is to 6*50, or as 100 is to 85 nearly, 

 per 100 lbs. canes. 



It will be more convenient, however, for our purpose, 

 if we compare the value of these chips with that of 

 double-crushed megass per ton of sugar made. 



In the case of double crushing, 11 tons of canes will 

 give I ton of sugar in British Guiana and these 1 1 tons 

 of canes will give 3'o8 tons of megass : 4*4 tons of such 

 megass are equivalent to i ton of coal (I assume that 

 lib. of such megass will evaporate 1*36 lbs. of water, 



