210 TiMEHRl. 



juice is converted into sugar with such rapidity, that in- 

 version, the cause of so much worry in sugar-making, is 

 prevented, and the enormous coal consumption that 

 existed in 1865 is now represented by a mere fra6lion ; 

 this, with the large amount of labour saved, gives the 

 planters a corresponding benefit for field work. The 

 old planters would say : What a change ! 



I shall try, as far as my memory will allow me, to 

 particularise the various improvements that have gradu- 

 ally taken place. I will take the chemical part first. 

 Sulphuric acid was introduced to give the sugar a better 

 colour, and was used in the pan, taken in when the pan 

 was full. This was improved upon in 1871 by the intro- 

 du6tion by Col. Stewart and Col. True, of the sulphur 

 box for bleaching the liquor, before or after tem- 

 pering. Again, Colonel TRUE improved the colouring of 

 the crystals by introducing the use of bloomer, which has 

 kept up the quality of our sugar to the present day. 

 Since then, phosphoric acid has been largely used. This 

 enables the sugar maker to use a large quantity of lime, 

 which destroys the impurities of the juice, and by using 

 the phosphoric acid, the evil efTefts of over-tempering 

 are destroyed. One of our first improvements in ma- 

 chinery was the juice-heater. This was, I think, intro- 

 duced by Mr. Smith at Ogle in 1864, but it was not in 

 general use until some years later on. It was a decided 

 improvement on the old clarifiers with trunnions, both 

 with regard to the saving of steam and the better clarifi- 

 cation of juice. The Weston centrifugals were now 

 being introduced in lieu of the old Manlove and 

 Alliott, and have proved a great success ; this, with 

 the pug mill, curing sugar more rapidly, and giving a 



