Gillies. — On Sorghum Experiments. 265 



On 6th April last I received from Mr. Joseph Banks two tons of Early 

 Amber cane, topped, but unstripped. Although the seed had so far ripened 

 that the birds had nearly stripped it, the cane and leaves were very green 

 owing probably to the unusually moist and cold season. Next day I began 

 my experiments. I weighed one stalk with leaves on, 1 lb. 5 oz., put it 

 through the mill, when the dry residuum (or bagasse) weighed 9 oz., showing 

 57 per cent, of juice obtained. As the juice, however, was very green, I slacked 

 the mill rollers a little and stripped the cane. An average of 12 canes 

 stripped showed 10 lbs. weight or 13-3 oz. per cane. At a later stage of 

 crushing I found 82 canes yielded 3 gallons of juice, weighing 11 lbs. per 

 gallon or 6*44 oz. juice per cane. This is equal to 48-3 per cent, of juice to 

 cane, but on the total crushing of one ton I actually realized only 41-25 per 

 cent, or 84 gallons. This I crushed at the rate of 12 gallons per hour, but in 

 my subsequent crushings, with a faster walking horse, I made 21 gallons per 

 hour. The juice was caught from the mill in graduated galvanized iron buckets 

 and poured at once into the boiler ; it showed a density of 11 at a temperature 

 of 66° F. The fresh juice did not affect blue litmus, but after standing for 

 an hour or two in the boiler it made the litmus a deep indigo colour. The 

 weather in the afternoon was very wet, and as I had no shelter for the canes, 

 they were wet while passing through the mill, thereby to some slight extent 

 affecting the juice. In consequence of the rain I did not proceed to boil 

 and evaporate till next morning. I then found the juice from the top of 

 the boiler weigh 10 lb. 10 oz. per gallon, owing no doubt to part of the solid 

 matter having settled to the bottom. The litmus showed a blue purple 

 colour. Having lit the fire (of Kamo coal) I kept the juice constantly 

 skimmed throughout the whole process. When the thermometer indicated 

 150° F., I added about one quart of cream of lime, stirring it well into the 

 juice. My impression now is that I added too much lime, and that it was 

 not of proper quality. I could not obtain pure shell lime, and had to use 

 Mahurangi hydraulic lime, recently slaked, which I found by another ex- 

 periment rendered the juice acrid. One hour and a quarter from the fire 

 being lit, the juice was boiling. Having allowed it to boil for a few minutes, 

 I drew the fire and allowed the juice to settle. Having allowed sufficient 

 time for that purpose, I began to draw off into the evaporator, but finding a 

 good deal of sedimentary matter still in the juice, and my stopcocks not 

 working properly, I was obliged to dip out the hot juice with buckets and 

 strain it through a clean cornsack into the evaporator. It was then clear 

 and of a dark amber colour. Not wishing to allow the temperature 

 to get below 150° F., I did not take all the juice from the boiler, 

 only about 50 to 55 gallons, and at once started the fire under the 

 evaporator. I then added sulphurous acid until litmus began to redden. 



