226 STATE BOARD OF HORTICULTURE. 



hold many hundred pounds of syrup and peel, the workmen 

 find it easier to manipulate the syrup than the peel. Each jar 

 is furnished with a simple perforated wooden well, in which a 

 simple suction pump is inserted, so that the syrup can be 

 pumped from one jar into the adjoining one. 



Supposing jar No. 1 is the one which has just been filled 

 with peel brought direct from the copper boiler before men- 

 tioned, then No. 8 will contain peel in the last stage of candying. 

 A syrup of thirty degrees strength by the particular densometer 

 used is prepared and poured into jar No. 8. Here it remains 

 for a day, and then having been weakened by the amount 

 absorbed bj^ the peel, it is pumped into No. 7, and next day 

 from there into No. 6, and so on, so that when it comes 

 to No. 1 it is weak, as is required by new peel. At each 

 operation the density is tested, and should it get too weak it is 

 strengthened. In this way the process is to a large extent 

 self-regulating. 



A slight fermentation often takes place in the jars, and this 

 is considered beneficial if it is not allowed to go too far. 



After the eighth day the fruit is removed from the jar, and 

 boiled in a syrup of a density of forty degrees in large copper 

 vessels over slow coke fires, the peel being gently stirred with a 

 wooden paddle to prevent its adhering to the vessel. 



When taken from the fire it is spread on coarse wire netting 

 over wooden troughs, into which the surplus syrup drains 

 while the peel dries. 



The final operation is the candying, or covering the surface 

 with candied sugar. For this purpose sugar is dissolved in a 

 little water in a copper boiler, and the dr}' peel is immersed 

 and boiled for a short time over a slow fire. It is poured from 

 the coppers on to the wire, and again dried, the sugar this time 

 forming candy or crystals over the surface, and it is ready for 

 the packing-room. 



Citric Acid. — This is manufactured from the citrate of lime. 

 The citrate is mingled with a liquid composed of six parts of 

 water and one part of pure sulphuric acid. The latter decom- 

 poses the citrate of lime, unites with the lime to form sulphate 

 of lime, or gypsum, and liberates the citric acid in solution in 

 the water, from which it is separated by evaporation in pans. 

 The crystals are afterward redissolved, and purified with animal 

 carbon and hydrochloric acid. 



