SUGAR-BEET 



SUGAR-CANE 



599 



the sugar. About 80 per cent of the water in the 

 original juice is taken out in the evaporators. The 

 "effects," as they are called, are built in a series, 

 usually four in number, and so connected with a 

 vacuum pump that the heat of the first effect, 

 where the juice boils at the ordinary temperature, 

 causes the juice in the second to boil, but under a 

 vacuum ; the second heats the third, the third heats 

 the fourth. The following table will illustrate this : 



Having reached the density of about 32° Baume, 

 the juice in the fourth effect is pumped to the 

 sulfur station for further treatment. The sulfuring 

 of the "thick juice" takes place as with the thin 

 juice. Having been reduced to the required alka- 

 linity, the thick juice is then ready for filtration 

 and boiling in the pan. 



Securing the massecuite. — The pan is a large tank 

 built of cast iron, fourteen feet in diameter and 

 fifteen feet high on the average. It is connected 

 with a vacuum pump in order that the boiling of 

 the juices may take place at low temperatures 

 without the danger of destroying the sugar. As 

 long as the juices have been treated properly in 

 the first part of the process, there will be no trouble 

 in producing a good grade of sugar in the pan. In 

 order to get a high-purity massecuite from the first 

 pan, it is necessary to have juices of high purity to 

 start with. The massecuite is a mixture of sugar 

 crystals, which are formed in the process of boiling, 

 and sirup from which all of the sugar has not been 

 crystallized. This mixture of sugar crystals and 

 sirup secured from the first pan is run through the 

 centrifugal machines, revolving at the rate of 1,200 

 revolutions per minute. The sirup is thrown out 

 through the fine perforations in the walls of the 

 machine and carried into tanks used only for col- 

 lecting this product. In the bottom of the centrif- 

 ugal machine is a covered opening through which 

 the sugar is dropped into a scroll that carries it up 

 to the sugar box, from whence it is passed through 

 the drier before it is put in the sacks for the 

 market. 



The sirup is then sent to the pan floor to be 

 boiled in the second pan, in order that it may 

 be further concentrated and more sugar secured. 

 When of the necessary density, it is run into large 

 tanks and allowed to remain until all the sugar 

 possible has been crystallized. This is the second 

 massecuite, and the sugar from it is used to get a 

 higher grade of sirup from which to produce a 

 high grade of white sugar. 



Treating the molasses. — The molasses from this is 

 treated in various ways to get all the sugar pos- 

 sible, either by the "osomose process " or by the 

 " Steffens process." The osmose consists of a series 



of frames separated by parchment paper ; the hot 

 molasses passes through the press on one side of 

 the paper and the hot water on the other side. The 

 principle employed is the same as that of the diffu- 

 sion battery, with this exception, that in this case 

 the impurities, or salts as they are called, are dis- 

 solved instead of the sugar. In the Steffens process, 

 the molasses is treated with powdered lime, and the 

 sugar forming a combination with the lime in the 

 cold is- separated from the mother liquor by means 

 of presses, and is then diluted to a certain density; 

 it is run into the juice of the first carbonatation 

 and the combination of lime and sugar is broken 

 up, setting the sugar free while the insoluble lime 

 carbonate is formed as the lime-cake. 



This, in general, is the process by which the 

 sugar in the sugar-beet is converted into the gran- 

 ulated sugar used on our tables. 



SUGAR-CANE. Saccharum qffleinarum, Linn. 

 Graminem. Pigs. 826-836 ; also Pig. 517, page 

 367. [See, also, the articles on Porto Rico, Hawaii, 

 and Philippines in Vol. I.] 



By iV. A. Cobb. 



Sugar-cane is a gigantic perennial grass grown 

 for its stems, the juice of which is extracted for 

 the making of sugar and molasses. The plant 

 grows 8 to 15 feet tall, producing solid heavy 

 maize-like jointed stalks. The flowers are perfect, 

 very numerous in large silky terminal panicles ; 

 stigmas 2, spreading; stamens 3. The genus to 

 which the plant belongs contains several species, 

 and it is even a moot question whether the various 

 varieties of sugar-cane do not 

 include representatives of more 

 than one of these. In an article 

 of this nature it is impossible 

 to consider the biology of the 

 sugar-cane further than is 

 necessary graphically to por- 

 tray the main industrial fea- 

 tures of the subject. We must 

 be content, therefore, with the 

 statement that all of the dozen 

 species belonging to the sugar- 

 cane genus are Old World 

 plants. It is doubtful whether 

 wild sugar-cane has been seen 

 by any scientist. It is thought 

 that its natural habitat was 

 southeastern Asia or the adjacent large tropical 

 islands. Several varieties of the species are enu- 

 merated by agrostologists. 



Sugar-cane has been cultivated so long that its 

 origin is lost in antiquity. Its parts are so perish- 

 able that it is extremely improbable that any fossil 

 evidence will be discovered showing its connection 

 with man in prehistoric times. The probabilities 

 are that it was used by man ages before there is 

 any record of such a fact, and that its culture was 

 among the first undertaken by tropical peoples. In 

 these early times, however, its use was confined 

 almost exclusively to such varieties as could be 

 eaten raw. Only with the art of extracting the 



Fig. 826. 

 Splkelet of sugar-cane 



(Saccharum offid- 

 narutn), opened to 

 show floret. 



