66 



MANUFACTURE OP SUGAR. 



Third, — The method for procuring the largest quantity 

 and purest quality of sugar from the expressed juice, with 

 a description of the imperfect process which has hitherto 

 been employed, and of which M. Michiel in a recent 

 pamphlet justly says, u it has little, if at all, improved since 

 the days of Marco Paolo, six centuries ago/' 



The cane, when ripe, contains, according to Peligot and 

 other analysts, about 18 per cent, of sugar, 10 per cent, of 

 ligneous matter, and 72 per cent, of water, with a small 

 amount of impurities, varying in quantity with the nature 

 of the soil, or the circumstances under which the canes are 

 grown. These impurities, although existing in minute 

 quantities, exert a very deleterious influence upon the sugar 

 during the process of manufacture. They consist chiefly of 

 saline matter, and of a highly deliquescent substance, the 

 composition of which does not appear to be known, and 

 which Hervey simply designates "matiere deliquescente/" 

 The proportions of sugar and water differ according to the 

 ripeness and perfection of the cane, some canes containing 

 much more than the 18 per cent, of sugar assumed as the 

 usual quantity, the amount of water decreasing in the same 

 proportion — old hard ratoons also contain more ligneous 

 matter than soft and juicy canes. 



An erroneous idea seems to prevail, that a portion of 

 the sugar contained in the cane exists in a state of ready 

 formed crystals ; and I am the more particular in noticing 

 this error, as I perceive that Mr. Wray, in the " Practical 

 Sugar Planter," not only asserts that this is the case, 



