68 



MANUFACTURE OF SUGAR. 



extent in fine, rich, and fully matured canes, than in any 

 others, which assures us of this singular fact, that the 

 more rich and ripe our canes are at the time of cutting, 

 and the more dry the weather has been, the greater is the 

 deposit of saccharine crystallizable matter, in a concrete 

 form, and consequently the greater is our loss when means 

 are not used to secure this rich store. With this great 

 fact before us, it becomes the planter's duty to inquire,, 

 what means he can employ to prevent so serious a loss to 

 his estate. Nothing is more natural and necessary than 

 such a question, and it can be easily and satisfactorily 

 answered. The appliance of a liberal quantum of hot 

 water to the crushed cane, whilst passing along the band 

 from one set of rollers to the other, will be found a simple 

 and sufficiently efficacious means of obtaining the desired 

 object/' &c. &c. 



Mr. Thomas Burnell also, in a letter addressed to Lord 

 Elgin, published with the Jamaica Prize Essays, remarks 

 on the same subject,— " That sugar exists in a pure 

 form in the cane, is evident; as a microscopic inspec- 

 tion of a thin section will present the perfectly formed 

 crystals, filling the angles and coating the sides of the 

 hexagonal cells, according to its state of maturity, with 

 a column of limpid fluid in the centre, which gradually 

 diminishes in volume as the cane ripens, and the crystals 

 form from this mother-water/' &c. &c. 



I have seen remarks, having the same tendency, from 

 various other sources ; and I have observed, that all manu- 



