76 



MANUFACTURE OF SUGAR. 



which was pointed out by several parties as one of the best, 

 capable of grinding six hhds. of 40 inch truss per day. 

 The velocity was 8 revolutions per minute, diameter under 

 24 inches, return 45 per cent. In other words, for every 

 6 hhds. of sugar made, 6 hhds. remained in the megass, 

 and were lost. * * * Woodbrook vertical mill in 

 Trinidad, at a speed of 10 revolutions per minute, gave 35 

 per cent, of liquor. The best mill I saw in the Leeward 

 Islands, was that of M. Bauscarin in Gaudaloupe. It 

 gave 73 per cent., speed 3 revolutions per minute, diameter 

 24 inches. On submitting the megass afterwards to a 

 powerful hydraulic press, it yielded 10 per cent, more, 

 making in all 83 out of the 90 per cent, contained in the 

 cane. The hydraulic presses were found too expensive, and 

 therefore discontinued. * * * Had this mill been 

 reduced in speed to 2 or %\ revolutions per minute, with 

 an increase of one inch in the diameter of the rollers, there 

 can be little doubt that the megass would have been equally 

 laminated, and 80 per cent, obtained, without recourse to 

 the hydraulic press. Every quality required in a mill 

 may thus be secured, by diminishing the velocity, and 

 increasing the length of the rollers, in proportion to the 

 amount of liquor required. The bearings, of course, must 

 be strengthened in the same ratio. The greater the 

 diameter, ceteris paribus, the less will the megass be torn." 



To show that this is not a theoretical deduction, unsup- 

 ported by practice ; and to prove that the power of mills is 

 not diminished with their speed, but that they are capable 



