80 MANUFACTURE OF SUGAR. 



which, if brought into the market, instead of being wasted 

 in the niegass, would, even if manufactured in the usual 

 faulty manner, in a short time be sufficient for the purchase 

 of a steam engine and improved mill, and so save the 

 necessity of embarking further capital. The average 

 yearly loss of sugar in the West Indies, from this source 

 alone, is supposed to amount to 70,000 tons. 



Many planters are impressed with the idea, that wind is 

 the most economical power which can be applied for driving 

 cane mills, whereas the reverse is the case ; for not only is 

 it the most unmanageable force which could be used, but it is 

 so uncertain, that great delay and loss are often experienced, 

 either from a deficiency of wind, or from its being so 

 boisterous and squally as to be dangerous; and, indeed, 

 even when a fresh breeze does prevail, and the planter 

 congratulates himself upon the rapidity with which his 

 work progresses, he is actually, though unwittingly, the 

 greater loser, because, as we have seen above, his loss of 

 juice is greater in an exact ratio as the mill revolves more 

 rapidly. Mr. Daubree, in alluding to this circumstance, 

 remarks,— " Sometimes the breeze is so violent, that the 

 mill is fed with difficulty, and liquor overflows on all sides. 

 The unsuspecting planter congratulates himself on his 

 good luck, forgetting that his canes are less pressed in 

 proportion to the increased velocity, and that in fact he is 

 then losing perhaps 10 per cent, more than usual." 



The irregular velocity of the windmill renders it much 

 inferior to any other description of mill for crushing canes. 



