126 



MANUFACTURE OF SUGAR. 



is necessary for sugar of the first crystallization ; and it 

 would be better to have a separate apartment for this pur- 

 pose, which can be kept at a temperature of not less than 

 110° F. and occasionally a good deal higher. There need 

 not be so much care taken about the gutters for the pre- 

 servation of the melasses from contamination, as, not being 

 required for reboiling, it can be conveyed by leaden drains 

 to the melasses cistern, to be afterwards used for distillation. 



Every kind of sugar should be rendered perfectly dry 

 before it is packed for shipment, that no loss may be sus- 

 tained by deliquescence on the voyage. Hogsheads are 

 very unsuitable packages for sugar. Boxes containing each 

 from two to five cwt. would be more convenient, and 

 would neither be so costly nor unwieldy as the hhd.; while 

 they would be more conveniently packed away in the store, 

 and easily carted from the estates to the places of shipment. 



Having detailed a plain and convenient method of pro- 

 curing the largest possible amount of sugar from the cane, 

 I shall briefly recapitulate the most important points to be 

 observed in the process, the details of which can be modified 

 in many ways to suit particular circumstances. L To 

 ensure the expression of the largest amount of juice from 

 the cane by adequate machinery. 2. To raise the tem- 

 perature of the juice to the boiling point as fast as it is 

 expressed, and so prevent the destructive change which 

 immediately commences in it when exposed to the usual 

 temperature of the atmosphere. 3. That before the juice 

 is submitted to evaporation, it should be freed by defecation 



