CHAPTER VIII. 



DESCRIPTION OP THE METHOD OF SUGAR-MAKING. USUALLY PRACTISED 



IN THE WEST INDIES LOSSES SUSTAINED BY ITS OPERATION 



CONCLUDING REMARKS. 



I shall now proceed to detail the method of manufacture 

 hitherto pursued in the West Indies, and which, with the 

 exception of a very few individual cases, is at present 

 universally practised. And in doing so, I shall indicate 

 the imperfections of the system, and the losses sustained 

 by its operation. In this description I shall confine myself 

 to the most improved arrangements, where separate clari- 

 fiers are used, although the old method of defecating in the 

 same range of boilers in which the evaporation and concen- 

 tration is effected, is still in some places commonly practised. 

 The two systems are precisely the same, the only difference 

 being in the mechanical arrangement. 



The juice is in most instances expressed in windmills, 

 which by their rapid and irregular motion cause a vast loss 

 by leaving a portion of the juice in the megass, as before 

 pointed out. The liquor flows from the mill-bed (which is 



