Edible Products. 



520 



[June, 1912. 



As the crop approaches maturity, the 

 ryot should get ready his milling place 

 and furnace in a suitable site close to 

 the cane garden, avoiding having to 

 carry canes to long distances. A shed 

 is to be put up very close to the boiling 

 place, to provide sheltei for the jaggery 

 while cooling and solidifying, and to 

 store the produce. It is advisable to 

 erect a pandal over the milling place, 

 to protect the canes and cattle from the 

 hot suu while working in the day. 



The oven or furnace is the first thing 

 to be attended to. In several parts of 

 the Presidency the defective furnace in 

 use— a siugle open pit with a broad gate- 

 way — for jaggery making causes con- 

 siderable loss because of the extra fuel 

 required. With such a furnace, in addi- 

 tion to trash (the dried leaves of the 

 sugarcane) and megass (the remains of 

 the canes after the juice has been pressed 

 out) extra fuel worth Rs. 25 to Rs. 30 per 

 acre is necessary but with the one des- 

 cribed below it is not necessary to 

 spend a pie for additional fuel except 

 for the first few buildings, and this may 

 be got from the previous year's surplus. 

 The main feature of the furnace is the 

 ash chamber with the draught passage. 

 It is partly built up. A mound 3 feet 

 high is raised and one side of it is made 

 nearly vertical. Prom this side an open- 

 ing 14 inches wide and 2 feet high is made 

 into the fire-pit fotmed in the centre of 

 the mound. It is in the form of a cup 

 with sides slopiug toward the middle 

 and is so constructed that at the top 

 there is left an opening which is a little 

 smaller than the diameter of the pan. 

 At the bottom of the fire-pit an iron 

 grating about 21" square is placed 

 through which ashes fall down into the 

 ash chamber. Fuel is fed from the open- 

 ing, noted above, situated near the mill- 

 ing yard and generally to the leeward 

 side. A tunnel passes out of the ash 

 chamber, at right angles to the opening of 

 the fire-pit above, through which ashes 

 can be drawn out by means of a rake 

 whenever required. This is x>erfectly 

 placed on the windward 9ide to provide 

 good draught into the fire-pit through 

 the grating, and facilitate complete 



burning of the fuel. The ash chamber 

 is circular, about 4 feet at bottom, 1£ 

 feet at top and 4 feet deep. It is in the 

 form of an inverted cup. The grating— 

 a perforated iron sheet 21" square with 

 9 holes, each 35" in diameter — rests on 

 the top of the ash pit and over this a 

 layer of mud S to 4 inches thick (keeping 

 the holes open) may be plastered to 

 protect the iron sheet from melting. 

 The top of the fire-place is almost of the 

 same diameter as the bottom of the pan 

 so that the bottom of the pan rests on 

 the edge of the oven exposing the maxi- 

 mum surface to the fire. The inside ot 

 the fire-pit, ash chamber and draught 

 passage may be lined with mud brick9 

 which will become burnt in course of 

 time. On one side of the mound a plat- 

 form is to be made towards the shed 

 for placing the pan when removed from 

 the fire-place, to store juice in a reser- 

 voir and to provide moving place for 

 workmen. Such a furnace costs about 

 Rs. 4 or 5 if ot mud only, and Rs. 12 

 when lined with sun-dried bricks. 



Iron mills only can be recommended 

 and they can be bought for Rs. 60 to 

 Rs. 150 depending on the size of the mill, 

 the frame and the number of rollers. 

 For further advice write to the Deputy 

 Director of Agriculture of the Division. 



The next consideration is about the 

 proper pan to use. Different forms of 

 pan-, are in use and a shallow pan with 

 as big a diameter as possible is recom- 

 mended. Such iron pans about 7 feet 

 in diameter can be had from Godavari 

 at Rs. 30 to 35. These last for a num- 

 ber of years but the bottoms are to be 

 replaced once in three years, at a cost of 

 Rs. 10. In Coimbatore district similar 

 pans with 5 feet at bottom and 7 feet at 

 top are available at Rs. 20 to 24 each. 



Having secured the necessary things 

 and extra fuel for initial boilings, crush- 

 ing may be commenced. The cutting of 

 canes is done by a knife close to the 

 ground, but an inch stubble is left if 

 the crop is to be ratooned. The tops are 

 cut off with sickle and used as fodder. 

 The dead leaves are then stripped off 

 with the sickle and used as fuel or for 



