Edible Products. 



38 



[July, 1911. 



in which country a new Pure Food Act 

 on lines similar to the American one, 

 combined with the general shortage of 

 other descriptions of vanilla, has lately 

 stimulated this demand. 



Looking upon Tahitis and also Mexi- 

 cans from the British trade standpoint 

 as outside varieties, chiefly on account 

 of their localised outlet, and in the case 

 of the latter also on account of their ap- 

 pearance at trade centres quite six 

 months after the bulk of the crops from 

 the Indian Ocean Islands have come in, 

 we find, by deducting their returns from 

 the total, a year's yield of 195 tons of 

 vanilla, against 140 tons in 1909-10, a con- 

 siderable increase, but still about 25 per 

 cent, below a normal year's average 

 from the same sources, on which Central 

 and Western Europe are almost entirely, 

 and the United States partly, relying 

 for their supplies, 



The various crops have been : — 



Tons. 



Seychelles ... ... 22 



Bourbon ... ... 45£ 



Comoro and Mayotte ... 52 



Madagascar ... ... 55£ 



Mauritius ... ... 3 



Fiji, Java, and Ceylon ... 7 

 Guadeloupe and Martinique 10 

 Mexican ... ... 135 



Tahiti ... ... 240 



Total ... ... 570 



The outlook for new season's Seychel- 

 les is poor, for Bourbon, Madagascar, 

 and Comoro fair, and for Mexican good. 



INDIAN MANGO JUICE. 



We have received from the Oriental 

 Cannery Co., Honovar, India, a sample 

 tin of this preparation of which we have 

 formed a very favourable opinion. It is 

 of semi-solid consistency, and the colour 

 and taste that of the best ripe mangoes. 

 It is excellent served as a sauce with 

 blanc-mange, etc., and could also be used 

 to make ices, or simply mixed with milk 

 to form "mango fool," or used alone, in 

 place of mango fruits, for dessert. 



According to the report on it from the 

 " Lancet," it is stated to be practically 

 free from sugar, and to possess anti- 

 scorbutic properties, while the British 

 Medical Journal states that it is free 

 from preservatives, and the mateiial 

 appears to consist of nothing but the 

 pure pulp with its natural juice. 



It can therefore be confidently recom- 

 mended as a very satisfactory means of 

 enjoying the mango fruit at any time 

 or place. 



THE RULE OF THUMB IN SUGAR 

 MAKING. 



(From the Louisiana Planter and Sugar 

 Manufacturer, Vol. XLVL, No. 17, 

 " April 29, 1911.) 



In what the survivors of that long 

 departed epoch may term ancient times 



that is before the era of chemical con- 

 trol generally in the operation of our 

 Louisiana sugar factories — the most 

 satisfactory results in the quality of 

 product were often obtained by pro- 

 fessional experts profoundly ignorant 

 of the scientific principles they followed 

 which led to the final accomplishment 

 of their most excellent work, and often 

 unlearned in the rudiments of a common 

 school education. 



The writer of this article has, during 

 several successive years, seen a densely 

 ignorant negro make good sugar through- 

 out the rolling season without compre- 

 hending the special operation of a single 

 one of the several valves of the vacuum 

 pan he attended in turning out such 

 good work. Likewise unlearned oper- 

 atives at the ancient open clarifiers and 

 the still more ancient open kettles, 

 without the least understanding of the 

 chemical principles of sulphuration and 

 the alkaline effect of the lime which 

 neutralized the excess of mineral acids 

 and the normal vegetable acids which 

 held the albumen and other deleterious 

 compounds in solution, have been noted 

 for reliably producing throughout the 

 sugar manufacturing that practically 

 perfect clarification which is the indis- 

 pensable foundation in the art of 

 making the finest quality of sugars. 



In those ancient days the salaries of 

 some of our deservedly famous Louisi- 

 ana sugar makers, who worked, one 

 might say, by a sort of seventh sense of 

 judgment, or through some incompre- 

 hensible talent, and the simple rule of 

 thumb, exceeded for the two or three 

 months of the sugar making season 

 those per month paid the members of 

 our National Cabinet or the Judges of 

 our United States Supr eme Court. And 

 in justice to those latter operatives or 

 experts we may say they fairly earned 

 the high wages for their work ; as their 

 ability was exceptional and its practical 

 results extremely profitable to their 

 fortunate employers, the sugar of whose 

 factories often became famous in the 

 leading markets of the country. 



That chemical control soon destroyed 

 the opportunity or professional career 

 of most of those gifted followers of the 

 laws of practical experience, the sense 

 of individual judgment and the rule of 



