Robinsons Patent Sugar Mills, 



125 



in such inquiry ; but at the present time they acquire a new degree 

 of interest by the circumstances in which we are placed. 



M. Peligot therefore deserves commendation for having undertaken 

 these researches, and the more so, as he has been able to rectify 

 some very material errors in the important art of extracting sugar 

 from the cane. The authors who had hitherto studied the analysis 

 of the Sugar-cane juice considered it as water holding in solution su- 

 gar, gum, albumina, mucilaginous matter, a kind of soapy substance, 

 acids, and divers salts ; according to their notions it was a liquid of a 

 very compound nature, and from thence they inferred that it was 

 so difficult to extract the sugar from it. M. Peligot, on the contrary 

 proves that the juice of the Sugar-cane, when filtered, is composed 

 simply of four parts of water and one of crystallizable sugar ; that it 

 is nothing but sweetened or sugared water, or at least that the other 

 saline or organic substances which are found therein do not exceed 

 17 parts in 1000 by weight. 



By the sugar mill ordinarily employed to express the juice, the 

 quantity obtained only averages from 45 to 55 per cent. It is true, 

 that some canes may contain less than the above proportion of juice, 

 and that in some few cases better results may be obtained from 

 the mills ; but it is admitted on all hands, that the general result 

 is very much below what it ought to be. A large proportion of the 

 saccharine juice remains in the canes after the present operation, 

 which is lost to the manufacturer, or only goes to increase the com- 

 bustible character of the canes when used as fuel. 



Nor is the deficiency of production the only defect of the present 

 sugar mills; those persons who have had any experience in the 

 colonial sugar manufactures, know full well the loss and annoyance 

 which continually arise from the frequent breakage of the machinery. 



To our readers it may be observed, that owing to the carelessness 

 of the parties employed, and the imperfection of the machinery, 

 breakage is a common accident, and one which, from the very inade- 

 quate means of repair to be met with in the colonies, frequently 

 causes the loss of the " crop" or entire year's labour and expenditure 

 of the planter. 



With a view to remedy both these defects, an arrangement of 

 machinery is proposed to be substituted for that heretofore used, the 



