SUGAR-CANE JUICE CLARIFICATION. 13 
By employing the method of clarification with infusorial earth 
as described above the practicability of vacuum evaporation for 
sirup manufacture is increased largely. This condition is just a 
little different from any at present existing. In the regions where 
sirup is made without the use of sulphur or lime, owing to the neces- 
sity of almost continuous skimming, all factories employ open vats 
or pans for evaporation. In Louisiana and parts of Texas, where 
large amounts of sirup are made in vacuum pans, the juice is clari- 
fied with lime and sulphur dioxid. Using this infusorial earth clari- 
fication method, the juice is ready to go to the evaporators after 
coming from the filter presses without further treatment. The juice 
is clean and clear, no further scums appear during evaporation, and 
no coagulation or sedimentation takes place as the juice becomes 
more and more concentrated. 
In connection with this work on clarification a small vacuum pan 
was installed. The filter-pressed juice was taken directly into the 
pan and evaporated to sirup, the pan being charged continuously 
until its capacity w T as reached. The sirup thus produced was 
of a light color, comparing very favorably in this respect with 
the highest grade of Louisiana sirups. The flavor, which, after all, 
is the principal quality to be considered, was excellent. It was 
quite mild, yet possessed the pleasant aroma and flavor characteristic 
of good cane sirup and w T as free from the peculiar after-effect that the 
highly sulphured sirup of Louisiana often leaves in the throat. In 
the author's opinion the flavor had lost nothing by the vacuum evapo- 
ration, though it may have been somewhat milder than that of the 
ordinary run of sirups, a characteristic that is decidedly desirable 
if a large market is to be developed for cane sirup in our Northern 
and Eastern States. 
It is claimed by many that sirups made by the ordinary method 
of clarification with lime and sulphur are darkened by evaporation 
in the multiple effects and pans and that vigorous open evaporation 
makes a lighter sirup. This was not found to be the case with 
sirups clarified by infusorial earth filtration, but rather a lighter 
sirup was produced in the vacuum pan than in the open evaporators. 
No darkening of the sirup in the vacuum pan in excess of that pro- 
duced by open evaporation was observed. In fact, the sirup made 
by vacuum evaporation was in general much lighter in color than 
that made entirely in open evaporators. 
