368 
SOU T KEEN CULTIVATOR 
the cane at the ground and throw it into piles, from 
whence it is hauled to the press. 
Prior to the harvesting, a set of proper rollers and 
kettles should be provided and well set up, ready for ser- 
vice. The mill made use of by Mr. Peters, and which 
was gotten up under his direction for the purpose, is, in 
my opinion, of very unexceptionable quality for a small 
apparatus and works admirably. It is of a suitable size 
for a small crop, and no farmer should undertake to sup 
ply its place by wooden rollers for a crop of even two 
acres. The loss of juice will more than counterbalance 
the difference in expense. It is worked by two mules. 
Three kettles of from 60 to 100 gallons capacity, will be 
required to keep pace fully with the mill. It is desirable 
that these should be broad and shallow, that they may 
present a large evaporating surface, and substantially set 
in brick for security and convenience. They should not 
be distant from the press, and if upon ground lower than the 
latter, an advantage is gained in running the expressed 
juice directly into them, and thus saving the labor of 
transfer. 
PRESSING. 
The canes, located conveniently at hand, are one by 
one doubled in the middle and forced between the rollers, 
which are kept in as close proximity as the strength of 
the mill and the power of the mules will warrant. An 
active hand will feed the mill easily, if the canes be placed 
within his reach. A boy is required to drive, and if the 
mill be well constructed to throw off the bagass from be- 
hind, nothing more is required except an occasional re- 
moval of the latter by a pitchfork to keep it out of the way 
of the mules.* 
KGILING DOWN. 
One of the first things done in commencing operations 
should be to start the fire under the kettles, that they may 
be well warmed by the time the juice is ready for them. 
The fires should be so arranged that they may be under 
good control, to be forced or withdrawn as occasion may 
require. When the juice is placed in the boiler, the fire 
should be gradually increased to a simmering heat, (not 
to active boiling) and maintained at this temperature until 
a thick green gum rises to the surface and forms into puffs, 
seeming ready to crack. This scum when fully formed 
should be removed clean from the surface. The heat may 
now be raised to boiling and kept in an active state of 
ebulition, until the bulk is reduced one-half. The fire 
may now be removed from one kettle and its contents be 
transferred to the other, when the heat must be gradually 
moderated as the syrup becomes more concentrated, to 
avoid the danger of scorching, which injures the color 
and flavor. Should more dirty green scum rise to the 
surface after the first skimming, it should likewise be re- 
moved. 
In regard to the precise degree of concentration to which 
the syrup should be brought, it is exceedingly difficult to 
lay down any precise and simple rule which shall meet 
every case. The plan for determining it, in use on the 
sugar plantations, and which was adopted by Governor 
Hammond and Mr. Peters, is based upon the judgment of 
the eye in re.'^pect to the consistence of the syrup when 
poured from the ladle and cooled as it drops from its edge. 
This test is evidently very defective, since the tempera- 
ture of the atmospheie regulates the consistence which the 
syrup must assume on cooling down— so that a syrup 
boiled on a cold day will necessarily be thin and watery 
as the weather moderates, and a syrup finished at night 
will differ materially from that of the noon day. Although 
a good approximation, it is not exact enough for the tyro — 
to secure a desirable uniformity in the consi.stence and 
value of the product, or to obviate the danger ol fennen- 
*Ttie ifcver or beam <.f the Mil ghoiild I e much Jon ll.aai tia 
repyeaented ia the above engravin.?,— F.of. 
tation and loss. To remedy this uncertainty and secure 
a uniform result at all times, I have constructed a simple 
instrument which determines readily and witn certainty 
the precise moment when the syrup should be removed 
from the fire and transferred to the barrels. For the con- 
venience of those who may desire this aid, I shall prepare 
a number of them during the season, which may be fur- 
nished by mail. With such a guide to the uninitiated, 
there are certainly few more simple operations upon the 
farm than the manufacture of syrup from this cane. 
It is a prevalent opinion that lime should always be 
added to the juice as soon as it is pressed out, and the idea 
has been advanced that it could not be clarified without 
lime. This is ' undoubtedly a mistake; the jnice alone, 
under my hands, clarifies itself more readily without lime 
than with it. The latter answers no useful purpose, so 
far as the syrup is concerned, save to neutralize the free- 
acid (phosphoric) which exists naturally in the cane. 
Lime darkens the color, and, to my taste, detracts from the 
peculiar grateful flavor of the syrup. Many would, per- 
haps, object to the slight acidity. To such I would say,, 
use the lime, but use it sparingly. To prepare it for use, 
take a half-peck of lime, slake it in u bucket of water, 
gradually added, stir up well and strain the milk through 
a cloth ; let it settle for half a day, pour off the water and 
dry the power. Of the latter, you may use from a half a 
teaspoonful to two teaspoonfuls for every five gallons juice 
after the scum has been removed. 
The scum is used in the West Indies for the manufac- 
ture of Rum, the details of which are entirely too elabor- 
ate to be introduced here. It may be also advantageous- 
ly disposed of as food for hogs. The qaantily of sacchar- 
ine matter left in the bagass renders it a nutritious food 
for stock. This refuse, by leaching water through it, 
yields a sacharine solution which may be fermented into 
beer or vinegar, and may be distilled into whiskey and al- 
cohol. It may be also advantageously used to cover the 
cut canes in hot weather, when it may be desired to have 
a large quantity kept at the mill for days and weeks be- 
fore being all used. The constant evaporation of the juice 
in the bagass keeps the cane beneath at a temperature so 
low as to prevent fermentation, as well as the drying of 
the cane. It will also serve to shield it from the frost. A 
suggestion has been made to convert the ligneous fibre 
into paper. It certainly is a better material fur this pur- 
pose than much that is now employed. It is, however, 
an object of minor importance with the Southern planter, 
as yet. 
As a manure, the bagass is evidently a most valuable 
article, for its large amount of phosphoric acid, added to 
the decomposing vegetable and the other mineral matters 
wiiich it contains, while the remaining portions of sacch- 
arine juice readily induce a fermentation which ends in 
putrifaction and leaves the mass in a fit state for the nour- 
ishment of plants. The large quantities of mineral matter, 
and particularly the phosphoric acid, which the cane in its 
growth must remove from the soil, necessarily imply that 
it will be an exhausting crop, since these materials certain- 
ly cannot be furnished by the atmosphere. This evil may 
in great part be removed by carefully returning to the soil 
again the refuse in ihe form of manure. If other fertilizers 
be needed to repair the waste, Mexican guanos, or Phos- 
phates, which are now offered at low prices, would doubt- 
less be advantageous. 
In the experiments made by me during the winter of 
165.3, and also at the farm of Air. Peters in Gordon county, 
in September last, 1 was forcibly struck with the better 
quality of the juice arown in our section of country as 
co npired with that experimented upon by Alons Vilmor- 
in, wi'O- e paper will be found translated in the back num- 
bers, fir the present year, of the Working Parmer. He 
gives the density of his “sap” at 1,050 to i,075, while that 
