102 
AMERICAN AGRICULTURIST. 
[March, 
lot a sample was sent to us by Mr. I. A. Hedges, 
who is Secretary of the Association above men¬ 
tioned. Mr Hedges has been closely identified 
with the sorghum sugar interest for some years, 
and has recently published a small book on the 
gravity to the boiling pans. This plan, however, 
contains the whole of the machinery, the engine is 
seen on the left, and the mill with feeding and dis¬ 
charging apron connected with it on the right. 
The discharging apron conveys the “ begasse ” or 
Fig. 3.— INTERIOR VIEW OF A STEAM SUGAR HOUSE. 
subject, in which he gives details of what has been 
effected so far in producing sugar from sorghum. 
It would appear that sugar of excellent quality 
may be made from Amber Cane wherever com can be 
grown ; the only question now to be solved is, can 
it be grown profitably. Pi-ojitably is a relative and 
not absolute term in this sense. A farmer may 
grow cane and make sugar for his own use profita¬ 
bly when he could not devote his sole attention 
Fig. 4.— THE BOILING PANS. 
to the business with profit; he may occupy his 
time and facilities that are not otherwise employed, 
and so in reality procure his sugar with but a very 
small outlay, just as one may make maple sugar at 
this season with profit by using time that would 
be otherwise idle. To know how this may be done 
is therefore a matter of interest to all farmers. 
Amber Cane is grown and cultivated precisely the 
same as com ; the soil need not be in high condition 
to produce sugar; a fairly good, cleau soil having 
lime in its composition, or being fertilized with 
300 lbs. of gypsum per acre, is the most suitable. 
The crop is ready for gathering when the seed is 
hardening, or when almost fully ripe. The stalks 
are topped, stripped of leaves, and cut, bound in 
bundles, and set up in shocks until required for 
milling. The stalks are pressed in a mill having 
powerful rollers (fig. 1), and operated by horse or 
other power. The juice is gathered in tubs or a 
vat, from which it can be raised by a pump and 
poured into the filter, from which it passes to the 
boiling pans (fig. 4). The whole process of boiling, 
clearing, or defecating, and concentrating the juice, 
may be explained through the accompanying plan 
(fig. 3) of a sugar factory designed by Mr. Hedges 
and described by him in the book previously men¬ 
tioned. The building is 60x40 feet on the ground 
and 20 feet to the eaves, and if it is practicable, at 
the foot of a bank, upon which the crushing mill 
may be placed, so that the juice may flow by 
crashed stalks into the furnace beneath the boiler 
of the engine. The juice flows from the mill into 
a sunken tank under it, from which it is pumped 
into the elevated reservoir, A. From this it passes 
into temporary tanks, B, in which it is “ neutral¬ 
ized” by the addition of cream of lime, by which 
the natural acidity of the juice is corrected and the 
solid impurities are caused to settle. The cleared 
juice is drawn by a pipe into the heater, C. This 
is 25 feet long, 3 feet wide, and 14 inches deep, 
made of sheet iron three-sixteenths of an inch 
thick. The heater slopes to one end to facilitate 
skimming, and is covered with lids, to encourage 
the boiling. The boiling juice is skimmed, and 
the scum is drawn off with a light scraper into a 
tank, D, at the upper end of the heater. The steam 
from the heater is carried off through a chimney 
of boards, E, passing through the roof. The juice 
passes through this pan in a steady stream through 
a pipe into a second one, F, made, of sheet iron, 
enclosed for protection in a wooden tank. In this 
the juice is left to settle, and is drawn off into a 
third pan, parallel with it, O, in which it is again 
boiled with the addition of more cream of lime to 
neutralize acidity, or albuminous matter, such as 
the white of egg or blood, is added to cause the 
liquid to throw up in the form of scum all impurities 
contained in it. In the plan, this pan or defecator 
has a steam coil for heating. The scum from this 
pan is raked off into the spout at the upper end, 
Fig. 5.—THE “CENTRIFUGAL.” 
from which it passes into a vat where it settles and 
separates, and from which the clear syrup is drawn 
off to be returned to the heaters. When sufficient¬ 
ly concentrated the syrup is drawn off into the 
cooler, H, and from this into barrels. If Intended 
for sugaring, the syrup is more carefully worked 
and purified in this pan, and then run off into a 
granulating vat sunk in the ground under the pan 
or elsewhere, in which, after standing some time, 
the sugar separates, and the molasses is 
pumped off. For small works a finishing 
pan (fig. 2) designed by Mr. Hedges may 
be used. This can be emptied by tilting 
into a movable vat, from which the molas¬ 
ses may be removed, to granulate. After 
granulation the sugar is separated by drain¬ 
ing in a vat or barrel, or is “ swung ” in a 
“ centrifugal” (fig. 5) in a similar manner 
to that in which honey is freed from the 
comb. The process of sugar-making does 
not depend upon the use of any particular 
machinery, but upon certain mechanic¬ 
al and chemical operations, in which the 
water of the juice and any vegetable fibre, 
or other impurities contained in it, are 
removed, and from which the actual sugar 
is separated. Mr. Hooker, of Illinois, has 
succeeded in producing sugar in the fol¬ 
lowing simple manner: A wooden, 2-roll, 
mill, fig. 6, a tub, and an evaporator, made 
on the same plan as that shown at figure 
2. The juice (27 gallons) was poured into 
the boiler, and when the juice was warm 
a tablespoonful of soda was added; the 
scum was removed as it rose ; when the 
juice was reduced to a thin syrup a tub 
of fresh juice was added, the soda was 
again used, and the skimming and boil¬ 
ing repeated ; this process was continued 
a third time, and the juice boiled down until sugar 
was found by the tests used in making maple sugar 
to be ready to granulate. The syrup was then run 
into a tank and set away in a warm place to granulate 
and separate. The sugar made in this way was of 
Fig. 6.—A TWO-ROLL MILL. 
good quality; but from defective neutralization the 
quantity was too small and the molasses was acid. 
At Crystal Lake, Ill., the cane from 600 acres was 
used the past year. The crop was very light, the 
season being unfavorable and the growers inex¬ 
perienced ; much of 
the planting was not 
completed until June 
20th. The yield was 
so satisfactory that 
preparations are mak¬ 
ing for an extensive 
business the coming 
season. In this in¬ 
stance the best sugar 
machinery was used, 
including a costly va¬ 
cuum pan and the 
best practical and ex¬ 
perienced sugar ex¬ 
perts were employed. 
The parties consider 
that the question of 
-EVAPORATOR. 
Fig. 7.- 
the profitable manufacture of sugar from sorghum 
is settled, provided the growers produce the 
syrup, and experienced sugar-makers work it up 
into the final product with the proper machinery. 
