Cane Mills; and Megass as Fuel.* 
By the Hon. W. Russell. 
CCORDING to the promise made when Mr. 
Shields read his valuable paper on cane- 
crushing, I have now the pleasure of laying 
my views before the Society, coupled with certain de- 
tailed information gained from experiments made. 
Mr. Shields has been a trifle hard on the engineers 
who have hitherto supplied the crushing mills and 
engines for this colony, and he will find that there is 
a wide range between the makers. 
While I am at one with Mr. SHIELDS in thinking that 
more power is called for to do anything like justice 
in reducing the enormous loss to which he has pointed in 
his paper, I cannot agree with him that cylinder enlarge- 
ment alone is the one thing necessary. 
Very recent experience on my part points to the 
absolute necessity of having strength all through the 
machine, an enlarged cylinder, with the same initial 
pressure of steam, having smashed up crank shafts, 
pinions, couplings, &c. I have in many instances 
seen an enlarged cylinder applied with marked success, 
where the engineer deemed it prudent to lower the 
boiler pressure from 75 to 50 Tbs. ; but an enlarged 
cylinder with the same initial pressure on the piston 
means mischief. I could instance many accidents due 
* Paper read at the Royal Agricultural and Commercial Society's 
Meeting, January 10. 
