CHINESE AND AFRICAN SUGAR CANE. » 371 
or change in the sugar, except perhaps 2 per cent, of the mass, 
of which no account need be taken. 
The vegetable acids will decompose the sulphite of lime and 
unite w r ith the lime in an insoluble form, and thereby be re- 
moved from contact with the sugar by the filter. 
The coloring matter of the cane syrup comes first, from sub¬ 
stances dissolved in the juice; second , from the contact of 
the air, with the pulp and juice; third , from the heat em¬ 
ployed in the evaporation, changing the character of part of 
the sugar and the substances connected with it ; and lastly , 
from the air, lime and ammonia, aided by neat, during evapora¬ 
tion, giving rise to alkalized coloring matters. These are 
the causes which produce the brown sugar of commerce, and 
the browner molasses from the southern cane fields, and the 
syrup of Sorghum in Wiscpnsin. 
The bisulphite of lime carries away almost immediately the 
coloring matter that exists in the cane and the beet. It pre¬ 
vents the formation of others in the process of manufacture, 
and especially of those formed by the action of the air and a 
free alkali. This bleaching power although not absolute, is 
very great. 
In preventing the coloring of the pulp, the bisulphite is won¬ 
derfully efficacious. Pulp of beets has been kept for six months 
in badly closed vessels, at a temperature of 60°, which re¬ 
mained colorless and unchanged. Without the bisulphite, the 
pulp would have become very brown from the action of the air, 
and have undergone complete fermentation. 
When the evaporation of cane sugar, or cane juice, takes 
place without the use of artificial heat, there will be no color¬ 
ing matter created by fermentation, where the bisulphite is 
used. Where artificial heat is used, the coloring: matter is 
scarcely perceptible. The effect is so great that sugar obtained 
from red beets will be completely colorless by the use of this 
article. 
Bisulphite of lime should be used in the manufacture of 
sugar from cane, beets, or even maple, for the following 
reasons : 
