362        IMPROVEMENTS  IN  THE  MANUFACTURE  OF  SUGAR. 
that  after  being  carried  in  paper  in  the  hold  of  a  ship  some  weeks 
only  a  few  moist  spots  are  observable.  This  every  one  knows  is 
possible  only  with  very  dry  sugar.  The  color  is  light  grey,  or 
better  than  colonial  sugar  from  which  the  treacle  is  extracted. 
In  other  words,  this  is  sugar  manufactured  without  molasses  or 
treacle  being  formed.  Now,  if  we  take  the  amount  of  loss  from 
crystallizable  sugar  being  made  into  treacle  at  20  per  cent.,  this 
increase  in  the  amount  of  sugar  will  at  once  be  given  to  our  colo- 
nies, if  this  method  is  practicable.  It  is  equal  to  increasing 
them  by  nearly  one-third  without  trouble  or  expense. 
"We  learn  from  Antigua  papers  that  Mr.  Alfred  Fryer,  of 
Manchester,  has  been  making  the  first  trial  in  that  colony,  where 
the  firm,  Messrs.  Fryer,  Benson  and  Forster,  have  bought  sugar 
estates  for  the  express  purpose  of  beginning  the  new  system. 
"  It  is  well  known  that  when  the  juice  of  the  cane  is  boiled 
down  the  amount  of  uncrystallizable  matter  increases.  The  in- 
crease may  be  said  to  be  14  or  15  per  cent.,  but  an  equal  amount 
of  sugar  is  thereby  rendered  uncrystallizable,  so  that  about  BO 
per  cent,  is  actually  lost  to  the  consumer. 
"Mr.  Fryer  found  that  cane-juice  containing  2*6  per  cent,  of 
fructose  or  uncrystallizable  sugar,  after  being  heated  in  a  closed 
vessel  for  an  hour  without  air,  at  250°  Fahr.,  contained  55  per 
cent,  of  fructose.  Juice  which  contained  13.1  per  cent.,  by 
boiling  for  an  hour  at  225°  F.,  was  found  to  have  29.5  per  cent, 
of  fructose.  The  temperature  reached  in  the  colonies  is  about 
242°  F. 
"After  the  juice  had  been  boiled  down  into  dry  sugar  by  Mr. 
Fryer,  and  then  dissolved  in  the  same  amount  of  water  which  it 
had  lost,  it  actually  contained  as  much  crystallizable  sugar  as 
before.  It  is  believed  that  no  fructose  whatever  is  passed,  and 
other  experiments  made  by  Mr.  Fryer  seem  to  confirm  this.  He 
has  found  that  the  cane-juice  is  not  entirely  free  from  fructose, 
that,  on  the  contrary,  from  1-3  to  13  per  cent,  of  the  sugar  exists 
in  that  state ;  it  is  impossible,  therefore,  to  obtain  boiled-down 
sugar  entirely  crystallizable. 
"  The  name  given  to  this  apparatus  for  rapid  evaporation  is 
'the  concretor,'  as  the  sugar  is  obtained  in  a  solid  hard  form,  in 
which  condition  it  is  sent  over  to  this  country  to  be  refined. 
