258 
Sorghum  Sugar. 
Am.  Jour.  Pharnu 
May,  1884. 
Agricultural  Department  at  Washington ,  took  up  the  work,  and  of  the 
results  of  his  thorough  investigations,  he  has  given  a  minute  account 
in  his  several  reports,  which  has  thrown  much  light  on  the  subject. 
At  the  same  time,  Prof.  Swenson,  of  the  University  of  Wisconsin, 
was  occupied  with  investigations  of  the  same  kind,  and  when  the 
United  States  government,  through  the  Agricultural  Department  at 
Washington,  offered  a  prize  of  $1,200  for  the  best  method  of  treating 
sorghum  cane,  it  was  awarded  to  him. 
Some  New  York  capitalists,  after  having  corresponded  with  Prof. 
Swenson  and  sscured  his  service,  determined  to  establish  a  sugar  mill 
in  some  portion  of  the  country,  where  the  cane  could  be  grown  success- 
fully and  cheaply.  The  Arkansas  river  valley  was  decided  upon,  and 
in  1882  the  mill  was  built  at  Hutchinson,  Kansas.  As  an  experiment 
some  sugar  was  successfully  made,  already  late,  the  same  season.  Last 
fall  (1883),  they  made  as  an  average  40  barrels  of  sugar  and  about 
200  gallons  of  syrup  a  day.  This  was  the  first  undertaking  on  a  large 
scale,  and  as  it  proved  a  success,  others  have  followed  their  example, 
and  many  more  are  likely  to  follow. 
The  process  used  in  the  above  named  mill  I  have  not  seen  myself, 
but  will  give  it  as  it  has  been  described.  The  cane,  having  been 
examined  by  the  chemist  and  found  in  the  desirable  ripe  condition 
(when  it  contains  most  saccharose  and  least  glucose),  is  cut,  topped  and 
hauled  to  the  mill  without  stripping.  Arrived  there  it  is  placed  on  a 
long  endless  belt,  which  acts  as  an  elevator  to  carry  it  to  the  crusher, 
which  consists  of  huge  iron  rollers.  The  cane  is  passed  through  this 
crusher  at  the  rate  of  25  tons  per  hour.  The  juice,  as  it  runs  from 
the  rollers,  passes  into  a  large  tank,  from  which  it  is  pumped  into  the 
defecating  room.  Here  it  is  run  into  six  defecating  pans,  capable  of 
holding  three  tons  of  juice  each.  In  these  are  coils  of  copper  tubing, 
through  which  steam  is  passed  to  heat  the  juice.  To  the  lukewarm 
juice  is  then  added  milk  of  lime,  until  slightly  alkaline,  in  order  to 
neutralize  the  acids,  which  are  always  contained  in  it,  and  to  coagulate 
the  albuminous  matter  present.  It  is  then  heated  as  rapidly  as  possible 
to  the  boiling  point,  and  the  steam  is  shut  off  when  the  thick  scum, 
which  rises  to  the  surface,  begins  to  swell  and  break.  After  a  few 
minutes  the  juice  is  skimmed,  and  it  is  again  heated,  this  time  to  a 
quiet  ebullition  and  again  skimmed.  This  is  repeated  a  few  times, 
and  the  result  is  a  very  clear  juice,  almost  free  from  sediment.  From 
the  defecating  room  the  juice,  containing  84  parts  of  water  and  16  parts 
