St. Charles City Republican intelligencer. [volume] (St. Charles City [Charles City], Iowa) 1857-1861, 1858-09-09
CHINESE SUGAR.CANE.

III tiic iISI place, IL Is llcCcSSdIy 10
filter the juice of the plant, as it
comes from the mill, in order to re-
move the cellulose and tibrous matters
and the starch, all of which arc pres
ent In it when expressed. A bag fill
ter, one made of blanket placed in a
basket will answer this purpose
Next, we have to add a sufficiency of
milk of lime (that is, lime Stacked and
mixed with water to the juice, to
render it slightly alkaline, as shown
by its changing tumeric paper to a
brown color, or Redeemed litmus paper
to blue. A small excess of lime is
not injurious. After this addition the
juice should be boiled, say for fifteen
minutes. A thick green scum collects
on the surface, which is to be removed
by the skinner, and then the liquid
should be again filtered, for evapo-
ration, and may be boiled down quite
rapidly to half of its original bulk,
after which the fire must be kept low,
the evaporation to be carried on with
great caution, and the syrup constant
ly stirred to prevent it from burning
at the bottom of the kettle or evapo-
rating pan Portions of the syrup
are to be taken out, from time to time,
and allowed to cool, to see if it is
dense enough to crystalizc. 1t should
be about as dense as sugar house mo-
lasses or tar. When it has reached
this condition, it may be withdrawn
hn nd hn
placed in tubs or casks to granulate.
Crystals Of sugar will begin to form
generally in three or four days, and
sometimes nearly the whole mass will
granulatc, leaving but little molasses
to he drained. After it has solidiiicd,
it may be scooped out into conical
bags, made of coarse open cloth or
canvass, which are to be hung over
some vessel to receive the mClasscs {:
and the damage being much aided by
warmth, it will be useful to keep the
temperature of the room at 500 or 9Oo
F. After some days it may be re-
moved from the bags, and will be
found to be a good brown sugar. 1t
may now be refined by dissolving it
in hot water, adding to the solution
some white of eggs, (say one egg for
100 pounds of sugar. mixed with
cold water, after which the tempera-
turc is to be raised to boiling, and the
syrup allowed to remain at that heat
for half an hour. Then skim and fill
ter to remove the coagulated albu-
men aud the impurities it has extract.
| ed from the sugar.
By means of bone-black, such as is
prepared for sugar rciinerics, the SUI
gar may be decolorcd, by adding an
ounce to each gallon of the saccharinc
solution, and boiling the whole to-
gcther. Then filter and you will ob-
tain nearly colorless syrup. Evapo-
rate this, as before directed, briskly,
to half its bulk, and then slowly until
dense enough to crystalizc, leaving
the syrup as before in tubs or pans,
to granulate. This sugar will be of u
light-brown color, and may now be
claycd or whitcned, by the usual
method that is by putting it into the
cones. aud pouring saturated solu-
ton of white sugar upon it so as to
displacc the molasses, which will drop
from the apex of the cone when in
verted. 1t is now refined or loaf SUI
gar.
The methods here described are the
common and cheap ones, such as any
farmer can employ. 1t may be adj
vantageous, when operations Of con-
siderable extent are contemplated. to
arrange regular system of shallow
evaporating pans for the concentra-
ton Of the syrup, similar to those now
used in Vermont for making maple
sugar.
1t is evident that no ordinary meth
DDS can compete with those OF rcgu-
lar sugar refinery, where vacuum pans
are employed, and evaporation is con-
sequently carried on at low tempera-
ture. If the planter should raise sur-
ticiently large crops to warrant the
expense OF such an apparatus on his
place, he would not fail to manu-
facturc large quantities Of sugar, and
to operate with perfect success, but
tLitS Ndii NC uoht oili,S III tue Coutlclli,
Middle or Western States where ex-
tensivc farming is common. Those
who wish to have their brown sugar
clarified can send it to some of the
larger refncries, where the opera
tions may be completed. and the sugar
put up in the usual form of white
| loaves.
\ very large proportion of our agri-
cultural people will doubtless be sat
istied with the production of good
syrup from this plant. They may OBJ
tain it by following the methods de-
scribed in the first part of this article,
or they may omit the lime, and make
an agreeable, but slightly acidulous
syrup, which will be Of lighter color
than that which has been lined. This
syrup is not apt to crystalize, owing
to the presence of acid matter.
The unripe cane can be employed
for making molasscs and alchohol, but
will not yield true canc-sugar unless
it is well matured.