Yorkville enquirer. [volume] (Yorkville, S.C.) 1855-2006, 1863-06-03
How to Make Syrup from Chinese
Sugar Cane.

W. Toney, Esq, of Eufala, Alabama,
communicates the following interesting and
instructive article to the Southern Culti0a-
tor. By-the.bye, every farmer should take
that journal and study we'll its contends
1t will be found to contain thousands of
dollars worth of valuable information for
one dollar year. Address D. Redmond,
Augusta, Georgia.
But read the following:
THE HEMANUFAeTURE OF SoRaHo OR Con-
FEDERATE SYRUp.-My directions are for
farmers and planters who have not, cannot
and would not get the elaborate apparatus
of a sugar house; but there are essential
fixtures, &C., which must be had, to wit a
mill, boilers, boiling dipper of wood, of
five gallon capacity, with long handle, a
common dipper, and perforated ladies or
skimmers.
The MiU.-Get one Mill for so acres,
and two for hundred acres or more; the
size, Is inches in diameter, and "a long, for
the cylinders. They should be cast iron !;
the foundries will make them to order.
The Boilers They should be proper
toned in size aud number to the size of the
crop; say one for 20 acres, two or three for
so acres, and five or six for 100 acres more
or less. As many as FIVE or six can be put
in one battery, and operated by one furnace,
running under all. The capacity of the
boilers can be greatly increased by fasten-
ing wooden rim 8 or 10 inches high a.
round their tops. The brick work of the
furnace should not reach higher on the in
side than midway of the boilers, otherwise
the syrup will be burnt by the fire.,
The cane should not be cut until ripe,
which may be known by the seed becoming
of purplish black, aud the stalks streaked
with red on yellowish ground. 1t is we'll
to know and recollect that the canes, if left
standing on the land where they grow, with
all their leaves or fodder on them, will keep
good until the crop manufactured, if you
will barely cut off all the ripe seed. If you
pull the fodder the canes will dry up, it
being the mouth and lungs of the plants.
The gathering Of the Canes.-Pull the
fodder as you do corn fodder, each day as
you grind your cane. Cut the stalks close
to the ground with sharp hoes, and haul
them to the mill with the seed on, with a
small crop, but cut seed off in the field if a
large one, dry the panicles in the sun one
day and house. The seed will equal or ex-
ceed corn on the same land, and containing,
by chemical analysis, sc per cent. of starch,
is about two. thirds the value of corn or rye
for feeding stock, or "horresco retercns,"
for making whiskey, and will command 81
per bushel in the market.
The juice as pressed out by the mill
should run through cloths fastened over the
receiving tubs to clear it of all trash.
To CLARITY the Juice.-Put the juice in
the largest boiler, nearly filling it, and start
gentle fire under it, and put the juice to
simmering-not boiling-and keep it so for
about thirty minutes, until clarified. This
is to be effected by administering some al
kali in solution.
The best alkali for this purpose is the
super carbonate of soda. Put one heaping
teaspoonful in pint of water, dissolve 1t,
and pour it into the boiler of simmering
juice, stir it up, and violent efervescence
takes place, rising four inches high, and f.
nally settling in thick greenish SCUM all
over the surface of the juice. Skim this
of, and repeat the process every few min
utes, for about thirty minutes, more or less
but stop it as soon as, but not before, all
effervescence ceases.
The process will neutralize the sulphuric
and phosphoric acids which abound in the
Chinese sugar cane juice and the super
carbonate of soda is the purest and best al
kali for this purpose, as sodium, the base
of the paroxyd, is lighter than water The
pressure of the mill forces out with the