The Pacific commercial advertiser. [volume] (Honolulu, Hawaiian Islands) 1856-1888, 1865-09-30

The question TO ask ourselves now i. whether
we can get from the cane, by increased pressure
Z quantity of sugar always proportional TO the
quantity Of Juice obtained in other words, il
for every degree Of pressure the Juice possesses
the same qualities, and If the elements which
constitute IL present the same respective proper
lions. Ii might happen IN the case where this
proportion should be broken, that the advantage
resulting from a greater volume of Juice might
yitiating subsequent operations ana rendering the
defnitiye extraction OF sugar less easy and more
expensive. There, certainly Is a question which
merits serious examination and moreover has
never been studied-peOple generally think that
the last portions Of juice extracted from cane
are ike the very first, and persons preoccupied IL
different colonies in multiplying the cOmpreSsive
force Of their mills, have never doubted OF this
similitude. Some persons seems even TO attri-
butte q greater saccharine richness 10 juice which
escapes under the influence Of the last efforts Of
pressure. The researches that l have made To
throw light upon this point remain up 10 the
present in the shade, conducting, rather, 10 quite
an opposite opinion. The quantity of sugar,
passed a certain degree Of pressure, diminishes in
proportion as the latter augments and the other
substances, as the azote principle and mineral
salts, might undergo an action III an inverse
sense, that Is 10 say, they might augment with
the pressure. This result is the more manifest
and Is explained by the differences of weights far
from being expected.
But what are the causes Of such notifications?
One seeks them yainly elsewhere than in the
constitution OF the plant itself, and the unequal
resistance of Its different parts. The medullary
portions being in fact provided with L sweeter
juice and Offering less obstacles 10 the action of
the rolls, permit the liquid they contain to escape
easily, whilst the rind and the portions attached.
less rich in sugar, are much less accessible and
retain longer the juice with which they are in
pregnated- Here follow some results which
come u the support OF that fact and which give
the measure OF differences observed in the cir
cumstances, whatever be the parts of cane ex-
amined, whether or not the joints be compressed
with the tween joints. \ certain quantity of
white Bellouguet canes We're submitted at first to
a pressure like that Of a mill producing 60 per
cent, then TO a second pressure equivalent to that
of a mill capable of giving 70 per cent. The
juice obtained in the first case was clean ~(prOpre)
and limpid but in the second case it's l~lmpidity
was disturbed and contained a greater proportion
Of organic debris.
Quantity Weight Of albu- Weight Of
Dem Of sugar minOus matters cinders
sity. per cent. per cent. per cent.
Juice, lst trial. .Io3i 1875 olS 90
Some Penang canes treated in the same man
ner gave:
Quantity weIght of alba, Weight Of
siy. per cent. per cent. per cent.
Juice, Ist trial. 1850 1876 O16 O13
Juice, % TRIAL. .lO,5 lS5 90 OBJ
w q 80 III ILLS StCDliI t2dIlllt Tia lliC iuC
ences are more marked than in the first, obsery-
ing that the Penang canes offer a greater resistance
10 the cylinders than Bellouguet.
After the statements | make, one can easily
make himself acquainted with the several pecu-
%liarities which present themselves in the manu-
facture of sugar and which have been explained
in divers manners. 1t is indeed evident at first
that juice extracted from canes under feeble
pressure, being in a manner richer in sugar and
poorer in organic substances and minerals, is
easier worked and furnishes under the same weight
or volume q greater proportional quantity of
sugar. This result is not altogether due to the
more marked saccharine sweetness of the juice,
but more TO the diminutiOn of water, Of albuni-
nous matters and salts, for by our usual process
ses evaporation cannot be prolonged without
causing a change (prOroquer- me 1nferrcrSi0n)
moro and more marked Of the crvstallizable
sugar, and this transformation is also subordinate
to the quantity of organic principles the juice
contains.
1t appears TO me incontestable that it is in
this difference Of qualities presented by the juice.
according to the degree of pressure the canes have
undergone. that we ought more TO seek Tor 4
rational explanation Of the general belief that
with the same evaporating means the extraction
Of sugar was formerly easier than now. If we
recollect the first progress realized was improved
mills and that the evaporating apparatus now
put down were adopted long after, it will be
difficult to deny, at least, the results of expert
ence precisely pointed out and within reach Of
every body, not to attribute to a more eficacious
compression of the mills, what. a prejudice
We think, they consider a result of a sort of
degeneration in the cane. In following these
researches further along l shall make plain how
such an idea is contrary to the facts which each
day offers to our observation. and then l shall
complete what remains TO me to say Of the
system (r6ls) which is accorded to this pretended
system of degeneration in the production of
sugar.
To be continued.