Vermont phÅ“nix. [volume] (Brattleboro, Vt.) 1834-1955, 1872-02-09
Farm and FlreSlae.


We present to our readers the principal
manipulatons required in the manufacture
and refining of cane sugar. Notwithstand-
ing they do not contain all the modern i'm
provements in this line of business, they
give clear idea of the different essential
operations required and in connect on
with that magnificent discovery of optical
science, the polariscope and its application
to sugar refining, under the modified form
of the saccharometer, we now give full
account of this important branch of Ameri-
can industry.
We must remark at the outset that many
sugar reiiners are steadily trying to i'm
prove their method; one in the manner of
filtration, another in that of evaporation,
another in the detail of the air pump, etc.
No doubt that, Notwithstanding the great
progress recently made, there is still room
for improvements As the business is Il
profitable one, every sugar retiner is able
to spend money in experimenting, if ho
feels so inclined. Many of them have dis
covered valuable Improvements either in
the apparatus or in the manipulation, which,
however, they jealously guard for them
selves. 1t is for this reason that in many
sugar houses the customary "No Admit
lance" is strictly enforced.
The first operation in making sugar is
the squeezing of the cane, to express the
saccharne juice. Formerly mills were
used similar to cider mills but ii was soon
found that his style of machine was tedi-
Gus and unproductive, it was supplanted
by n cylinder mill. At first placed verti-
cal, now horizontal cylinders are employed,
similar to n rolling mill, between which
the cane is passed; the liquid expressed
flows below into a tank, while the dry fibre
is passed on.
The second operation is the Qualification
of the expressed juice. This consists in tho
separation of the saccharne Ingredients
from the impurities either mechanically
mixed OF else dissolved in the liquid. With
out this separation, the juice in tropical eli
mates undergoes, in the short space of FROM
twenty minutes to one hour, acetic fermen-
tation. This has to be prevented, and there
fore the juice is passed by cutters into The
heating pans. These pans have the capa
city of some 400 TO 800 gallons, and each o
them produces n hogshead ofsugar per day
During the heating, a dose of slaked lime
called the temper, is added to the juice
sometimes an albumnous emulsion is ad
dcd. This coaguates the gutinous natte
in the juice it is then drawn into the de
coloring watts to settle. When the cane il
grown on calcareous soil, ii contains nat
urally lime enough to clarity without tn,
addition of that substance. After this op
Grafton, the danger Of acetic fermentation
Is past but now the juice may go into vi
nous fermentation, and this is to be pre-
vented by rapid concentration and crystal
lizaton or graduation. We have also t
mention the bag filters, through whicl
the syrup is passed in order TO re
move coarse impurities and also the cen
trifuga bag dryer, or rather wringing ma
chine, which is perfectly similar to thos
used in large washing and other establish
ments, and consists simply of two hollow
perforated cylinders, rotating within twt
stationary ones. During their rapid reyo
luton, the water of the cloth inside is, b,
its centrifugal force, driven through TIN
holes, and collects inside the stationary
cylinders, from which II escapes by an ext