, 1877-03-28

GRSN - AAAONNB 80 SHAS ONtNhoO 10
Mr.. Johnson, who is in charge of the
vacuum pan at Mr.. Darts mill, writes us
as follows respecting Mr.. Eastes' operations
on Friday =
Coleridge Sugar Mills, Indooroopily,
"sir,
To-day Mr.. Darts sugar-mill was
visited by Mr.. c.. Eastes, who has been
here to put in practice a new method dis
covered by him Of making sugar without
molasses, and am happy to inform you
that he has succeeded admirably.
"The canes were ground in the usual
manner and the Juice allowed to run into
the CHARTERS. AS soon as one %clarlier
was filled Dir. tastes commenced opera
tions. His secret, as you are aware, IS IN
the Qualification of the cane juice, and
Instead Of using lime, which we all know
helps to make more molaSses, he uses
some chemicals which materially alter The
color and sickness of the liquor. One
thing which I particularly noticed in the
Juice was, that after Mr.. Eastes had cla-
ri6ed box OF liquor it was perfectly tree
from all glutinous matter: in fact, when
the hand was plunged into the liquor, 1t
was like putting it into warm water. AS
soon as one box was clarified it was allowed
to run down TO the battery where 1t was
supposed to undergo the process OF clean
ing, but [ was astouished to see that II
boiled with a perfectly clear white foam
upon it in fact, very little sweeping was
required, and as for Swimming, none worth
mentioning took place. AS soon as 1900
gallons of cane-iuice had been satisfactorily
operated on, the vacuum pan was put
into reouisition, and l found that it re-
quired a less quantity of steam to work 1t,
aud that it was more easily handled than
the ordinary liquor which l had before
boiled. A perfect crystal Of a large size
was formed, but had there been sufficient
liquor to fill the vacuum pan, the crystals
would have been of an unusually large
size The sugar was boiled as high as
was considered necessary, a sufficient
amoun of liquor being allowed to remain
in the sugar, so as to enable me to strike
the pan aud allow the crystals to be tree
Next came the curing, which was soon
disposed Of, the liquor (not molasses) run"
ming away to the tank after leaving a bas-
ket Of sugar perfectly dry in three MIN
utes. The sugar is a beautiful clear whlte'
and after bagging weighed 1,788 lbs.
The little uncrystalIized liquor which
was purposely leftto free the sugar from the
vacuum pan, came away as clear as ordl-
nary lioaor, and Mr.. Etstes informed me
that ii required nothing but . little heat
lug before going into the pan again.
This Juice, I consider, will make at least
672 lbs. more OF sugar, therefore the
return per gallon of cane-juice will be Q
little over ii ID. of sugar.
"Two days before Mr.. Eastes came
here, l had been making sugar from the
SAM cane, and had particularly noticed
the very dark green tinge both in the
liquor and in the sugar after 1t was struck:
Now this process of Mr.. Eastes' removed
all this, and sends the liquor to the yacu-
UNI pan in a state much resembling lemo-
made in coIor-if color it may be called
"I think great thanks are due to Mr.
Dart for his generosity in allowing. Mr.
Eastes' process to be tried at his mill Tor
the benefit of all those who take such q
deep interest in the sugar industry OF
Queensland. When | pointed out to MN
the article, referring to Mr.. Eastes In 1he
Queenslonder, he at once adopted my sug'
g~estion, and offered his mill to that gen.
tleman. l had forgotten to mention tnae
NJ 80