The farmer and mechanic. [volume] (Raleigh, N.C.) 1877-1885, 1878-08-22
NEARLY 800 600. 900 WORTH

producing countries has been Increas-
ing. Within the past yrar il has been
demonstrated satisfactorily. that the
ordinary curn-stalk grown III every
part Of the United States. i Il sugar
plant only slightly inferior To- TIA. su-
Sar-cane Of Louisiana. and containing
: per cent. more ~sacCharine matter
Il the beet-root from which so large
a pant OF Europe is supplied with
uga
Sugar has been known 10 exist In
corn-stemS. but ii has hitherto been
believed that it was impossible To crys-
tallze its juices. and until Isl chemi~-
try presented no solution Of the diff
Guilty. In 1878
Mr.. F. L. STEWART,
OF Westmoreland County, PennsvIya-
ma, a gentleman of large scientific at
talnInents and practically a farmer and
chemist had been making some eXper-
lments with sorghum. lie had a
patch of evergreen corn and going
through II one morning IN October
cutting some stems, he noticed that
the cuttings We're quite juicy. Taking
some of the stalks to his sugar mill.
they yielded what seemed 10 be as
much juice, in proportion TO weight as
-sugar-cane itself. His interest was
excited and he treated the extracted
juice by the regular cane process. In
consequence of the stalks having been
badly frost-bitten no proper crystalli-
zatlon of the juice took place. But
the result was such as to cause him
to believe that if a cheap process could
be invented, the obstacles in the
way of
MAKING SUGAR FROM CORN-STALKS
would not be great.
Becoming engaged in business. Mr..
Stewart thought no more of the mat
ter until in 1876 at the Centennial ~
position, he had his attention called to
h renewed attempts then made to
establish the beet sugar-lnduStry here.
This revived his interest in the corn
sugar question, and he determined to
make further experiments. During
that year he tested half a dozen varie-
ties of corn, in different conditions.
Chemical tests indicated the value to
be as before estimated, and it only re
manned to find a process of cryStalllZa-
ton. This, Mr.. Stewart did not find
until lac last year., but during the
time which has since elapsed he has
~ <NI1otNo OSb
its thorough practicability.
The process does away w til the use
of apparatus and the very ex-
pensive machinery necessary in the
manufacture of beet-root sugar. The
costly bone black and carbonic acid
are no long required. Simply de-
scribed Mr.. Stewards process is as fol
lows:
The stalks are cut after the ear has
arrived at an age suitable for drying
or canning-the full value of the corr
crop being thus obtained entirely in
dependent of the sugar growth-and
sent to an ordinary crushing mill.
The Juice placed In pans, after being
heated to $50 degrees is hen heavily
lined, so as to make it exceedingly
alkaline. After being decanted and
the precipitated impurities removed, a
liquid dioxide of sulphur is then in
troduced in sufficient quantities to
make the syrup highly acidulous. AS
impurities are preclpitated, they con
tinue to be removed, and more dioxide
of sulphur added to keep the syrup in
its acidulous condition, until the syrup
is reduced to the density necessary to
form sugar. 1t is then thrown into a
cooler and allowed to crystalline, the
draining being performed by a centri-
fugal machine or other modern pro
cess.
The color of this sugar as it comes
from the draining machine is much
better than that of ordinary cane
sugar, the syrup from which zane
sugar is made being red, while this is
nearly white.
The public interest in this matter is
still further increased from the cir
cumstance that the juice of sorghum
of every known variety crystallizes by
the new process, with the utmost
facility and certainty-a result hereto
fore considered impossible.
The juices of these plants have char
acteristics entirely different from those
of the sugar-cane and the beet. and
they yield only to a special mode of
treatment adapted to them which is
embraced in this discovery. 1t is an
ticipated hat it will entirely revolu-
tlOnize sugar manufacture.
There are specimens of these corn
sugars at the Agricultural Department
which illustrate their equality with, If
not superiority over, the best cane
sugar. Gen. LIE Due, the Commissioner
says that he has no longer any doubt
d. " GIlt ptIlcCt lSdSlOlllUN VI
ufacturing sugar from corn at a price
not to exceed three to three-and-half
cents per pound. He says that within
the next six years he hopes to see the
entire import trade in sugars disap-
pear, and the demand supplied by our
home production from the corn-stalk.
Not only this, but he expects to see a
large export trade established IN this
very article of smear with EurODpan
markets.. The evidences of Mr.. Stew
arts successes are 50 convincing that
it is impossible to doubt. We can
only speculate upon the prosperity
which must be caused by the addition
within a few years of one hundred
millions of dollars to our home pro
ducts, and the decrease of our imports
by a corresponding sum-. Looking at
it at this day, in the early dawn of its
introduction as one of the great indus
tries, it is difficult to predict all the