The Florida agriculturist. [volume] (DeLand, Fla.) 1878-1911, 1879-05-28
THE FLORIDA AGRIC ULTURIST.

depth, when it is filled up nearly to
the top with water A man now
stirs up portion OF the sago with
an oar till the water attains a milky
appearance, when he proceeds to
pour it into the troughs. To prevent
its. falling abruptly an inclined piece
of wood, s inches broad, IS fixed
across the trough, SO as to leave only
a narrow slit between it and the end
of the trough. The water poured
on this descends into tbs trough, and
slowly flowing to the other end de-
posits portion of the sage in its
progress. The suspended cloth, be-
coming saturated, serves at once to
maintain and equalize the overflow
OF the water into the tub below it.
When the water is poured in the
first waves advance rapidly and carry
away much of the sage, but those
that succeed deposit the greater part
of their more solid contents, trans
porting into the tub only the lighter
tibrous particles which it is the OBJ
jject of this operation to separate
from the farina, and by the time the
man has performed similar service
at the other trough, and is ready to
pour fresh supply into the first, the
water flowing down the cloth has
lost It's whiteness. The process is
continued until the deposit rises near
ly to the level Of the stick, when the
sago next to it, which generally con-
talns some impure sediment, and is
taken up with the fingers or thrown
into the tub. The second stick is
now ixed above the first, fold of
the cloth being interposed between
them to prevent any liquid sago es-
Gaping through the seam, and the
operation goes on as before When
the milk III the upper tub begins to
grow shallow it is again filed up
with water and more sage stirred up
and mixed with it. During the in
terval and at other more prolonged
Interruptions, the water in the troughs
has had time to deposit all its con-
tents, the last being fine, fibrous
matter, which, if not run over, would
leave thin, yellow layer. The sur
face is therefore washed with the
hand until this layer is effaced and
held in suspension. When the
troughs have been gradually filed up
in the manner described, by success
sion of deposits, and the wall built
up to the top by the last stick, the
sage is left to consolidate for twelve
or fourteen hours. The fecule which
passes. out Of the, troughs in the cur
rent is afterwards thrown into one of
the tubs, whose contents are to be
washed and deposited in their turn,
and some of it may even be destined
to pass through the process many
times before it sinks in the trough.
In order to give it the degree of
dryness required, it is exposed for
one day to the sun, in Jumps about a
cubic foot IN size, which are placed
on tables standing in the open air.
Large kajans Tor mats) are kept in
readiness to cover it when shower
OF rain falls. 1t is neAt carried to
the large shed, where it is thrown IN
a heap on a lorg table and broken
down into a pulverulent state. 1t
then passes through an oblong sieve,
30 inches by 20 inches, OF which
the bottom is formed OF parallel
tibers from the stem of the cocoanut
leaf kept in their position by strings,
which cross them at distances of
about 2 inches. The Jumps which do
not pass through the long mterstices
between the tibers are thrown back
into the heap.
{ Concluded neat aUeeE