Essex County herald. [volume] (Guildhall, Vt.) 1873-1964, 1880-11-05
SUGAR PROM SORGHUM.


Sugar and sorghum cane culture has
attained to great dimensions in this
country. Staple products in the south,
they have become a source of vast rev.
enue to that section. The chief value
of the sorghum cane, however, has been
its yield of saccharine matter, which
has been converted into sorghum mo-
lasses. Its adaptability for the purpose
of sugar have been questioned, and
though many experiments have been
tried, none have been even moderately
successful. Commissioner LIE Due, of
the agricultural department, conceived
the idea that the experiments heretofore
made have not been successful, not be-
cause sugar could not be made from the
sorghum cane, but because the process
employed was defective To demon
strate the truth of his position, he has
entered upon the experiment fully con-
WINGED that with the aid of modern ma
chinery and in the light of recent soien-
tifc discoveries, he will be eminently
successful. He has engaged, for the
purpose of making the experiment, the
services of the eminent Austrian chem
list, Theodore Kolischer, with Charles
Wellington as assistant. The machin-
cry used for the purpose is from the
works of the Colwell iron company,
New York. A large building to the rear
of the agricultural department has been
built especially for the purpose, and the
process of making sugar from the sor-
ghum cane is now in active operation.
The cane used for the purpose was
grown in Fairfax county, Va, and in
cludes thirty-fve different varieties. 1t
is first stripped, and then thrown in what
is termed carrier, which conveys it to
roller, where the juice is expressed. A
second carrier conveys the bagasse to
the yard. The juice, when expressed,
falls to a tank, under the roller, where
it is strained. An eccentric drives the
pump, which forces the juice to tank
Immediately under the roof of the build.
ing. The juice is then dropped from
the storing tank to q defecator below,
where it is freed from impurities. The
clear juice is then removed to Thom's
evaporation, and evaporated in vacuo to
consistence of thin syrup. 1t is then
removed to another tank, and brought
to boil in open air, by which process @
fourth publication is made. The fluid
is then placed in vacuum pan proper
where it is reduced to crystalization
This mixture of molasses and crystal
lied sugar is then dropped to the mixer
and after being thoroughly mixed is
forced into the centrifugal apparatus
(which makes 2,400 revolutions a min
ute,) and the molasses is thrown off by
the centrifugal force and conducted
away in pipes, leaving behind, ready fol
the consumer, prime brown sugar. AL
that is necessary now is that it be re-
fined, and the result is white sugar o.
the best quality. The sugar cane pro
duces from fifteen to twenty-five pei
cent of crystalizable sugar, while the
sorghum cane yields only ten OF clever
per cent of crystalizable sugar. Of the
thirty-fve varieties of cane used, the
early amber varieties are considered the
earliest, and produce the greatest amount
Of crystalizable sugar. The bagasse, Of
refuse cane is utilized as fuel in feed
ing the Thom's evaporator. What has
heretofore been considered impractical
BILE, is now demonstrated by the agricul
tural department as feasible. Whethe,
the sorghum cane will yield sugar il
paying quantities is yet undecided, bu
certain it is, if such should be the case
the manufacture of sugar from the sor
ghum cane will stimulate sugar culture
in this country, and have the tendency
| l., n nf vi,
products of the world.