St. Tammany farmer. [volume] (Covington, La.) 1874-current, 1881-08-20
IMPROVED SUGAR-MAKING.
LAuDEBpALE PLANTATION,
August Is, 1881. }
Editor New Orleans Democrat:

Editor new OIIc&uS 0cAAoeAos.
I have beea following with great
pleasure the interesting accounts
written expressly for yonr valuable
paper by Mr.. Ernest Th. Gennert.
He realizes, like many others the
great loss sustained by the sugar
planters, particularly in the extrac-
ton Of the juice from the sugar cane:
Fully one half of the crop Is burned
up in bagasse furnaces and lost In
scum bitches. But he gives no
remedy for the evil. He simply sug-
eests i've or seven-roller mills or
the diffusion process. / was tbs
first sugar planter who put up =
double pressure or fve-roller mill
on my st. James Paragon works.
Years ago l never averaged more
than IS per cent raw juice: besides
q great many inconyeniences natural
ly belonging to these two extra
rollers. and the more they are null
tiplied the greater the complication.
The diffusion process has been
tried here by able men, and failure
was the result, owing to difference
in the nature of the sugar cane and
the beet root, and perhaps to acid
ity or pictine which forms SO soon
in our changeable climate, even dur
ing the winter. Cane juice must be
manufactured into sugar without
delay. ] have been continually
thinking upon these methods, and
I came to the conclusion that diffu-
sion was very difficult. if MOI i'm
practicable, and that the ordinary
three-roller mill was very good for
the purpose of my apparatus. and
adjusted my arrangement to suit it,
being Inadequate to the extraction
of all the cane juice, and that the
remaining work had to be done by
compression dawned upon me, and
Immediately, in September, 1873,
made application at Washington, D.
c., for a caveat, and finally, on May
26, 1881, was granted letters patent
for my "Peter Lapice' 3 bagasse juice
extractor, desiccator and 6nisher."
which I have not had time to pub
lish. On trial by Messrs Leeds
/ 4 Co., which was exceedingly salts
J factory, although the means were
5 very imperfectly improvised, We
, obtained 40 per cent OF clear
juice out Of the bagasse, which q
/ certificate from Mrssrs Leeds &
Co. shows, and feel satisfied that
! this great problem, which has been
, in the minds of men many years,
> has been solved.
It is important to know that I
! derange nothing inside tue sugar
: house ] do away with the cumbrons
: bagasse carrier; my apparatus is
outside the sugar house. ] use q
: small circular railroad to move the
4 bagasse boxes to the compress,
where the bale inside the box is shd
into the press, and instantaneously
7 compressed and the juice extracted,
3 and the begasse made into q bale
: and the work never interrupted, as
will more clearly appear by exam
7 lining the model and drawings I
s propose to get SIS per cent juice ont
: of sugar cane, allowing per cent
: loss in working and for the bagasse,
which win be dry and nicely baled
ready to be used Us fuel on the spot
or sold for paper stock, worth about
! cent or II cents per pound for
paper pulp. One acre of good cane
= will yield about 1000 pounds dry
I bagasse, worth from $40 to $50 per
acre.
If I succeed IN making an ar
rangement / expect to- give the sugar
: planters practical illustration Of
: what will do this winter from some
0 large plantation easy of access. I
= am certain Of what I can accom-
plish. A revolution in the sugar
Industry will be the result, and the
crop Of the State viii be enormous
q ly increased for a trihing amount.
: and those who will use my improve
ment will enrich themselves.
> By simply extending the circular
railroad small crops Of sugar cane
: may be brought to the mill and get
y the bereft of the apparatus, and
small sugar planters in the neigh
; borhood may sell thoir bagasse,
= saturated with cane juice, to the
: owner Of my apparatus, to the great
n benefit of both parties.
Epitome showing the gain OF my
apparatus ON frst-class mill, ex-
] tracing 60 per cent. of raw juice
= out of 100 pounds of sugar cane:
Pounds.