Daily globe. [volume] (St. Paul, Minn.) 1878-1884, 1881-01-27
AMBER CANE SUGAR.

Atthe,evening session of the Ambe
T Cane Growers Association last Thursday
r following the somewhat lengthy annua
address OF the president of the associa
ton, Dr. Wilhelm, of the Faribault re
fnery, was called upon for pape
prepared by him for the association, ant
read the paper copied below. 1t is pub
lished at this time, independent Of tn
proceedings of the association, having a
the time 5een necessarily omitted, be
cause of is practical value to the can,
growing interests of the Northwest.
| DR.. Wilhelm and associate in tht
work, Nj. Jolly, have patiently worked
and STUDIED at the problem of profitable
working of northern grown cane, unit
they have satisfied themselves and Others
by the most convincing results that both
sugar and sirup may be profitably pro-
duced in these States in quantities
sufficient to meet the demands of COM
merce and in uniform excellence satisfy.
ing the requirements of commerce. But
at the same time they have learned,
from demonstrations no less forcible now
than they were in the early
days Of sorghum culture in the United
States that, though every farmer may be
his own silup maker, he cannot, without
becoming 1 scientific sugar expert and
using expensive apparatus, hope to profit
ably sell his sirups in quantities
for the consumption of others;
and that although under favoring circum-
stances, considerable quantities of sugar
may result from crude operations, yet the
uniform and profitable product of a
commercial. article of sugar will
require scientific manipulation and
perfect apparatus This is the
tenor of the paper below. 1t is not
calculated to discourage our cane growers
but rather to turn their work in the
one direction which will certainly make
the cane growing industry Of Minnesota
leading agricultural and COM
mercial interest 1t is only
necessary TO add here that the
correctness of DR.. Wilhelm's position
bas been fully demonstrated at the Fari-
bault refinery, in the product from the
last crop of cane of a large quantity of
sugar, equalling six or seven pounds to
the gallon of sirup. 1t may also be re-
marked, however, in the way of predic-
ton, that the cane growers of Minnesota
will yet have to acknowledge their obli-
cations to Dr. Wilhelm for early pointing
out to them he right way.
Mr.. President and Gentlemen of the
Minnesota Cane Growers Convention:
The chief object of inquiry for anyone
interested in the agricultural products
of our whole country seems at present to
be sugar. 4 , obrelvc.~ca fail to remark
the s-rcat Gs z93ss which .s1.l.ts in the
means for instruction and improvements
which prevail between the manufacture
of cane sugar in this country and beet
sugar in France. Those engaged in the
of sugar have been peculi-
arly favored IN this respect. Napoleon's
of rewards had the desired
effect to bring out latent talent and with
the financial help of the government they
were enabled to bring laboratory expert
ments into general and commercial oper-
ations and relieve the nation of a terrible
load of taxation and create a new self-sus-
tanning industry that is now one of the
leading pursuits of the continent. The
men who conduct these manufactures
and refineries are in most instances care
fully educated, with view to this pur-
suit, and only enter into the practice of
the art after being intimately acquainted
with its theory in all its branches, with
those principles of physics and
mechanics which will enable
them thoroughly to understand
the working of the machinery employed,
and with those discoveries of modern
chemistry which can best enlighten them
as to the real nature of the delicate and
beautiful process by which darkly-col
ored and impure fluid is converted into
crystalline product Of snowy whlteness.
sparkling grain and perfect purity.
The advantages possessed by such men,
by all the meansand appliances
of advanced civilization with ready ref
erence on all subjects of doubt or difficult
ty to men of scientific attainments, and
with every facility for obtaining at the
cheapest rate, the supply or repair of ma
chinery and material of every kind, over
the ordinary planter, or even over our
more intelligent Agricultural, are inap-
preciable.
The practical results Of these advant-
ages have never been more apparent than
within the past few years in amber cane
operations in our country. The.frst great
object of the planter who is about to
the crop of season. labor,
is to extract all the juice it contains |
However improbable it may appear it is
nevertheless true that the fluid contents |
of cane forms from SO to 80 per cent |
in weight of the entire structure
of the stem. 1t has been proven further |
that the yield of ordinary crushing mills,
run at speed OF 31x revolutions per min |
mills of larger calibre, running one-third |
slower, would give 66 per cent, the ba-
gassse being delivered almost pulverized,
and apparently dry. Still, with all these
crushers, we loose in juice |
from Il to q of our whole crop, land if we
take a fair average of the yield of juice
in sugar, that is If we assume that one
tenth of the weight Of the juice is the |
product in crystalized sugar, we find |
that we obtain only about 6% per cent. |
of the weight of the cane in sugar,
whereas chemical analysis shows that
it contains over Is per cent. As gen.
eral thing, most of our mills are run at
too high speed. As much as Is per
cent. has been gained by running the
crusher slower.
After the juice has been extracted from
the cane, defecation comes next in order,
and with it troubles innumerable. Per
haps no branch of manufacturing has
met with SO many obstacles as have been
met with in defeating cane juice
and crude molasses. Many theories
have been advocated from
practice, only to be found i'm
practicable when an attempt is made to
utilize them on scale of magnitude in
field or refinery operations.
Q,1,adr,ads are l1sina lime JZit hol,t rcfar !