Sacramento daily record-union. [volume] (Sacramento [Calif.]) 1875-1891, 1885-01-01


iron pot makes his own sugar, with as little
trouble as the Vermonter makes his from
the maple tree.
MODES OF TILLAGE AND MANUFACTURES.
The modes of tillage and the processes of
manufacture in Japan are as follows The
cane is grown where the mean temperature
of the summer months is from go to ZOE
Fahrenheit. Seed is not sown, but the
plant grows from cuttings. These cuttings
are obtained by selecting the largest and
finest stalks during the month of Septem-
ber The leaves are stripped off and the
stalks are buried in trenches dug in the
ground During the winter each joint of
the cane gives out sprouts eight or ten
inches in length In the spring these
sprouts are put out in rows three feet apart.
The hills of sprouts, in each row, are set at
intervals of twelve inches. At the bottom
of these trenches before the sprouts are set
out fish oil, or rape seed oil cake is liber-
ally applied. During the summer, liquid
fertilizers are frequently applied to the
roots of the growing canes. In September
the stalks are selected for the next years
sprouts. If twenty thousand settings are
required, one thousand stalks are cut and
buried. In November the stalks are
stripped of their leaves and then cut. They
are prepared for grinding by stripping off
the outer covering and the inner or pithy
portions only are ground. The grinding is
done between stone rollers, placed hori-
zontally or perpendicularly.
BOILING DOWN THE JUICE.
The Juice is boiled in iron kettles. Dur
ing the process OF boiling little lime is
thrown into the liquid after which it is
strained, and as the impurities rise to the
surface they are carefully skinned off
When boiled To the FORMULATING point it is
put in cotton bags and pressed dry The
expressed juice thus obtained is reboiled,
clarified and sold as syrup. The average
production of raw sugar obtained to the
acre by these simple processes is $500
pounds, and the average price is about So
per hundred pounds The cultivation of
sorghum cane in China is so similar TO that
OF Japan, that it needs no description.
DETAILS OF SUGAR MAKING IN CHINA.
The process of the manufacture OF sugar
is as follows: The cane when cut is col
lected into bundles and conveyed to the
mill or crusher. This consists of two
granite cylinders about feet in length by
Is inches in diameter, placed perpendicu-
larry, the lower ends revolving in u stone
socket, the upperin frame of wood set into
granite uprightS attached to or let into
'
cogs, and to the end of these cylinders is
attached a strong wooden shaft or spindle,
to the upper end OF which is fixed strong
cross beam or lever, TO the outer end of
this is attached the propclling power, which
usually consists of buffalo COWS. These
are driven around at a rapid walk. The
cane is pressed between the cylinders and
the juice runs down into watts From these it
is poured into the iron boiling pans. where
IL man in attendance balls the juice from
one pan to another The boiling pans are
of cast iron, Is inches deep by feet in
diameter. They are placed in brick-work,
side by side usually four in number. with
arches for fuel underneath, all covered
with a mat or matched shed. As soon as
the liquid is brought to boiling point,
small, portion of lime and the white of one
or two eggs lis put in each pan. After a
short time the impurities come to the sur
face, and are skinned off, this being re-
peated while the liquid is boiling. When
sufficiently boiled it is run off into a
wooden cooler about feet long, feet wide,
and l foot deep; and while in the hot
liquid state is stirred with broad wooden
hoe until it begins to Granulate and cool,
and when cool enough it is thoroughly
mixed and rubbed until the sugar becomes
all of one color, which is a dark yellow. 1t
is next put into mat bags, and is then ready
for Shipment
PROCESS FOR CLAYED SUGARS.
The sugar principally exported to foreign
countries is what is known as cayed
sugar" and is made as follows When the
juice is boiled TO a proper consistency, the
whltesof two eggs are put into each pan,
which serves as 4 clarifier when sutfi-
GENTLY boiled it is run off into earthenware
IL,
empty jars. In the bottom of each of the
upper jars is Il small aperture, which is
closed by bung of straw. When granu-
lation has taken place sufficiently, the
bung is loosened, and the portion not
granulated is allowed to drain off into the
lower jars. The sugar, when sufficiently
drained, is covered with a thin layer of
straw, and over this a thick layer of clay.
The sugar is allowed to remain in these
jars from thirty to forty days, when the
clay and straw are removed, and each Jar
will be found to contain three qualities or
grades of sugar, the upper one being white,
the next light brown, and the bottom a
dark brown
PROFITS AND CONCLUDING SUGGESTIONS.
The profits of sugar-making are fully as
great as in Japan. 1t is produced at a cost
of s. to 81 per 100 pounds on land worth
from S4OO TO 5000 per acre. The process OF
manufacture there is uniformly successful,
and is not performed by labor especially
skilled. 1t is probable that there are
several hundred Chinese farm coolies now
in California that could make No. &C"
and graduated sugars from sorghum cane.
If so, it would be the means of retaining
s., 100000 in this State that now annually
goes abroad. Is not this industry, then,
one which may safely be entered upon in a
prudent way in California, with ample
promise of immediate and successful results,
not only for the manufacture of syrup, but
sugars as well? 1t is true that manual
labor is cheaper in Japan than here, but
this, it is believed, will be fully counter
balanced by the lower price of our lands
suitable for sorghum-growing and the
labor-saving machinery with which the
work would be performed.