Phillipsburg herald. [volume] (Phillipsburg, Kan.) 1882-1905, 1888-05-04
ZEE soRaEUM sUaAR MpUsTRY.

Inc many friends OF sorghum. and
there are thousands among your read
ers, viii be rejoiced to hear Of the com
/ Plete, scarce less than phenomenal,
success attained the past season in the
production of sugar from sorghum at
Fl. Scott, Kan.
Since the earliest introduction Of
sorghum into this country in the
tifties, sugar has occasionally been
made under conditions not we'll under
stood, and chemists have shown the
presence of true sugar in the plant;
these facts served as a stimulus to con
tinued exertion increasingly, although
more vigorously pushed at times, until
success at last was reached in the de-
velOPments of the past season which
may be said to carry the business be
/ yOnd the experimental stage. To some
who have made sirup, and worked for
sugar with more or less success, and to
others who have watched cIosIy all ex-
periments IN this direction, especially
those OF the past few years, this sud-
| den, unexpected, extraordinary yield
of one hundred pounds of sugar per
ton Of cleaned sOrghum-cane may have
a sleight-Of-hand flavor The officers
and employees were surprised at the re-
suits, crooked work was limited at and
the sugar-bOiler was charged with put
ting sugar in his pan, but as uniform
results followed even to the close of the
season, under conditions well under
stood with an unfavOrabse season Of
drOuth and chinch-bugs, and three
fOrths of the cane crop measuring less
than four feet in length when topped,
creduhty gave way to confidence in a
repetition of these results under like
conditions and a cOrrespOndingly better
yield with an average quality of cane
As your readers know, crushers as a
rule obtain but One-half or two-thirds
the juice of the cane, while diffusOrs
secure elghty-seVen out Of a possible
ninety per cent Of juice. Crushers ex-
tract an undue proportion of impurities
from the leaf sheath Joint and shell
which, should they enter the diffusion
battery, are either set by the heat or
uttered out as the juice passes through
the macerated or pulped cane In the
process Of extracting the sugar. Thus
the dlffusOrs secure twenty-five to fifty
per cent more sugar than is possible |
with a crusher, and furnishes a Juice OF
fully seventy-hVe per cent greater pur-
lty, this latter being a most valuable |
feature, because every per cent Of solid !
IN the juice not sugar, as mOlusses |
gums, cOlOring matter, etc. viii prevent !
lis equal of sugar from granting. Our |
want of success in the past was due /
mainly to our inability to remove these |
impurities when once Incorporated with !
"a
essential as the use OF diffusors is the |
process Of preparing the cane for diffu- /
sion. This Is the discovery of Mr.. /
ii. A. Hughes, of New jersey, |
and is absolutely necessary for |
the production of sugar from
sorghum, Mr.. Hughes has obtained !
as high as one hundred and thirty-three |
pounds of first sugars from one ton Of
cane. Upon carrier of suitable width !
the cane, with seed and leaves attached !
is taken to a cutter In bundles, butts
foremost, a small space being left be-
tween the tops of one bundle and the
butts of the next. The stalks with
leaves are cut into One-inch sections,
the seed tops having been drOpprd to
one side before the cutter is reached.
The cut pieces with leaves and sheaths
Iall directly into a series of fans, one
the leaves and sheaths, which, with the
seed, form twenty-five per cent of the
weight of the cane as it comes from the
field. The inch sections of cleaned
stalks next pass through a macerator,
not unlike small planer-head, where
they are reduced to a pulp and taken
directly to the diffusors,
Diffusion, briefly explained, Is this:
The pulped cane IS directed into one of
twelve cells, each holding one ton of
cane. This is filed with warm water,
the sugar equalizing itself in the water
and the cane, extracting One-half, or
leaving but fifty per cent of the sugar
in the cane. This water is drawn out
and the cell again filed with water.
This removes One-half of what remains,
leaving but twenty-five per cent IN the
cane. Before the cell is filed and
emptied OF water twelve times, as Oc-
ours in practice, a nearly complete ex-
traction Is secured. The diffusion pro-
cess increases the dilution over mill
juice thlrty-three per cent, snd this,
with the loss of the cane for fuel, IN
less IN some manner relieved OF its sur
plus moisture, are strong points urged
against diffusion. Diffusion juice con
tains light brown, but no deep green
scum, as is found In mill Juice. it can
be readily clarified, and afterwards re-
duced IN vacuum at low temperature,
thereby avoiding a great loss of sugar
from the effects of high heat. The
grade of sugar produced has no peculiar
characteristics not common to other /
sugars. 1t tested ninetY-five 70 ninety
seven as against gFanulated at ninety
eight and cannot be distinguished
from other sugars of the same Grade !