Crawford avalanche. (Grayling, Mich.) 1879-19??, 1895-04-18
HOW SUGAR IS MADE.
A Talk About the Lumps Which
Swssten Your Tea.

4
Swsstsn Your Tea.
| Every body knows what sugar is
and how sweet it tastes. 1t is a
great traveller and comes to America
from other countries. Some of it is
made from beetroot in France, but
the greater part is made from the
Juice Of plant called the sugar cane.
This plant cannot thrive in cold
weather, and therefore it only grows
in very warm countries. The places
where it Is most plentiful are the
West Indies and the southern part
OF the United States. A great deal
of it grows on the island Of the West
Indies called jamaica.
1t is a very large and handsome
plant, sometimes growing to the
height Of fifteen feet. The stem is
round and is jointed, so that It looks
as IL it were made of q number Of
short pieces joined together. At the
top is large, beautiful flower with
long, pointed leaves.
1t is planted in the autumn, be-
tween the months of August and
November, and it is generally ripe
about the following March or April.
1t is easy to tell when it is ripe, for
the outer skin of the cane becomes
hard, dry and smooth, almost like q
walking stick. 1t is then cut down,
the leaves stripped off, and few Of
the joints nearest the top are cut
away. The remaining portions are
then cut up into pieces about yard
long, tied up into bundles and car
ried to the mills.
Care is taken to cut the cane as
close to the ground as possible, the
richest juice being found in the
lower joints. After the canes are
taken away the stumps are cut down
to few inches below the surface Of
the ground and then covered up
with mold. The upper part of the
cane and the leaves are used to feed
cattle.
When the bundles OF sugar cane
arrive at the mills the first thing is
to crush them. A negro spreads
them out in order and they
are then passed between two iron
rollers, which completely crush them
as they go through. The juice thus
pressed out flows into vessels called
CHARTERS, placed beneath to receive
it. The canes are then passed
through two other rollers, placed
closer together, and all the remaining
juice squeezed out Of the cane which
! flows into the CHARTERS. These are
large enough to contain some hun
dreds of gallons each. The juice is
thick, OF a dull olive green color, and,
of course, very sweet to the taste.
AS soon as the CHARTERS are filled
with the juice small quantity Of
lime is added. The vessels are placed
over furnace, the fuel for which
consists of the crushed canes out of
which the juice has all been pressed
This dry refuse of the canes is called
trash. The juice is now boiled and a
quantity Of scum rises to the top;
this is carefully SKINNED of, after
which the juice is clear bright yell
low color.
The next thing is to remove it into
series OF copper vessels, one after
another; in each it is boiled, and,
as the water evaporates, the juice ut
last becomes a soft mass. Then it is
again removed into other vessels to
cool, and while cooling it is stirred.
Aftor this it is placed in large casks
called hogsheads. There are holes
at the bottom OF these casks which
are placed over large cisterns, and
here it remains for three or four
weeks, the last OF the moisture drain
ing slowly away through the holes.
1t is now called moscovado, or as we
should say, brown sugar and the
liquid part which is drained of is
called molasses. The casks are now
covered in and fastened and sent on
board ship. The sugar. however, is
still rather moist, and q great deal OF
molasses drains off from it afterward
About seven pounds OF juice will
make one pound Of sugar, and it
takes nearly twenty cart loads Of
canes to make single hogshead OF
sugar.
The better kinds of sugar are re.
fined in different ways. One plan is
called "claying." The sugar is put
into pointed earthen molds. called
forms, the point Gin which there is
q hole) being downward. A layer OF
clay is placed on top and wetted with
water, which slowly filters down and
causes more of the nolasses to drain
of than in the com non sugar.
And now / will tell you how CLAY
ing" was discovered. 1t happened
one day that fowl which had been
walking in the mud passed over one
OF the cooling vessels full OF sugar
and it was noticed that where any
clay from her feet stuck to the sur
face the sugar was Of better color.
So it was found that clay caused
more Of the molasses torun through
than anything else.
Loaf. or white sugar, Is made by
re-boiling the brown sugar with white
of egg or bullock's blood, and by
submitting 1t to the claying great
many times. In some cases the re.
boiled sugar Is filtered through pow.
dered charcoal to cleanse and whiten
! it.
Learning from Mature.