The Pacific commercial advertiser. [volume] (Honolulu, Hawaiian Islands) 1885-1921, 1908-10-08
THE ART Of SUGAR
BOILING DYING OUT

dOltAitAs OGLs 1890
Editor Advertiser: We hear great
deal about the progress and improve
nent that has been made in the sugar
industry IN late years, and yet with an
this | have been Informed by an OLD
sugar boiler, and others, who are open
the inside. that the art of sugar boiling
is diving out. And worse than this,
that a great many sugar boilers never
knew the art to begin with.
For instance. ] know man who
learned sugar boiling in the usual way,
but one day awoke to the fact that
he knew nothing about it. And he at
once set about learning it in earnest
from an old sugar boiler in Louisiana
and succeeded in such a manner as to
accomplish better results than L had
thought possible.
For instance. he has succeeded ia
getting more sugar out or a single
strike, or single boiling, than some
others have after four or five bollmgs.
And not only This, but he has reduced
the purity and quality OF the WASTE
molasses to the lowest possible GUAM
titv and at the same zinc keep the
poiarization of the sugar as high as
anv one. And not only has he done all
This but he has succeeded in reducing
the loss in the mudpress cake, IN a
single pressing, lower than L have
known it to be done anywhere else by
double pressing. Some idea OF ms
success may be learned from the fact
that he doubled the output of sugar OF
mill without any additional appara-
tus. In fact, with very much less than
was formerly used. And at the same
time increased the "pol' of the sugar
and decreased the purity and amount
of waste molasses enormously.
Sugar boiling, I may say, does not
consist merely in the Qualification and
granting of the juice, but in knowing
how to run, clean, and care for the
arnaratus in which it is boiled, and IN
which this man has been eminently
successful. For instance, in other mills
they have had all kinds of trouble WITH
the Kilby vacuum pan, to say nothing
of the enormous expense In changing
it. but that under his charge has given
the best of satisfaction and cost moth
ing for any changes. Again, the Lilly
effect in most other places has given
great deal of trouble, and has had to
be retubed at great expense several
times, while the one he has charge OF
has never been retubed, though being
one of the first ever brought here.
In fact by his superior knowledge
he has succeeded in doing all, or more
than all that others have done by the
aid of erystalliZers, and centrlcal con-
densation, and other expensive systems
and apparatus. Again, he has never
had any juice, however low in purity,
that he could not successfully handle,
and has never had to run strike into
l,the eistern, as in some times done by
other sugar boilers, because it would
not grain up successfully.
Another evidence or proof that the
art of sugar boiling is dying out, IS
the fact. that some sugar boilers $50 i
am told by the best authority never
change the amount of lime they use
per elarifier for an entire season, and
who / would like to ask, can estimate
the loss of sugar that must inevitably
ensue at such mode of procedure, and
particularly when the crop amounts to
over twenty thousand tons! Aga.n
who can estimate the trouble. and ex
pense that must be caused by the i'm
perfect lining of such a Aarge guam.
tity of juiee2 To give some idea OF
the folly of doing work in this way
will say, that usually the amount OF
lime necessary to- properly classify a
certain quantity of juice is constantly
changing, as the cane varies, and that
good sugar boiler can tell to an
ounce, or to dead certainty just the
exact amount required.
Every sugar boiler, however, it is
we'll known, cannot do this, and in con
sequence an immense amount of sugar
has been lost. Now whether the art OF
sugar boiling is dying out or not, there
seems to.be a disposition by the powers
that be to employ men of less expert
enee, and just as if it were thought
that anyone would do for a sugar boil
er. or for that matter for an engineer;
when if the truth were known, the best
and most experienced men in these lines
that could be got are scarcely good
enough to fill these important positions
Very truly,
GEORGE OSBORNE.