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is free from the herbaceous flavor; if not, add lime water, to effect that object. It will be found that an active boiling can not well ensue except there is a pressure of steam maintained, at least of seventy-five pounds. A good, reliable steam gauge is always a useful appendage to a steam boiler, but in this business it become indispensable, as the frequent closing and opening of the valves, in boiling syrup, will require such a monitor constantly on duty. In fact, this business will be more safely and economically managed with a considerable excess of steam-generating capacity, so that these changes may produce less immediate effect, thus affording the engineer more room for managing his fires.

But to return to the train again. The batch being all right as to flavor, the boiling is urged up with full valve, and the operator now watches close by eye if sufficiently practiced, if not, by the test cup and saccharometer until the degree is obtained for syrup; about 36o B, with some saccharome. ters, with others 35° is sufficient. When at this degree of heat, I find some little difference in them, hence it will be well to test them by cooling some of the syrup, after being tried by the saccharometer, and settle the gauge. As soon as the proper degree is obtained, the steam is closed off, the gate opened, and the batch struck off into the cooler P. The strike M ought

to be provided with a chimney like S. The outlet into P should be in the bottom, and at least three inches in diameter. The figure shows sufficiently how the syrup is transferred from the cooler to the cask. The syrup barrels "should have sixteen good hoops, and the heads of pine, or a centre strip of it at least."

The buildings for syrup making, along the line of the Illinois Central Railroad, where Brainerd's mills and evaporaters are chiefly used, are calculated for making one thousand gallons of syrup in twenty-four hours, and are about 25 ft. by 35 ft., and 15 ft. stud, with a leanto on one side for the mill. In the best managed of these establishments, the cane is brought from the field to the building in racks resembling those used for drawing empty flour barrels; two ropes, one near the front and one in the rear, are laid upon the bottom of the rack, with their looped ends hanging over the top of the sides. A crane stands near the mill and when the load arrives, the loops on the ends of the ropes are affixed to the crane hooks, and the whole load is at once lifted from the rack and transferred to an endless apron. It is conveyed to and from the mill, and the juice pumped up into a receiver as with Mr. Hedges aparatus. I never saw any defecating pans used in connection with Mr. Brainerd's apparatus, but am sure that they would be a very great improvement. The juice is transferred directly from the reservoir to the evaporating pans. As I have occasion to speak more fully of these hereafter, I omit their description here.

There seemed to be a general understanding in Illinois, that each superficial square foot of steam pipe, with a pressure of steam from 40 to 60 lbs. per square inch, will evaporate 2 gallons of syrup a day, and that one square of fire surface in a fire pan will evaporate 2 gallons. I had no opportunity to verify this calculation but should suppose that it was considerably understated.

Such an arrangement as I have described, on Mr. Brainerd's principle, costs for building and aparatus complete about $3,000. The building, how

ever, is of the rudest kind, all the boards being rough, and the roof battened. Should defecating pans be used in connection with Mr. Brainerd's pans, there should be two of them holding 1,200 gallons each.

The arrangements for making syrup on the "domestic system," such as is generally seen in Indiana and Ohio, are very simple and will be understood by an inspection of the annexed sketch, which represents a Jacob's pan and one of J. L. Gill & Son's mills. (See fig. 5.)

'Have a shed or building over your evaporator by all means, and if possible continue it over the mill, then there will be no time lost in consequence of rainy weather.

"Build your furnace 22 inches high. Procure three good posts, from 8 to 10 inches in diameter, and from seven to eight feet long; plant them firmly, leaving four feet above the ground, at a distance from the evapora tor sufficiently great for the horse to pass round the mill without interfering with the manager of the evaporator. Bolt the mill fast upon the posts, and attach the sweep or beam L. If you wish to operate to the best advantage, procure solid pine tubing, such as is used for chain pumps, and lay it under the ground with a slight inclination, as F from the mill to the tank B. Plug up both ends, and bore holes on the top side; now fit and drive two other pieces into these holes, one long enough to put a spout G into it above the tank B. Bore a hole in the bottom of a tube E, and drive it on to the vertical tube under the mill. Fit a long plug K into the hole at the bottom of the tub, that you may measure the juice if you wish, or stop the flow of the juice into the tank. A hole should be dug under the end of the tube at the tank B, large enough to receive a bucket, so that by removing the plug H, the juice may be drawn off from the pipe F, when you wish to stop operations.

"A small crane, as represented by letter M, is of great convenience in lifting and swinging the small pan D off from the furnace, though it is not necessary.

"Hang a small wire gauze funnel under the spout of the mill to catch the small particles of cane that might stop up the pipe F, or faucet I.

"If you wish to use the bi-sulphite of lime, determine the amount of juice the tub E will hold, put the plug K in its place, then put the amount of lime into the tub required for that amount of juice, grind the tub full of juice and then draw the plug K and let the juice empty itself into the tank B." This arrangement would be much improved if a defecating pan over a brick arch were interposed between the mill and the pan B, sufficiently elevated to flow into it. Two cooling tanks ought to be provided contiguous to the pan D into which it could be emptied, spouts from these coolers would convey the syrup into the casks prepared for its reception. Such an establishment as this could be put up at an expene of $400, and would turn off 40 gallons a day of 12 hours, or 100 gallons in 24 hours. There are many establishments at the west where the mill consists of a pair of wooden rollers, and the pan of a wooden box with sheet iron nailed to the bottom and the whole covered with a rude shanty, which cost less than $100. There is no economy, but on the contrary great waste in such parsimony. Having now given a general idea of the arrangements of a sugar estab.

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lishment, I proceed to speak of the individual parts of the apparatus, and first, of the

MILL.

When the farmers of the west first began to express the juice of the Chinese sugar cane, they used to roll wooden vertical mills turned by two horses, with these about 30 per cent. of the juice was extracted. Later, a three roll vertical iron mill was introduced, which was also worked by horses, that extracted from 55 to 60 per cent. of juice. With the heavier horizontal iron mills, worked by a steam engine, from 65 to 70 per cent. of juice is obtained. The amount of juice actually in the cane is 90 per cent., showing a loss, even with the best known mills, of 20 per cent.

There are several manufacturers of mills at the west, each of whom has introduced some modification to which they attach great value. After carefully examining many of them, I can perceive but little difference between them, so far as convenience and effectiveness is concerned, but they differ very materially in a judicious distribution of material to constitute the greatest strength in parts most exposed to strain. The demand for cheap mills has induced manufacturers to diminish the amount of material until they have become too light for their work, and hence frequent breakages occur. Those made last year are much better than their predecessors, and after two or three years the weak points will be fully ascertained and effectually guarded against. In this connection a few general principles may be laid down for the guidance of farmers in their choice. There should be a perfect paralellism between the shafts of the various rollers. The teeth of the wheels should be epicycloidal in form. The shafts should be of wrought iron. The journals and boxes should not be less than five inches long, as boxes smaller than this will be crushed. Independent tubes should be introduced for oiling the lower boxes.

"When rolls of the same circumference are used, they should be exactly the same, if not, the difference must be compensated by a slippage of one roll on the face of the other, causing an immense waste of power, and a heavy strain upon the gearing. Mills are frequently broken by the unnatural and useless labor thrown upon them by inattention on the part of manufacturers to this point. When one large and two small rolls are used the circumferences should be to each other exactly as the number of teeth in the gear wheels respectively; that is, if the number of teeth in the main wheel is 60, and in the minor wheel 29, the finished diameter of the small rolls should be exactly 29-60 as large as the main roll." (Sorgo Journal, May, 1863).

The greatest number of mills that fell under my observation were those made by the Eagle works at Chicago, P. W. Gates, President. The Clark Sorgo Co., at Cincinnati, and Messrs. J. I. Gill & Son, of Columbus, Ohio, I have seen several mills made by the two latter companies broken, but I have never seen any of Mr. Gates which had met with any accident. It is quite possible that as many of his mills have been broken as of the others, but as I can only speak of what I saw, I must advise the farmers of New York to order the mills they may require from Mr. Gates. He has not complied with my request to send me a cut of his mill with the prices

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