Proximity of cane fields.-Another point which must be taken into consideration in the location of a factory is the distance which the cane is to be transported. This is a matter which of course the farmers raising the caue are more interested in than the proprietors of the factory, when the cane is grown by contract. With good roads, in a level country, it is easy to draw from 1 to 2 tons of field cane at each load. The average price which is paid for such cane at the present time is $2 per ton. It is evident that at a given distance, varying according to the price of teams and labor in each locality, the cost of transportation would equal the total receipts for the cane; in this case the farmer would have nothing left to pay for the raising of the cane and profit. Evidently true economy, from an agricultural point of view, would require the cane to be grown as near the factory as possible. It would be well, indeed, if all the cane could be grown within a radius of 1 mile from the factory. This would give, in round numbers, 2,000 acres tributary to a factory. With an ordinary season this ought to produce 20,000 tons of cane. The lengthening of the radius of this circle by onehalf mile would give the greatest distance to be hauled 13 miles, thus vastly increasing the surface tributary to the central factory. It is true that at the present time farmers are easily found who are willing to draw their cane 4, 5, and even 6 miles, but this condition of affairs can not be continued when the business is fully established and the factories in sharp competition with each other. In case the exhausted chips are to be returned to the soil as fertilizer the importance of a centrally located factory, as described, is doubly emphasized.

Fuel-A cheap and abundant supply of fuel is not less important than the raw material to be manufactured into sugar. As far as the sorghum-sugar industry is concerned the coal which is used for fuel is transported almost exclusively by rail. In locating a factory, therefore, both for convenience of shipping the product and for receiving a sup ply of fuel, it should be placed sufficiently near a railway line to enable it to be connected therewith by a switch. It is better, however, that the switch should be of some considerable length than that the water supply should be remote or the cane in distant fields.

The problem of burning the exhausted chips has not yet been successfully solved, and I doubt very much whether it will be.* Save the softenening which the chips undergo in the process of diffusion the difficulty of expressing the water from them is as great as that of expressing the juice from fresh chips. Thus to dry the chips sufficiently to make them economical for fuel would require a vast expenditure of power, which would hardly be supplied by the increased supply of steam generated by their combustion. Experiments during the seasons 1887-'88 at Magnolia Plantation, Louisiana, showed that an ordinary cane-mill was poorly adapted to the pressure of exhausted cane chips. The feeding of the * Since this was written further experiments are more favorable to the possibility of economically using the chips for fuel.

mill was difficult, and the amount of fuel produced seemed wholly disproportional to the expense of preparing it. It has been proposed to try the process used for extracting the water from beet pulp for the purpose of drying sorghum chips. There is nothing whatever in the experience of the beet sugar factories to warrant the belief that such a process would render the chips sufficiently dry to burn. Although I would not be considered as discouraging any further attempts in the direction of preparing sorghum chips for fuel, I must be allowed to express the belief that for some time to come coal must be chiefly relied upon.

If the chips are to be successfully burned in the future we may make up our mind, that it will have to be done by previous pressure in mills which in all their appointments shall be as strong and efficient as those which have been in use for expressing the juice from cane. It can not be hoped that these chips will be made sufficiently dry by exposing them to the sun, and in artificial desiccation the amount of fuel required would be almost as great as that used in the evaporation of the original juice. It is claimed that at Wonopringo, in Java, as reported in the New Orleaus Item of December 16, 1888, the Fives-Lille Company has succeeded in drying the chips by passing them through two powerful three roll mills, and that the chips thus dried do not contain more than 55 per cent. of moisture and burn readily in an automatic furnace invented by Godillot. If it be assumed that 100 pounds of chips contain 10 pounds of combustible matter it is seen that nearly 80 pounds of water will have to be expressed therefrom before they are fit for fuel. I am doubtful whether such a process will prove profitable save in countries where fuel is very dear, as it is in Java and Cuba.

Cost of factory.-It is on almost universal experience that the actual cost of a sugar factory is underestimated by those who undertake its erection. Many of the disasters which have attended the manufacture of sorghum sugar have been due to miscalculation of the cost of the apparatus necessary for the purpose. It is the part of wisdom to avoid mistakes of this kind, and before undertaking the erection of a factory to fully understand the amount of outlay which will be required. The cost of a factory will, of course, vary according to its capacity and the character of the machinery and building erected. In my opinion there is little economy in using cheap machinery, hastily and poorly put together. Success is more likely to be obtained by using the very best machinery which has been devised for sugar-making purposes, and erecting it in a lasting and substantial manner. The economy which is secured in operating such machinery far exceeds that which would be obtained by erecting a cheaper plant. The character of the building must also be taken into consideration; it should be sufficiently large to allow a proper disposition of all parts of the machinery without crowding, and sufficiently strong to afford a proper support for such portions thereof as may rest upon it. Due regard should also be paid to risks.

of fire, and that portion of the factory especially exposed to such dangers should be made as nearly as possible fire-proof. The plans and specifications for all the machinery should be carefully prepared under the direction of a competent engineer and architect, and the machinery furnished by manufacturing firms whose experience and reputation are a guaranty of the excellence of their work. For a complete factory, capable of working 200 tons per day, the cost may be estimated at $60,000 for a minimum and $100,000 for a maximum, the difference be ing caused by the elaborateness of the work. This may seem a large sum, but it is highly important that intending investors should know the magnitude of the undertaking which they propose. An estimate which exceeds the actual outlay by $10,000 will be far more satisfactory to all parties concerned than one which falls short of it by the same amount.

Technical and chemical control.-The manufacture of sugar from sorghum is no mysterious process known only to one or two persons, as attempts have been made to establish; nevertheless it must be understood that without experience in the manufacture of sugar the most competent engineer may fail. It is best, therefore, that intending investors understand this beforehand that they may be able to secure some one to take charge of the manufacture of sugar who thoroughly understands the needs of the business and has had some experience in the conduct thereof. Perhaps there are not more than fifteen or twenty such men now in the United States, but their number will be largely increased within a short time. It would seem, therefore, that the num ber of factories which could be successfully operated in the next year or two is limited, and this fact should be taken into careful considera tion by those intending to invest money in the business. An intelligent young man of good education, with quick perceptions and of industrious habits, would be able in one year, working in a sorghumsugar factory, to obtain a knowledge which would enable him to take charge of a factory, with some degree of success, on his own responsi bility. One object which the Department has had in view in its experi ments has been in having them open, not only to public inspection, but to careful technical study, to such persons as chose to make the attempt. It is to be regretted that at least one company, who through the courtesy of the Commissioner of Agriculture was permitted to use a large amount of machinery belonging to the Department, has so far forgotten its obligations to the public as to refuse permission for a technical study and report on its operations during the past year. Pub lic property is devoted to a poor purpose when used in such a manner. The importance of chemical control of the manufacturing work is so evident that I need not dwell upon it long. The vagaries of the sorghum plant are so pronounced as to require the careful supervision of the chemist at all times. In localities not far removed differences in the character of the sorghum are most marked, as illustrated by the data

obtained at Conway Springs and Douglass, Kans., during the past year. To determine the fitness of the cane for the manufacture of sugar, control the workings of the factory, and find and remove the sources of loss in the sugar-house, are duties which can be committed only to the chemist. For many years, at least, this chemical supervision will be necessary, and its utility will always continue.

PROGRESS OF DIFFUSION WITH SUGAR-CANE.

Two plantations are using the process of diffusion during the present season for the extraction of sugar from sugar-cane. These are Sugar Land plantation of Colonel Cunningham, in Texas, and the Magnolia plantation of Governor Warmoth, in Louisiana. The latest reports from the Sugar Land plantation I find in the Item of December 15, 1888. At that time it is reported that over 2,000,000 pounds of sugar had been made and that the diffusion battery was working up from 300 to 350 tons of cane a day. It is also reported that an average of 191 pounds of sugar is made per ton. From the analyses of the cane reported in the Item of November 28, 1888, it appears that the juice has about 12 per cent. of crystallizable sugar. The success of the operations seems to be fully assured.

The working of the battery at Magnolia is also satisfactory. The aualysis of the cane shows that it is extremely rich in sugar. In the Item of December 4 it is reported that the juice contained 13.7 to 16.6 per cent. of sugar. A polarization had been made showing as high as 19.2 per cent.

Under date of December 9, Mr. G. L. Spencer writes as follows: Diffusion is working to everyone's satisfaction. We have had a great many delays, almost all of which were caused by the Yaryan quadruple-effect pan. Governor Warmoth had the apparatus overhauled this morning and found that the exhaust-pipe from the pump opens into the second effect, making a pressure-pan of this when working with more than 3 or 4 pounds of steam. This defect has been remedied and we hope everything will be all right now.. The cutter gave a great deal of trouble at first, so much that we thought it would be necessary to abandon it. Finally two holes cut in the side of the casing opposite the cutting disk relieved it, so now it is working well. We can cut a cell of chips averaging 2,864 pounds in seven and a half minutes. The dilution will probably surprise you. I intended starting with a dilution of 33 per cent., but by a mistake in measurement I started with 50 per cent. With 50 per cent. dilution we left from .28 to .70 sucrose in the chip juice. I gradually reduced the dilution until it dropped to 14.8 per cent., leaving about .70 to 1 per cent. of sucrose in the exhausted chip juices. We have finally commenced running with a dilution of 21 per cent., leaving .42 per cent. of sucrose in the exhausted chip juices. With pulped cane, such as Hughes's apparatus gives, I would be willing to guaranty a dilution of only 18 per cent. and to leave less than .50 per cent, of sugar in the exhausted chips. We tried the use of lime in the cells. Practically, when making white sugar, we can not work the battery hot enough to obtain clean juice. We try to keep the battery at about 90° C.

Further experiments have also been made in the application of diffusion to sugar cane by Prof. W. C. Stubbs at the Kenner Sugar Experi ment Station. A full report of this work will be published in a forthcoming bulletin of that station. In the Louisiana Planter and Sugar.

Manufacturer of December 1, 1888, a report is found on a part of the work done. As high as 240 pounds of sugar have been obtained per ton of cane. The results of the work are in every way encouraging.

From the above it is seen that diffusion with sugar-cane is an assured success, and we may expect to see it gradually displacing the milling process throughout the sugar-producing world.*

THE USE OF LIME IN THE DIFFUSION BATTERY.

The use of carbonate of lime in the diffusion battery and the patent obtained for this process by Prof. Magnus Swenson are fully discussed in Bulletin No. 17, p. 61, et seq.

Since the publication of that bulletin and of Bulletin No. 14, further experiments at Conway Springs have demonstrated that the method originally proposed by me for the use of lime to prevent inversion in the battery by evenly distributing finely-divided lime upon the fresh chips has proved satisfactory. An apparatus constructed by Mr. E. W. Deming succeeded fairly well in evenly distributing the lime over all the chips entering the cell in such a fine state of division as to prevent any portion of the contents of the cell from becoming alkaline. The lime was prepared by air slaking and sifting through a fine sieve into a barrel covered by a cloth to protect the laborer.

During the past year the use of lime in the diffusion battery for clarifying the juices has received a good deal of attention. The first person who proposed this process and took out a patent upon it was Mr. O. B. Jennings. Letters patent, No. 287544, dated October 30, 1883, were issued to Mr. Jennings on an application filed on the 2d of April, 1883. Following is an abstract of Mr. Jennings's patent:

Be it known that I, Orlando B. Jennings, of Honey Creek, in the county of Walworth and State of Wisconsin, have invented certain new and useful improvements in the manufacture of sugar from sugar-cane, sorghum, maize, and other plants, of which the following is a full, clear, and exact description:

This invention relates to the manufacture of sugar from different sugar-producing plants, including sugar-cane, maple, sorghum, and maize; but it has more especial reference to defecating the juice in the stalks of sugar-cane, sorghum, and maize, and extracting the juice from the residue or bagasse for subsequent boiling into sugar and sirup.

In making sugar from sugar-producing plants with my invention, it is my purpose to extract and utilize all of the saccharine juice and to obtain entire control of its defecation, so as to make a sirup free from foreign matter and elements of fermentation. By it the juice in evaporating is free from skimmings or precipitates, that are always liberated in the ordinary method of extracting, which waste my invention avoids.

Applied to the manufacture of sugar from cane and other stalks, the invention consists in a process of preparing said stalks for the more perfect extraction of the juice by reducing the same to a finely-comminuted or dust-like condition, and whereby the juice cells are thoroughly crushed and ruptured. This part of the invention also includes a combination of circular saws, forming a compound saw, for reducing the canes or stalks to such finely-comminuted condition, likewise sprinkling or mixing *A report of the work done in Louisiana during the past season will soon be issued as Bulletin No. 21.