The Texas Almanac for 1872, and Emigrant's Guide to Texas. Page: 52
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52 THE TEXAS ALMANAC.
syrup ferment from any want of care and cleanliness, it may be necessary
to dilute the whole with two parts of water, neutralize any acid with lime.
and then re-evaporate the whole. Thin syrup is more apt to ferment than
thick.
We will not attempt to give any directions for making the sorghum
sugar, as those having the largest experience differ s6 widely on the
subject.
Most excellent vinegar may be made of the white scum by diluting it
with two parts of rain water, puttino- it in a barrel with the bung open
until the fermentation is over, when the bung may be closed, and the next
summer it will be ready for use, and by another year will be equal to cider
vinegar.
The average yield of syrup per acre is estimated at 150 to 200 gallons,
and sometimes twice that amount. The cost of cultivating, harvesting and
delivering cane at the mill is said to be about the same as gathering and
putting corn in the crib. The cost of making the syrup is estimated at ten
cents per gallon, and the average yield of corn being put at thirty bushels
per acre, the difference between the two products is at once seen. Making
a large deduction for the cost of converting the juice into syrup, the yield
of one acre is at least one hundred gallons over the cost of manufacture.
Therefore the one hundred gallons only cost the farmer the same as thirty
bushels of corn.
THE COST OF THE CANE MILL AND EVAPORATOR.
There are in this market (Galveston) quite a large assortment of the most
approved cane mills (the Victor and American), both vertical and horizon-
tal, of different degrees of power and cost. The following is a list of the
prices of the vertical mill, commencing with the smallest, namely: $70,
$100, $111, $135, $145, $160, $185, $205, $225, $270, $300.
The horizontal mills are sold here at the following prices, namely : $200,
$235, $275, $300, $400, $405, $540, $575, $1850.
The vertical mills are all run by one or two horse power, while the hori-
zontal require a two horse power for the smallest, and from four to six for
all but the largest named, for which a twelve horse steam power is
required.
The horse powers are sold separately, the two horse power costing here
$135, the four $170, and the six $205.
It is hardly necessary to remark that the evaporating pans are now
admitted to be greatly superior to kettles. They are used in making sugar
from the ribbon cane, as well as syrup from the sorghum. The prices of
the pans in this market (Galveston) are from $50 to $135 each without the
portable furnaces. The $50 pans make about 500 pounds of sugar per day,
and the $135 about 2000 pounds.
The portable furnaces are sold at from $65 to $145 each, the largest size
being sufficient to make 1000 pounds of sugar per day. For larger sugar
plantations brick furnaces have to be made. It is claimed that the evapor-
ating pan will make 10 per cent. more sugar, and of a better quality, than a
train of kettles the best in use, from the same juice, and at the same time
with a saving of 33 1-3 per cent. of fuel.
If a portable iron furnace is used, there is scarcely any expense in put-
ting it up. It has only to be properly leveled in placing in position, and
the evaporation can be immediately commenced. But a man who under-
stands the business must be employed to put up a brick furnace.
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The Texas Almanac for 1872, and Emigrant's Guide to Texas., book, 1872~; (https://texashistory.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metapth123777/m1/68/: accessed May 4, 2024), University of North Texas Libraries, The Portal to Texas History, https://texashistory.unt.edu; crediting Texas State Historical Association.