A sample of Java bagasse having F = 46.5, S = 4.50, G = 0.5, W = 47.5 gives B. t. u. 3868. These figures show that the dryer the bagasse is crushed, the higher the calorific value, though this is accompanied by a decrease in sucrose. The explanation lies in the fact that the presence of sucrose in an analysis is accompanied by a definite amount of water, and that the residual juice contains sufficient organic substance to evaporate the water present when a fuel is burned in a furnace. For example, assume the residual juice (100 per cent) to contain 12 per cent organic matter. From the constant in formula, 12×7119 (100-12)×972 ------- = 854.3 and ------------ = 855.4. 100 100 That is, the moisture in a juice containing 12 per cent of sugar will be evaporated by the heat developed by the combustion of the contained sugar. It would, therefore, appear that a bagasse containing such juice has a calorific value due only to its fiber content. This is, of course, true only where the highest products of oxidization are formed during the combustion of the organic matter. This is not strictly the case, especially with a bagasse of a high moisture content which will not burn properly but which smoulders and produces a large quantity of products of destructive distillation, chiefly heavy hydrocarbons, which escape unburnt. The reasoning, however, is sufficient to explain the steam making properties of bagasse of a low sucrose content, such as are secured in Java, as when the sucrose content is lower, the heat value is increased by extracting more juice, and hence more sugar from it. The sugar operations in Java exemplify this and show that with a high dilution by maceration and heavy pressure the bagasse meets all of the steam requirements of the mills without auxiliary fuel. A high percentage of silica or salts in bagasse has sometimes been ascribed as the reason for the tendency to smoulder in certain cases of soft fiber bagasse. This, however, is due to the large moisture content of the sample resulting directly from the nature of the cane. Soluble salts in the bagasse has also been given as the explanation of such smouldering action of the fire, but here too the explanation lies solely in the high moisture content, this resulting in the development of only sufficient heat to evaporate the moisture. TABLE 43