Little Falls transcript. [volume] (Little Falls, Morrison County, Minn.) 1876-1894, 1879-11-06

editor to interfere would have been COM
promlslng However, somebody did, and
although this is not the cause assigned.
tho two or three duels which have recent
lycome off or are still on the tapis are its
consequences.
SUGAR CANE IN TEE N0RTHV ESql.
The Progress Being Made in tho Development
Of This New Industry.
The Chicago Tribune publishes a
lengthy letter from St. Paul, giving a
very elaborate review of the rise and pro-
gress Of the amber sugar-canc product in
the Northwest. We make the following
extracts:
The cane-growers of Rice county, Min-
nesota, had built up quite q large local
trade in syrup at their county seat, Fari-
bault, when DR.. James Wilhelm, of Ohio,
was invited here on the strength of rep.
resentations that he had made special
study of sugar chemistry, had invented
apparatus and devised processes. for su-
gar-m aking, and of late years had been
very successful in handling sorghum
juices. The result Of his visit to Mime
sofa was the formation CT stock company
at Faribault for establishing.
AN AMBER-CANE REFINERY.
combining tield-work with rifning prop
'er. The establishment was located in a
leased building containing an engine,
which was leased for running the cane
mill. The cost of fitting it up was about
$4,000. The mill, a large one, when in
operation pours three-inch stream. Of
juice into the receiving watts. From
these the juice is pumped into three de-
facating tanks. each having capacity of
twenty-five barrels, and heated by steam
coils. From the defeating tanks the Ii
guild, now at boiling heat, but changed
from its original greenish-white color to
nearly the limpidness of water, is dis
charged into the coaguiating battery,
twenty by seven feet, capable Of reducing
five to six barrels an hour to density OF
so to "a degrees Baume. In the coagula-
ting battery the liquid passes over
steam coil, beginning at tho middle Of
one end and running lengthwise, back
and forth, covering the bottom. AS the
liquid bolls, Its surface is thrown forward
upon an elevation, from which it flows
back in sloping channels at the sides,
where whatever impurities may appear
are skinned out. From the coagulating
battery the liquid, now semi-syrup,
passes into the clarifying pans, which dis
charges it into tank below, when it is
lifted as wanted. into the vacuum pan
where it is finished at heat Of 100 tc
$50 degrees F. The arrangement is lab
or-savipg throughout, the operations being
automatic as tar as possible. This estab-
ishmcnt, al. I will endeavor to show here
after, solves the Northern cane problem,
at least SO far as proving that the cult
vation OF amber cane and manufacture of
it's products may be made in large and
profitable industries.
The work of placing and fitting. the ap.
paratus and machinery was not complet.
ed in time to begin operations with fresh.
ly-cut cane. The farmers delivered their
cane early in piles not calculated to pre-
serve it in best condition. Some had been
cut month or more before it was ground,
and all was more or less fermented.
Nevertheless, good results were obtained.
l sampled the refinery syrup on hot cakes
In the carly morning, while there was yet
suggestion of frost in the air of the
breakfast room, and it bore the test ad-
mirably. The flavor was delicate, and
the after-taste purely saccharine. So far
as that experience goes, can confirm
what DR.. Wilhelm says as to the quality
of his syrnp, and I will let him speak for
himself: He says: 1.-THE process is
mine. We claim to take out the vege-
table gummy matter; that our goods are
pure in taste or flavor: md that we make
the finest syrup in America, chemically
pure. containing not less than 60 to 70
per cent. of sugar cane." Sugar experts
and grocers will understand what this
claim means. It means that the refined
molasses Of amber cane Is true sy1up,
with sugar body,-an article which fo1
many years has rarely been seen in the
trade.
WILL 1T PAY THE CANE GROWERS?
I think 50. The highest estimate of
the price Of producing the cane, includ-
ing eight miles of hauling, and every de-
tail, from the purchase of the seed and
preparation Of the ground to the unload
ing Of the cut, topped and stripped cane
is $3.50 per acre. Many cultivators es-
timate the cost much lower. The cost of
seed need not exceed so cents an acre.
The cultivation is about the same as for
corn, except that the ground should DO
freshly prepared at planting time, and ex-
traordlnary care is needed to protect the
plant from weeds when it first appears
and until it is thirty inches high-until
which time it il a. slow grower. Alter
that, it will take care of itself, and grows
very rapidly. To save hard labor,
the cane should be planted
in check-rows, and, at the proper time for
thinning, not more than five stocks should
be left IN each hill. The best soil for the
cane is sandy loan. Heavy, rank or
cold soil, or fresh manure, will lessen the
saccharine development. The cane by
brid1zes readily with millet, broom-corn,
and all the members Of the tribe of sweet
'uiced grasses; and this should be guard
ed against in choosing seed and locating
plantations. Order your machinery so
as to have no delay in working the cane
as soon as it is ready to be cut. Using
horse power and fire for heating the mill,
furnace, pans, etc., for properly handling
five acres of cane can be bought for 800
For $50 an outfit can be secured which
will answer for working two or three
acres Of cane.
The yield in Minnesota, according to
soil and cultivation, has ranged from sew
en- to fourteen tons of stripped and topped
stalks per acre. At the Faribault refinery
this fall, So per ton was paid for the cine,
delivered. The yield Of simple syrup,
nine to ten pounds per gallon, is sixteen
to twenty gallons per ton. The cost of
grinding and boiling need not exceed
seven cents gallon. Such syrup will be
worth to the refiner 30 to IS cents gal
Ion. The cane will average per ton in
refined syrup fifteen gallons; weighing
eleven and a half pounds to the gallon
which will be worth, barreled, at the re-
finery, so to IS cents gallon. The cost
Of refining will not exceed the cost of re,
ducing juices to crude syrup.
To recapitulate, estimating the average
product of cane ct ten tons per acre. Cost,