The Florida agriculturist., 1880-09-08
Varieties of the Sugar-Cane.
NUMBER y.

GO OHS W WulCA Vic JuiOO ""9 ~ "EAN
out in mortar. The primitive mill
still used in Dinajpur is an adoption
Of this plan, and is constructed as
follows: A sound tamarind tree be-
ing selected, it is cut down at about
two feet from the ground, where it
may be foot and half OF more in
diameter. The stump is then hol-
lowed out in the form of mortar,
and from the bottom OF the hollow
a hole is bored a little way perpen-
dicularly. The exterior OF the stump
is next pierced by hole which meets
the previous boring obliQuely, and
thus affords an outlet for the juice,
which runs into strainer fixed over
an earthen pot sunk i'll the ground
amongst the roots of the tree. The
pestle, it is to be observed, does not
pound the pieces Of cane, but crnshes
or squeezes them. 1t consists OF the
trunk OF the tree some eighteen or
twenty feet in length, and about a
foot i'll diameter, rounded off at the
larger end, which IS placed in the
hollow Of the mortar in an inclined
position. A pair of oxen are yoked
to a horizontal pole, which is sup
ported at the outer end by bamboo
hanging by notch made in the root
end from the upper and smaller end
OF the long pestle, while the other
end is attached by loop to bam-
boo hoop which encircles the stump,
and thus acts as a runner. The pestle,
therefore, forms a double-armed lever,
the fulcrum of which is situated at
the edge OF the mortar, the cane be-
ing crushed between the sides OF the
pestle and mortar respectively. The
force with which the pestle acts is in
creased by the driver sitting upon
the outer extremity of the horizon
tai pole, and sometimes by weights
being added. Such a machine, how
ever, is totally Intellectual to crush
the cane until it has been first cut
into small pieces. To this end a
bamboo stake is driven firmly into
the ground, and deep notch made
in the end projecting upwards. The
attendant passes the canes through
this notch, which slits them Longitude
nally, while he cuts off the slit canes,
in lengths foot each, with rude
chopper.
The sugar mill OF Chinapatam is
slight improvement. Instead OF the
standing stump Of tree being used,
which could only be done when
suitable tree grew on the desired
spot, the mortar is carefully fashioned
out Of the trunk of a tree some ten
feet long, eight feet OF which is firmly
embedded IN the ground. The hol-
low, for two-thirds of the depth, is in
the shape of an inverted truncated
cone, the remaining third being cylin-
drical, with a hemispherical projec'
tiona at the bottom, like. the lower
part of a beer bottle. A torkcd
branch OF tree is worked down,
Robinson Crusoe-like, to beam or
plank from four to six inches in thick
ness, and varying from near eighteen
inches in breadth at the single end TO
less than a loot at the torked ends,
when, by-the-way, it has much the
appearance of a monster boot jack.
The beam is placed horizontally with
the hollow against the mortar, and
the oullOck-driver sits on the undl.
vided end to which the cattle are at
tached, while the beam turns round
the mortar like a screw-key, which if
too large would slip round nut.
The pestle is a hard piece OF wood OF
the usual form, which is pressed
down by beam. There is a hollow
on the underside OF this upper beam
Immediately over the mortar, in
which rests the top OF the pestle, the
other extremity being pulled down
wards by cords attached TO the torkeL
ends. By Tightening. or Stacking
these cords, the upper beam acts as a
regulating lever to give the pestle
more or less force. The whole ar
rangement, when at rest, has very
much the appearance OF huge lime
squeezer.
The transition from the arrange
ment last described to the vertical
wooden roller mill now in use at
Chica Ballapura, and in other parts
Of India, was but natural. We find
in this mill the same idea OF lever
pressing upon the top Of the pestle
applied to another purpose, in the
beam which is fixed to the top OF he
longer OF the two rollers which pro-
iect above the framework in which
they are placed. The other roller,
which is only the height OF the frame,