The Middlebury register and Addison County journal. [volume] (Middlebury, Vt.) 1883-1885, 1883-12-28
RAISING THE SUGAR CANE.
THE PROCESS OF SUGAR MAKING
IN LOUISIANA.
How the Cane il Planted. Grown md
Harvested-Thc Method of Waking
Suoar

sugar planting differs from all other
agricultural pursuits in that the farmer
himself is of necessity a manufacturer
also. Grain goes to the mill, cotton to
the factory but cane is so heavy and so
perishable that it will not bear long trans
portation, and must be prepared for con-
sumption at the place where it is grown.
Cane is planted like corn in rows six
feet apart, special attention being paid to
drainage. Technically speaking there is
no " seed, " but stalks of cane are laid In
the furrow, sometimes singly but oftener
two, three or four stalks being laid side
by side. At each joint there is, or should
be, an "eye" from which sprouts a
single indigenous shoot which sends
downward slender tough roots, and at the
surface of the ground puts out twenty or
more suckers, most of which perish,
leaving perhaps half dozen to reach
maturity. In its early stages cane APP
parently differs from corn only in hav-
ing narrower blade and a lighter
shade of green, but as soon as
corn tassels it ceases to grow and devotes
itself to the production of seed. In the
tropics cane also in due time tassels, but
in Louisiana before it reaches that stage
it is nipped by the frost, which kills the
terminal shoots and stops further growth.
The growth this season has been re-
markably strong, stalks nine feet long,
with twenty to twenty-five ripened
joints, exclusive of the green tops, being
common. The average is probably seven
and one-half to eight feet in length, with
diameter at the ground of one and one
half inches. These stalks are so full of
sap that when cut with knife the juice
will squirt out like blood from a cut
artery.
After the cane is planted the cultiva-
ton differs but little from that of West
ern corn, consisting in frequent stirring
of the soil with plows, and breaking of
clods and clearing of weeds with cultiva-
tor and hoes. After the 'plant cane" is
cut, the roots remain in the ground for
called 'stubblc," or ''rattoon,n which
produces nearly as much as the "plant."
Sometimes the roots remain still an
other year, but generally they are plowed
up and the field planted with corn and
'cow" peas. The corn is harvested and
the pea vines plowed under, when the
land is ready for cane again. Under such
a system of cultivation these deep allu-
vial soils do not deteriorate, but produce
year after year crops of enormous weight
and value. Thirty-five and even forty
tons of cane to the acre have been cut
this season, worth, when delivered at the
sugar house, from $3.50 to $3.50 per
ton.
All field work here is done by mules
instead of horses. Fifteen acres, ten of
cane and five of corn, arc considered a
fair area for pillow team of four mules
and two negroes. OF the two men, one
holds the plow while the driver rides the
nigh wheeler and guides the others,
partly by rope reins, partly by his long
whip, but more than all by his voice.
Each mule is supposed to know his or
her name, but the driver rarely uses it.
1t is, "You mule! Wha' for you lay back
when done tole you go ahcad?" accom-
panied by flourish of the whip which
cracks like a pistol shot so close to the
animals hide as to rough the hair with
out actually grazing the skin.
All through the late winter, the spring
and the early summer months, the plows
keep going, running race with the
ubiquitous weeds, until late in June or
early in July the long plumcs OF the
cane interlace across the burrows so that
the teams can no longer penetrate them,
and the weeds, disheartened by the
heavy shade, give up the contest. Then
the field is laid by, the planter goes
North for few weeks vacation, and
the overseer and hands are left to get
out firewood from the swamp, mend the
roads, harvest the corn and "tidy up"
generally. In the meantime the sugar
house has been thoroughly overhaued,
repairs and alterations made, machinery
cleaned and polished, and everything
prepared for the winters grinding. Oc-
tober brings the planter home, and about
the 10th of the month the harvest
begins.
From that time onward there is little
rest for man or beast until the last stalk
Of cane is transformed into sugar. The
force is divided into three parts, each
part under its own oversecr: the cutters,
the cane shed gang and the sugar boilers
hands. A days work is from sunrise to
sunset, but in addition the night is d.
vided into two watches " of six hours
each, and if the supply of cane is sulii-
cient to keep the mill going, the sugar
house work runs day and night with
hardly any intermission
In cutting, a broad bladed heavy knife,
like butchers cleaver, and having a
small hook at the back is used. Draw
ing stalk to himself by means of this
hook, the cutter seizes it with his left
hand. Two downward strokes strip the
leaves from the ripened portion, third
lops off the green top and fourth cuts
it off just at the surface of the ground
The tops and leaves lie where they fall :;
the stalks are piled in the furrow to wait
the carts. In pleasant weather there are
no better roads in the world than those
of a well-kept Louisiana cornfeld The
clayey soil packs under the broad wheels
until it is as hard and smooth as ice, and
four mules will trot off with cart and
load weighing together two and one-half
to three tons; but half days rain will
turn one of these roads into a quagmire
so deep and tenacious that it will be
almost impossible to drag even an empty
cart through it. Portable railways are