Fort Worth daily gazette. (Fort Worth, Tex.) 1882-1891, 1888-12-31


life in the state these qualities havt
marked him. They have made his
wealth and bid fair TO increase it. He
went TO Kansas, and under the compe-
tent c;ceronage of Professor Swenson and
assistants made thorough inspection OF
the diffusion process as applied tC
sorghum, nor could he see why it should
not work equally wei on tropical cane
He gave an order for the erection of q
plant upon "Sugarland plantation
and last spring put over zoe
acres into sorghum. 1t was his intention
to demonstrate to the world and to Texas
in particular that in the diffusion method
and sorghum combined the farmer had a
crop which was easy of cultivation prae-
tically never failing and worth good
money. There is no doubt III the world
that he would have succeeded. Unfor-
tunately, owing to delays III the arrival
and erection of the machinery, delays
which were unforeseen and could not be
prevented, the battery was not placed in
position at the time named in the con-
tract and the entire sorghum crop was
lost, save only the quantities used for
feed. A sufficient amount of seed was
| saved however, and next year will see
sorghum diffusion at "Sugarland' on a
! large scale.
Undeterred by the ill-success which at
tended the first part of his plan, Colonel
Cunningham pushed the work forward
and the erection of the diffusion battery
and the machinery which aids it went
| right along In order to understand the
| tremendous confidence in his judgment
| and the clear grit which the colonel dis
| played, it should be known that he had
| OF his plantation over 1900 acres of sugar
| cane waiting to be ground and that i'll
order to put in the diffusion cells it was
necessary to partially dismantle the old
mill take out the massive rollers and in
various ways change it. In other words,
| if the deductions of Professor Swenson
aud Colonel Cunningham had been in
error the latter could have lost his entire
crop, worth hundreds of thousands of
dollars. 1t was practically burning his
ships behind him, a tremendous RESPONSE
| blity which was faced like a man. As Il
man who has escaped by Il hair s breadth
| from a falling building, the colonel can
| look back, take Il long breath and shake
| hands with himself because he was right
and the croakers were wrong. For the
diffusion of tropical cane is distinct and
| luminous success.
| A TEXAN SUGAR COUNTRY.
There are 500 900 acres of good cane
| land in Texas, and none better than
"Sugarland. - 1t comprises 10 900
acres, of which 3400 are cleared and were
last year planted in corn, small grain,
sorghum and sugar cane. The rest is
wooded. The place lies some ten miles
beyond Richmond, the seat of Fort Bend
county, and is pierced by the Southern
Pacific railway. 1t stretches away upon
,siI 10 of I,a {,n, Il fn . hn
can reach, as levR4 as billiard table,
and in the distan6sis fringed by the wall
of woods which Surrounds it, 1t is mixed
black sandy an1yt red loan, and under
meath it, at distance of thirteen feet, is
a stratum of Gravel which carries off the
surplus water of wet seasons and returns
moisture in dry. 1t demands but little
drainage, and relieves its owner from the
bugaboo which haunts the LouiSianian,
the cost of ditching and re-ditching year
after year until ting. head swins and the
pocket aches. 1t has never had pound
of fertilizer on it and has asked for none,
seems to be of practically iEeXhaustible
fertility and is not subject to overflow
Taken altogether, it is. the beau ideal of
the sugar plantation and is calculated to
make the average CreOle's mouth water
and his eyes glisten with envy. The
diffusion mill is not a hundred yards
from the track and is stopping place
for passenger trains day and night.
Quite station has been built up, COM,
prising stores, warehouses, n telegraph
office, express office, residence and other
buildings. 1t is called Cunningham, -
and may some day be a city, When the
'Sugariand - mill begins to work off sOr-
ghum six months in the year and tropical
cane for an additional ninety days it will
certainly be village. as the number of
hands employed will necessitate the cree
ton of enough houses to form COM
munIty which in some sections of Texas
would be called a city. A quarter of a
mile away is n five-roller mill, also the
property of Colonel Cunningham, which
is assisting in taking off the years crop.
The juice from cane crushed there is
pumped to the diffusion mill through an
underground pipe, and after passing
through the sulphur machine is mixed
with the diffusion product i'll the clarity
ing pans. The two juices are then made
into sugar together. 1t is a picturesque
and highly scientific process, BETTING
the rich and picturesque country
where it is done. The diffu-
sion mill, or rather the building in
which the diffusion cells and all the vari-
Gus paraphernalia Of the industry are To-
Gated, is of brick throughout with slate
roof. 1t is not fire proof but nearly so,
and no restriction is placed upon the en-
ployes in the matter of burning up as
much tobacco as they care to. The per-
mission is all the more liberal, as Colonel
Cunningham is no smoker himself. The
structure is comparatively new, is of
great size and answers to dot the pur-
pose for which it was constructed. Near
it are the small houses in which the con-
victs are confined at night. They are
employed almost wholly in the fields, not
half-dOZen of them performing any
duty in actual sugar making.
THE PROCESS.
The cane is cut down by squads of these
men, each of them armed with the broad
bladed Misunderstanding weapon used in
hacking the rich growth, and each squad |
superintendent By a white guard who sits |
upon q horse and nurses cooked shot |
gun upon his knees. By the gentlemen |
in stripes the product is loaded upon |
ears which are run into the |
fields upon small oxen |
very narrow gagged railway. OF this |
track the plantation has seven miles of |
permanent and two and half of pOrta-
bic. The trains are composed of some |
half q dozen of these cars and hitched to
the forward one is mule of nonchalant |
- I.lI.