The Black Hills union. [volume] (Rapid City, Pennington County, Dakota [S.D.]) 1889-1904, 1897-11-19
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ana from the cayernOr~ oEASON

ana from at the cavernouMc SEASON.
asse' chimneys. "Bagasse"
cane after the juice is expressed Tons
% II are accumulated in sugar-making
and in many mills the custom is still
to burn it. More advanced planters Use
it as a fertilizer. The grinding sea-
SON or rolling season. is near at
hand. The broad fields, which all sum-
mer waved darkly green in solid mass,
lie brown under the autumn SUI Where
the cape still stands an army of dusky
soldiers who WELD the two-foot knife
as a Cuban yields his machete is NOV
ing to the attack. The serried stalks,
struck close to the ground, will fall in
sWaths, making what are known as
"Windrows.' Then they viii! be hauled
in enormous wagons to a great mill,
which stands near the bayou.
If the mill be of the modern pattern
the work in celebrity and system will re
semble the work Of an eastern factory.
IT 1t be of the old pattern the work will
lose in efficiency, but will gain in pic
turesQueness. In old days the cane
was crushed between huge iron rollers.
The juice flowed into a tank, where it
was treated with sulphur. Thence it
went into the open kettles, where it was
boiled until it reached the granulation
point. Thence it was emptied into open
"coolers,' where it slowly formed its
crystals. The uncrystallized residue
was known as "sugar-house molasses,"
or cooler molasses." The syrup which
drains from the still wet sugar after it
is placed in hogsheads is known as
BLACK" or "cistern molasses," and is
of the lowest grade.
The modern mill is a "diffusion' mill.
The cane is not ground, u is chopped
into little bits by macerators. The bits
are placed in huge iron bottles, with
closed tops, where they steep. The pro-
cess is almost an exact reproduction Of
making tea. Nearly every particle Of
saccharine matter is extracted at a less
cost. Closed watts, centrifugal machines.
m rOOmSa and so forth do the rest
of it. 1t is all very exact and scien-
tific, but it is not pretty. Planters are
putting in diffusion machinery as fast
as they can afford it, because it's use
means much more money in the agri-
cultural pockets.
The asst interior sWarmed with help.
Everywhere were faces black as jet,
Light glanced from a dozen smoky
lamps fastened to the walls. The in
terror Of the old-fashioned mill was all
in one room and an uninterrupted view
was had from end to end. At night the
scene was particularly picturesque.
hen the lights glared, the furnace
flames roared more loudly, black shad-
oWs danced upon h walls, song was
constant. The sugar boiler" moved
about, an embodiment Of authority.
Through Wreaths of steam that 1loated
to the roof ark figures fitted, looking
like evil spirits. The men who handled
the long shafts with buckets at the
ends used to spill the Seething juice
from one kettle to another, frequently
were stripped to the waist. The mas
sive muscles showed like under
the black kin Outside a winter wind
might howl. but in the mill was a tor
rid temperature. The folks from the
big house-the planters family-were
down every night all through the roll
ing season." There was a fascination
about it that was not to be resisted. The
men who fired the furnaces ran races
with each other. He who caused the
most "strikes'-that is, the greater
quantity Of juice to be boiled-was king
of his fellows and favored Of the dusky
maids.
The trolling season. is a yearly ex-
q nple of the fattening effect Of sugar.
II lasts generally six weeks. The ne
groes, trained down by a long summer
in the fields, begin it with ribs showing
and collar bones prominent. Many Of
them have the peculiar grayish tint that
belongs to the pOOly nOuriShed African.
Romance has gone out of the sea. No
more 40 lowering t"Hiee-uechelS Will
hellying sail On sail shear through the
waters of the main. One gets no poesy
from what Mr.. kipling calls a ram
you-damn-yOu liner. with a brace OF
bucking screws" Most Of it has gone
from sugar making, slain, as the ro-
nance Of the sea was slain, by machin-
cry. In the old time a Louisiana sugar
mill, under full pressure, made a sight
worth remembrance. 1t was tall and of
cane shed,' through which ran the
carrier that transported cane to the roll
ers. Enormous chimneys reared their
heads about the building. Wagon
rains bearing cane came and went CON
stantly. The ane lay heaped twenty
feet high under the shed, hundreds of
tons Of it. Wood fires roared in two
furnaces built under the sugar kettles,
which were set in masonry on III sec,
Ond floor.