The Scranton tribune. [volume] (Scranton, Pa.) 1891-1910, 1901-12-07
AROUND ABOUT
NEW ORLEANS
GRAPHIC DESCRIPTION OF THE
SUGAR MAKING.
A Glance at the Tropical Land of
Louisiana-The Longest Railroad
Bridge-Lumber of the South-The
Resources of Alabama-Relics of
the Confederacy.

Special to the Scranton Tribune.
The country about New Orleans is
nothing. if not characteristically south
ern. The rude huts of the Choctow In
dians are but over the waterway, nest
ling under the pines and bay trees of
st. Tammany parish. The land OF
Evangeline (so-called) lies just beyond
the city limits. The mouth of the
Father of Waters" the great Jetties
and the Gulf are but u few hours ride
southwark, while all about the great
sprawlnG city are orange orchards,
white with blossoms, or golden with
fruit; also. immense cane fields and
cotton plantations. Here. hundreds and
thousands of acres are devoted to sugar
raising. The plantations are mainly
situated along the river. or bayou
fronts. so as to obtain good drainage
so essential to the profitable cultiva-
tion Of cane. Sugar in Louisiana is
produced from what they call ribbon
cane. hardy species of violet and
yellow cane, that is able to stand early
frosts. In growing sugar cane Louisl-
ana is far in advance of any other
state in the Union in the production OF
raw sugar and molasses. The soil best
adapted to the cultivation of cane is a
moist, black loan, Il rich vegetable
mold, often three feet deep, though it
IS grown on the pine lands with great
Yields. Cotton, the other great staple
article, is cultivated in both alluvial
and upper lands, the yield being greater
in the low country. The swamp region
is most favorable to rice, which, when
soWn III drills and kept clear of weeds
Will produce from thirty to one hum
drcd bushels of rough rice to the acre.
SUGAR PLANTING.
Cane is planted in rows or drills, six
feet apart from joints of the cane il
self, III the tall ana spring, and in
March it sends forth little shoots which
resemble corn. This plant with care
ful wedding and cultivation grows to
Il height of seven or eight feet and is
ripe for cutting in October. Thousands
ol these shoots are planted on each
acre of ground.
The cane is cut ana hauled in mule
carts that resemble our old ia shioned
hay riSgings, to the sugar mills where
II is dumped ana sorted out so as to
run lengthwise up chute, some ten
rect wide and sixty feet long. like an
endless canvas tread mill. This cane
carrier runs it to Il set of huge rollers,
turned by steam, through which the
cane passes and the juice is extracted
hy pressure. The juice, Il mlllish white
liquid with II peculiar fresh, sweet
odor, Is purified with lime and the
fumes of sulphur; it is then boiled in a
series of mammoth open iron kettles
until il reaches the granulating point
when is
called coolers, and left there to cool
and granulate into sugar.
After IA few days, this mass of
cooked juice, which has become sugar
is carried to the ''purgery" and packed
In hossheads Of Il thousand pounds
each, After draining off in the pur-
gerry all the molasses mixed in with
the sugar, the article is ready for the
market as "brown sugar" The 'white
sugars are produced by several differ
ent processes so varied and mysterious
in these re1ineries that / will attempt
no further discussion. All large PLAN
tations have machinery for producing
the various grades of sugar under one
roof. Here one may witness the cane
transformed into New Orleans molass-
es and every grade of brown and re-
fined sugars. Before the civil war
Louisiana produced annually a crop
OF four hundred thousand hogsheads
OF brown sugar alone.
NORTHWARD.
Leaving New Orleans northward, the
traveller has the choice of eight dis
tinct routes, each leading through
region of country peculiarly southern,
with history worth relating. Each
passes through lines of Confederate
fortlications erected by the city dur
Ing the civil war. and cross shell roads
as white as snow. and draining canals
as black as ink-then enter deep
swamps Of cypress and palmetto. The