The Pacific commercial advertiser. [volume] (Honolulu, Hawaiian Islands) 1885-1921, 1904-04-13


of being the most productive of the
world. yielding on an average about
ten tons to the acre. and reaching as
high as sixteen tons. It has over 7.0ot
acres under cultivation and the visitors
attention is primarily drawn to the inn
; mense expanse of cane, in various
stages of growth as the mill is az
preached. Sugar cane takes two years
! to mature. and on one side will be seen
\ q section about two feet high: another
i shorn of its yield and being prepared
either for fresh shoots, or awaiting the
growth of new crop which springs
from the old cane, called rattoons, a
succession which is assured for but five
years in Hawaii, but for much longer
period in Cuba and other districts.
Grinding proceeds Continually at this
mill, night and day, with the exce2-
ton of Sunday. for little over half
the year, and. during that period Ioco-
motives are kept busy dragging long
lines of trucks, loaded with cane strip
ped of its leaves. to the MILL There
a. mechanical device drags it off the
trucks to a travelling feedway, which
conveys it to two massive grinders.
The result is foaning rivulets of cane
juice, dashing through sluices and pipes
to numerous tanks, where in a super
heated condition il is relieved of sedi-
ment and other foreign substances
Thence it travels to large watts or
vacuum pans, where it is boiled to a
scientific nicely. Another stage passes
it from these pans-each one having
capacity of about 20 tons of sugar-to
a number of receivers, or what are CALI
ed centrifugals, on a lower floor, where
this motion applied to section of the
receptacle separates the sugar from the
moIasses. The latter passes off in a
trough, and the former to its final stage
on the ground floor. through chute
a fine crystalized, bright yellow mass
where Japanese wahines Ca general
term for women here) are kept busy
sewing up, the mouths of the bags in
which it is placed. ready for export to
San Francisco and New York refneries-
The cane refuse, squeezed dry by thes
crushers, is conveyed by travellers tqi
the furnaces, furnishing fuel for runt
ming the mill. The molasses refuse
averages about ten gallons to the ton,
and has little value. Formerly it was
run into the sea, but it is now used as
a. fertilizer, and also proves beneficial
as a food ration for horses and cattle
This mill is capable of turning out $50
tons of sugar a day, and its OUTPUT
for the present year is expected to
reach 3S, 600 tons. Its employees number
in the vicinity of 1900 people, Drin-
cipalIy Japs, though other. scolored ma
are included; but there IS
nothing in it for the white man, except |
in superior positions. The irrigation of
the fields is an important feature, Co. !
000, 900 gallons-the same as required |
to supply Chieag o-being pumped daily |
for distribution, through fumes and |
courses. over the vast area. While |
awaiting the train to be taken back to |
the city, a curious spectacle was the |
night shift of about 100 men proceeding |
to the cane brakes to direct the course
Of the water: lanterns in hand in nom
descript apparel, their heads enveloped |
in cloths, to protect them from both
and the sharp leaves of the
cane, as they pushed their way through
the jungle like tangle during their
ireary vigil. A cooperative system,
IN which about 500 of the employees
participate, is an aid to efficient ser
yice.
A chain of views along the route to
his mill might well be accepted as re-
olicas of home life in old China; half
suDnerS6Q IdTO PATCHES anu Ice iSAoSst
With the Industrious Chink slashing
through them with harrow drawn by
| water buffalo. or grubbing mid-arm
n the oozy slime while planting thel
ame: irregular beds of vegetation in
III sorts of unlikely places; numerous
locks of ducks on dyked up ponds, for
which OrientaIs have a great affinity;
Affiliations in varying degrees. of
uaintness and squalor. the appearance
f the occupants forming an har1noni-
us blend with their surroundings; and
occasional fishers in the sea close at
and, standing up to their middle, and
rying to capture their finny prey by
means of small rets held in the hands.