The Montgomery advertiser., 1905-02-06
THE LARGEST CANE FIELD
 IN STATE OF ALABAMA
EX-Sheriff George W. Black of Geneva County, the Owner, Has Distinction of Being States
 Biggest Syrup Producer.

raiser of Cairo. Ga, did not concede this He argued that when the mill started It's days work all screwed up It no doubt got out 50 per cent. of the juice. but before night invariably the screws were loosened and the mill was squeezing out only 30 per cent. in juice. of the weight of the cane.
 But there is no room for argument on the advantages of the close set steam operated rollers. as long as they extract 80 per cent. and sometimes more than that
 It Is the intelligent use of modern machinery. the steam rollers. the coiled steam pipes and all that which has made ex-Sheriff Blacks syrup produc- ing so successful.
 Politics and Farming.
 I had a talk with P. C. Black, Pro- bate Judge of Geneva County, son of ex-Sherif Black. and interested with him in the production of syrup. Let 1t be understood that the Black family is power in Geneva County politics. In the year he finished his term as Sheriff, George ". Black had the qualification of seeing his son elected Probate Judge of the county The son. P. c. Black. Is one of the youngest, if not the youngest, Probate Judge in the United States. He Is withal, frank. sincere and likable young fellow. highly es- teemed throughout the whole county.
 Judge Black told me how his father became interested in the growing of cane on a small scale, to later take 1t up as money crop.
 He, of course, had heard of the marked success of W. B. Roddenberry, in syrup making at Cairo. Ga.." said Judge Black. Before entering in it extensively he wanted to get in touch with modern methods. He therefore went over to Cairo and spent some time watching the operation of MT. Rodden- berry's modern plant with its late and useful machinery. He came back to Geneva and ordered an exact duplicate of 1t piece for piece and part for part. At the time the machinery was put up 1t was the only set in Alabama. I un- derstand that similar machinery has been installed by E. Smith, near Fair hope.
 The Machinery's Advantage.
 The advantages off this machinery are too plain to need discussion. In the first place, the steam rollers crush out so per cent. or more of the weight of the cane in juice. The cane stalks are often run twice through these roll CTS. The juice Is then forced into the vats by steam. From the first vat the juice passes into the skimming vat. where the impurities rise to the surface to be taken off and thrown aside. The juice then passes into the finishing vat where 1t almost becomes syrup, and where some remaining but final inn purities are removed. Finally it ent- CTS the last vat and becomes syrup for he market.
 "The syrup is put in the tin cans piping hot and thus sealed. The cans have first been sterilized and there Is no danger of the syrup either ferment- ing on the one hand or sugaring on the other. As an additional precau- tion against fermenting and sugaring the syrup Is carefully tested by a Bohme thermometer as it proceeds through the vats. Each of these vats as I have before stated, have their bot toms filled with galvanized iron steam pipes and the heat of each vat can be graduated when 1t is found necessary to increase or decrease the heat.
 Most of our syrup is sold in barrels. but a good deal goes out in the market in sealed cans. The sealed syrup brings much better price than the syrup in barrels. We sold last season the sealed syrup for 50 cents a gallon. Some of the barrelled syrup sold as AOW us 60 CNHNos AhE LACA6lOEe. ranged from 2S to 50 cents a gallon"
 Work for Market.
 How did you get a market for your syrup?" I asked Judge Black. This was thought to be an important ques- ton inasmuch as the Cane Growers at their Montgomery meeting, devoted much of their time to its discussion and all of them agreed that the suc- cessful marketing of their product was the greatest problem which confronted the cane growers.
 well we didn't sit still and wait for the market to come to us." replied Judge Black. "syrup from Alabama is comparatively a new sort of merchan- disc and 1t needed pushing. We found buyers mostly through correspondence. We wrote many letters in urging our goods upon the merchants and these letters were successful in bringing re- suits in the main. Moreover, my brother and took the road several times to open up new markets and again we were successful. The letters and the personal talks were so effec- tive that we have sold as high as two car loads of bGrrelled syrup at one time"
 What sort of yield did you have from your cane felds2" was the next question.
 Satisfactory, very satisfactory" re-