The Donaldsonville chief. [volume] (Donaldsonville, La.) 1871-current, 1910-11-26
SUGAR ,.sQUIBS.
Progress Of the Grinding Campaign in As.
cension and Eisewhere-Items of In
terest from Field and Factory.

cension and EisewEere-Items of In
terest from Field and Factory.
The weather of the past week while in
the main clear, has not been as favorable
for plantation work as that which pre-
vailed during the fortnight preceding. ow-
| ing mainly to the rather unseasonably
high temperatures which have obtained
for the last several days. A heavy rain
/ fell on Thursday evening and all day
Friday of last week, with the result that
complete stop was put to field work Of
all kinds and cessation of grinding
operations necessitated at many factories
Saturday was fairly clear. but not as cold
as had been expected or desired, and
practically the same conditions prevailed
on Sunday and Monday. During the re-
mainder of the week the weather was un-
seasonably warm, dry and partly cloudy
With the exception of the temporary
shutdown necessitated by the inclement
weather of the past weekend, work IN
the fields and factories has been pro-
crossing steadily. and much progress has
been made in the task of harvesting the
big cane crop. The nTossd made into the
fields by the cutters is beginning to as
sumo noticeable proportions. and on some
plantations all Of the stubble has been
handled and the cut ting of plant cane has
been started. Despite the freeze of recent
date and the prolonged cool weather
which has prevailed since the advent OF
the grinding campaign, the cane is re-
ported to be quite green, and considerable
improvement is looked for in this respect
as the season grows older. Notwithstand-
ing this fact. however. the yield of sugar
is slightly better than was obtained at
this time last year, and the cane tonnage
is also reported to be in excess of 1909
figures.
A correspondent of The Chief. who is
employed in clerical cap acity on Messrs.
Mccall & Legendre's McM amor plantation,
writes US as follows under date of Nov. II:
There isn't much doing tm McManor this
week. Monday was ra theE busy day,
but on Tuesday and Wed nesday ploWing
was the only work to ei lgage the atten-
ton of the field forces. don't know ex-
actly what the program comprises for the
rest of the week. but do not think it in
cludes much activity in the cane-cutting
line. Up to last Saturday (Nov. 12) only
1922 tons of cane had been sent from Nc
year at the same time 'nea rly three times
this amount of cane had cen handled.
Another correspondent who is holding
down an important positi on in Messrs.
Delgardo & Company's Alb mia factory in
st. Mary parish sends us the following in
teresting items concerning t ne operations
to date Of that well equipped and smooth
running mill: we made start on Oct.
"a and have been doing fine At the out
set of the campaign we experienced a
great deal of trouble with the double
effects and had to close down for couple
of days in order to have tn em repaired.
The work was done by the efficient crew
of mechanics sent out by the John H.
Murphy iron Works, of New Orleans. and
the effects are now in first-class shape and
doing their work in an entirely salts
factory manner.
The cane has not yet been affected by
the cold snap. The juice weighs 10 de-
grees Beaume and the yield of sugar per
ton is well up to ordinary figures. Our
average for the first week of grinding was
1873 pounds; second week, 146 pounds. and
this week, | am glad to state. the average
has reached $50 pounds to the ton. We
are leading in average yield in this sec
tion, and expect to maintain this superior
ity in so far as may depend upon the eff
forts and ability of our efficient chief
sugar boiler. NJ. 7. Blouin Of Donaldson
vile. who is ably assisted by Florian ].
Michel. also of Donaldsonville, and Mr..
Blouin's young son. Thomas. Jr. Another
welI-known Aseensionite. Smith Yentzen
Of Darrow. is foreman of the corps Of
CHARTERS.
We had to shut down last night (Nov.
f7) on account of leak which developed
in one Of the boilers of the bagasse set.
The accident viii cause a delay of forty
eight hours. Taking advantage Of the
breakdown. A. Y. Allan, the competent
superintendent of the Albania plantation,
put the field forces to work windrowing
cane for the mill, and quite large acre
age was slowed away In addition to the
Albania crop. the Delgardo Company has
contracted for a large quantity of cane
grown in the Loreauville section. and
these shipments are received daily in
barges and are unloaded with a Thornton
grab The factory is situated on the
shore Of Bayou Teehe, just on the line
dividing St. Mary and Iberia parishes.
It's output this season will be in the
neighborhood OF five million pounds Of
sugar. We are still cutting stubble cane.