The Donaldsonville chief. [volume] (Donaldsonville, La.) 1871-current, 1911-12-16
SUGAR sQU|Bs.
Progress Of the Grinding Campaign
in Ascension and Elsewhere
Items of Interest from Field and

in Ascension and Elsewhere
Items of Interest from Field and
Factory.
] Decidedly unfavorable weather pre-
vailed throughout the past week,
adding further gloom to the already
dismal and discouraging crop out
look. TO begin with, the temperatures
have been too high, with the result
that the cane nipped by the disas-
trous freeze of week before last,
both that which had been Window
ed and that yet standing in the
| fields, has soured tosa considerable
extent. As though this were not
enough of an evil, the weather since
Tuesday has been damp and cloudy,
with occasional drizzIes which have
been just sufficient IN volume to
make the roads muddy and slippery
| Thursday was a particularly disagree
able day, due to IA remarka bly,
heavy fog which lasted until we'll
ii the afternoon, and which was so
dense as To have the effect Of u
light shower Of rain.
It is imperative, if heavy monetary
loss is to be avoided, that all cane
remaining in the fields should be
! converted into sugar at the earliest
possible time, and in order that
this might be accomplished clear
weather is vitality needed. The damp,
rainy weather of the past week,
by interfering with the hauling Of
cane to the mill and thereby giving
the frozen stalks further time in
which to deteriorate, has already
augmented the damage to the crop
n a material degree, and it is de-
youtly to be desired that the pres
ent indications of a rainy spell will
not be realized, but that instead clear
skies and bracing temperatures will
obtain for the remainder Of the cane
harvesting season.
It is reported that during the past
week the big Belle Alliance factory
In Assumption parish has been com
PEELED to reject numerous carloads
Of cane shipped by growers in
AEoyelles and other parishes to the
north, owing to acidity. Several other
Of the larger factories of this neigh
course, and the loss to the unfortu-
nate cane growers will amount to a
large sum. Since the inception of
the present warm spell following the
severe freeze of Nov. 29-30 and Dec.
/, the cane has soured to such an
extent that it has been necessary to
lower the knives several joints in
cutting the stalks for the mill The
shipments Of cane passing here by
railroad give off an odor that plain
ly indicates how disastrous has been
the result of the freeze.
The Bon Secour factory in st.
James parish ground its last stalk Of
cane at 2:35 o'clock Wednesday
morning, and the final strike Of SUI
gar was dried out in the evening of
the same day. Joseph F. A. Ma
therne, the capable chief engineer
of Bon Secour, returned to his home
in Donaldsonvi1Ie Thursday morning.
The first Ascension factory to fin
ish grinding was Mrs. y. Fl. Barton's
ST. Emma, on Bayou Lafourche,
Which brought the trails and tribula-
tons Of the rolling. season to an end
last Sunday. The Miles Company's
New Hope factory. in upper Ascen-
sion, completed the campaign Tues
day. We hope to secure some in
teresting fis1zfes relating to the re-
suits obtained at these two smooth
running mills for publication in
next weeks Chief,
The Lemann Company's PaIo Alto
factory on Bayou Lafourche viii be
operating far into the first month Of
the. new year, and SO will the Miles
Company's big Houmas Central mill
at Burnside. The latter house has
finished grinding all the cane which
was not put under cover after the
last freeze, and is now working on
the windrowed supply.
Another factory that will be peg
ging away until after the middle of
January is the Wilbert Company's
Myrtle Grove, in IberFtIe parish.
The last of the standing cane on
Myrtle Grove was harvested this
week, and although it showed an ap-
preciable percentage OF lac5dity, the
juice was susceptible Of being work
ed up into sugar and fair results
were obtained
The owner of a small sugar plan