El Paso herald. (El Paso, Tex.) 1901-1931, 1917-06-02

and make their way through the soil.
As they come through the ground they
look like corn which has been plant
ed with the drill
Cane Grows Rapidly.
The cane grows rapidly. By Aug
ust il Is as tall as a man, and along
about the middle of October 1t IL
about twice as high as the average
cornstalk and Is ready for cutting
Il is now chopped off close to the
ground. and carried on wagons or on
the cars Of the plantation railroads
to the mills. Almost every planta-
ton has its own mill. and II is IN
these mills that the juice Is squeezed
out and boiled down into what -
merce. This is the sugar that Is used
in the great refineries, which put II
through the various machines and
treatments that transform IL to the
graduated sugar, powdered sugar and
white Jumps used on our tables
The Great ChaImette Factory.
We shall now take a walk through
the refinery at Chalmette and see how
such sugar is made. As We go through
the factory you will see how each
item is taken into account Every
thing possible is done by machinery.
employed. and the savings are shaved
to the thousandths Of a cent The
vapor that arises from the sugar
is distilled. that no molaSses may pc
lost in the fumes. The steam IS
worked over and over aSain, and
grayitv carries the raw sugar from
process to process Il is first hfted
bv machinery to the top Of the build
ing, and when il comes TO the oo1-
tom il is almost pure sugar. II II
then carried again TO the top ana
dropped by gravity through other
processes, which. sidcd BY steam ana
electricity. finally land il in the cars
that carry II all over the union
Nothing Done By GuesswOrk-
Nothing is done BY zuessTork- Tbs
sugar is sampled when IL comes from
the steamer, and half dozen difrer-
en- chemists analyze every iot 70 Sc
just how much pure sweetness IL con-
tains As IL goes on through the pro-
cesses the sugar and strip are test
ed again and again some Of the Work
being so delicate that scales Wnlcn
will give YOU the exact weight OF a
single hair from a bsby's eyebrow
are used in fixing the quantities: They
will weigh 70 the One-thirty-thous-
andth Of an ounce
We first go 10 the wharf ana watch
the steam crane lift the bags OF raw
sugar from the holds OF the steam
ers and drop them on the floor OF the
warehouse Here they are weighed
and samples Of each lot are sent OH
TO the chemists. Then the great bags
are lifted. six at a time. by the Tel
pher car. which operates on an over
head track and runs along like a troll
ley high Up under the roof me
tracks OF the trolley connect with ne
storage compartments The bags ny
this way and that. high over our
heads They go from one room to an
other and finally drop on the piles
just where they are wanted
Picks Up Ton Mt n Time
Each bag weighs $50 pounds, and
the six more than ton Never SitS
less, that ton flies through the air
as fast as the little cash box on the
wires Of a department store The ma
chine seems like a gigantic cash car
rier, save that the basket Is operated
by a man who sits in cage at the
back and directs the car over the
track by pressing a button or moving
We follow one Of the loads. Il goes
Z into a great Hareroon in which a
Quarter OF a million OF these sugar
bags have already been stored they
are piled up by the carrier as easily
as though they we're feathers Never
I theleEs. they weigh millions OF POUNDS
and there is enough sugar in thas
room 10 give the whole United states
a taffy pullinE- II covers the better
part of an acre. and it Is solid mass
of sugar bags, forty feet high Al
the present prices, more than S5.0eU,-
600 worth Of raw sugar Is piled up
on this floor.
But Sc. The mommoth cash car
rier has picked up six OF the bags
and is starting them on their way to
the mill II flies round the curvtnS
tracks overhead. takes them into an
other room and drops them in front
Of a chute. Here they are again
the chemical assayer- The bags are
left right in front Of two men, who
stand in pits. so that they may not
have TO bend in opening them and
emptying the sugar.
Making II Clean
The first process is cleaning the
raw sugar. As the sugar comes IN
from the plantation mills each OF the
brown crystals has a slight coating
Of syrup. This is washed off and the
syrup is saved. There is also con-
siderable dirt mixed with the crys-
tails. so much. indeed, that 200 bar
relS of pure mud are taken out OF
the run of each day. All of this
mud has been paid for as sugar. so
that at the present prices il costs the
company something like $4,000 day
for pure mud alone.
After the first washing. the sugar
is melted to a syrup, and this syrup
is also washed II is now yellow,
and the color of a thick dark mo-
lasses It has 10 be filtered again
and again. until it is as white as the
sugar sold in our stores The FL
tering is done in great tanks filled
with chafred bones, ground so that
they look like gunpowder. This stuff
is known as bone black. IL takes tbs
coloring matter and other impurities
out OF the syrup aHd makes II as
white as alcohol when il comes from
the still. Bone black is costly. but
the refinery uses two million pounds
OF il every twelve months. As the
syrup goes through the filters il
grows lighter and lighter. until az
(Conffnued n Nax@ r.N