The Clio messenger. (Clio, Mich.) 1907-current, 1921-10-06

the first Of December to the first Of
October. The fields are so planted In
the first place that each month Of tho
grinding season produces its own
crop Of mature cane. Here Is a group
Of fields where the new crop has just
sprouted; over yonder another group
where the cane Is half grown; and
on farther Is group where harvest
ing operations are In full swing.
How the Crop is Harvested.
In harvesting, the cane-cutters first
strip the blades from the stalk; then
they cut off the upper part OF the
latter, which Is worthless except for
replanting, since what juice it con-
tains possesses very little sugar. One
Of the strange things about sugar-cane
is that the sap of the growing plant
has little sugar, while In the mature
stalk the juice Is rich In sucrose. The
action of the suns rays seems to
transform glucose into sucrose-a
transformation that cannot be accom-
plished by human means. If man
knew how to do that, every cornfield
would be sugar field.
The main body of the stalk Is cut
down and loaded into the ox-carts.
In these 1t Is hauled to the field sta
tion and placed in the waiting cars.
Each car contains about twenty tons
and each train Is made up Of thirty
cars. This makes 600 tons of cane
to the trainload, and eight to ten
trainloads a day are required to keep
one of the bigger centrals in opera
ton for pa hours. The big United
Fruit central at Preston requires the
crop from $50 acres every day to
keep It busy. Imagine a field three
fifths Of mile square being harvest
ed between sunup and shutdown to
keep one central going!
At the mills the cars Of cane are
dumped on an endless belt which car
ries 1t to the crushing rolls. Each
set Of rolls the cane passes through
presses II harder than the one before.
The last set may exert pressure OF
million pounds, and when the
"bagasse," as the crushed cane is
called, issues from them 1t is almost
as dry as finder. 1t Is carried by con-
veyors to the fire-boxes of the boilers.
where II Is used as fuel in generating
the steam that drives the big mills
and boils the cane juice. The stream
of crushed cane flows through the
last set Of rolls at a speed of seven
miles a day.
Making the Sugar.
After the juice Is freed Of sediment
1t is pumped in the evaporators, where
about half of the water Is boiled out
of It,
The next step I'm the making OF
sugar Is TO draw the thick juice into
the vacuum pans. Here Ii comes into
contact with hot steam coils and boils
at very low temperature because or
the absence Of atmospheric pressure.
AS the boiling proceeds, the sugar
crystallizes into small grains.
The sugar and the adhering strip
are finally removed to centrifugal
achine that acts somewhat on the
principle Of cream separator.
Placed inside perforated basket
and whirled around at from 1000 to
1.4OO revolutions minute, all Of the
strip Is forced out through the per
forations. while the crystalllzed sugar
remains behind.
This strip is boiled again and the
process Is repeated until all the avail
able sweetness has been extracted.
The remaining liquor Is the "black-
strap" molasses OF commerce.
A ton OF sugar-cane yields four and
one-half gallons Of blackstrap mo-
lasses, and one gets good impress
sion Of the immensely Of the industry
when, on a single days rail journey,
he meets dozen solid trains Of some
forty big tank cars each, every car
full to the dome with blackstrnp.
After sugar has come from the
centrifugals II goes to the bagging
room where II IL put into bags that
hold 325 pounds each. These are
hauled In trainloads to the docks and
shipped to the United States, where
the big refineries remove the impur-
tiles and transform the sugar from
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