Fulton County tribune. (Wauseon, Ohio) 1883-1925, 1921-10-13

October. The fields are so planted in
the first place that each month Of the
grinding season produces it's 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 a 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 cornfeld
would De sugar neld.
The main body of the stalk Is cut
down and loaded into the ox-carts.
In these it is hauled to the field sta
ton 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 "a 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 a mile square being harvest
ed between sunup and sundown to
keep one central going!
At the mills the cars of cane are
dumped on an endless belt which car
ries it to the crushing rolls. Each
set of rolls the cane passes through
presses it harder than the one before.
The last set may exert a pressure of
a million pounds, and when the
"bagasse," as the crushed cane is
called, issues from them 1t is almost
as dry as tinder. 1t is carried by con-
veyors to the fire-boxes of the boilers,
where 1t 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
it is pumped in the evaporators, where
about half of the water is boiled out
of it.
The next step in the making Of
sugar is to draw the thick juice into
the vacuum pans. Here it comes into
contact with hot steam coils and boils
at a very low temperature because OF
the absence Of atmospheric pressure
AS the boiling proceeds, the sugar
crystallizes into small grains.
The sugar and the adhering sirup
are finally removed to a centrifugal
machine that acts somewhat on the
principle Of cream separator
Placed inside a perforated baske;
and whirled around at from 1000 to
1,4OO revolutions a minute, all Of the
sirup is forced out through the per
forations, while the crystallized sugar
remains behind.
This sirup 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 impres
sion of the immepsity Of the industry
when, on a single days rail Journey
he meets a dozen solid trains of some
forty big tank cars each, every cal
| full to the dome with blackstrap.
After sugar has come from the
centrifugals 1t goes to the bagginG
room where it is put into bags that
hold 325 pounds each. These art
hauled in trainloads to the doct.s auC
shipped to the United States, wherV
the big refineries remove the impur
tiles and transform the sugar from
dirty yellow to immaculate white.