The weekly times-record. (Valley City, N.D.) 1912-1922, 1921-11-10

the first of December to the first of
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 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
rcplanting, 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 corntield
would be sugar field.
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 tranload. and eight to ten
trainOadS 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
ffths 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 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 pressure ot
| a million pounds, and when the
; "bagasse," as the crushed cane is
called, issues from them it is almost
! as dry as finder. 1t is carried by con-
vovorS to the tire-boXes of the boilers.
where it is used as fuel in generating
the steam that drives the big mills
and bolls the cane Juice. The stream
Of crushed cane flows through the
| last set Of rolls at speed Of seven
miles q day.
Making the Sugar.
After the Juice is freed of sediment
| it is pumped in the evaporators, where
scout 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 strip
| are IlIldilv IeHIoNCu " q 'iAA"oo'
machine that acts somewhat on the
principle Of a cream separator.
Placed inside a perforated basket
and whirled around at from 1000 to
1. 400 revolutions a minute, all of the
sirup is forced out through the per
forations. while the crystallized 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 enc gets a good impress
sion of the immensely Of the industry
when, on 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 it goes to the baggins
| room where it is put into bags that
hold 1926 pounds each. These are
| hauled in trainloads to the docks anc
| shippetl to The United States, where
the big rc..neries remove the impur
| tiles and transform the sugar from
! dirty yellow to immaculate white.