52 



there are no good roads, and for bringing cane into the mill from 

 comparatively long distances. 



The transportation of cane from field to mill by fluming after the 

 system practiced in the Island of Hawaii may occasionally prove prac- 

 ticable in the Philippines where there is heavy rainfall and where there 

 are mountain streams having a constant flow available. This is a 

 very simple form of transportation. The flume consists of a V-shaped 

 box made of two wide boards nailed together and made continuous by 

 joining the ends. It is generally constructed, on a light wooden frame- 

 work giving the flume a constant and gradual fall, which could not be 

 obtained by placing it on the surface of the ground. It may discharge 

 the cane directly into the mill or a storage flume from which the mill 

 supply can be taken as desired. 



Loaders. — There are many forms of cane loaders designed for handling 

 the cane in all quantities from the small piles in the field to large car- 

 loads, but few of these are likely to have any extensive use in the Philip- 

 pines except with the large mills and plantations. One of the simplest 

 forms is a light steel derrick on a cart or wagon provided with a sling 

 or grab for picking up the cane from the ground and is intended 

 primarily for hoisting the cane on to carts or wagons which are driven 

 alongside of it. This form of loader is operated by a single animal 

 hauling on the end of a rope reeved through a set of pulleys. 



A new style of mechanical loader for wagons has recently been ex- 

 hibited in Louisiana. It is built on the general plan of the automobile 

 truck with the mast and boom on the rear of the bed. The grab and 

 hoist are operated by the engine which drives the truck. 



A common form of hoist or loader used in Louisiana for discharging 

 carts and wagons into railway cars is a traveling crane working over a 

 I'kilway on a steel track placed horizontally overhead across the railway 

 track. There is room by the side of the railway for driving the cart 

 or wagon underneath the loader. The grab is let down and fastened 

 ta the slings after which it is hoisted by animal or mechanical power 

 and the crane moved across on the overhead track until it comes over 

 the car into which it is discharged. There are many forms of steam and 

 gasoline loaders which operate on a derrick car and may be taken on 

 the plantation railway tracks to any point on the farm where loading is 

 to be done. They are of the boom derrick type and vary in capacity 

 from a few hundred pounds as when unloading small sleds in very rugged 

 or inuddy country, to those having a capacity sufficient for transferring 

 loads from large cane, wagons, cars or barges. A Japanese engineer at 

 one of the plantations in Hawaii devised a plan to elevate' the front 

 wheels of the t3ane loader car so that after the load has been hoisted up 

 and the boom passed around over the car, the mechanism can be released 

 and the rail weight will throw the boom back into place by gravity. A 

 rope or chain sling is placed in the body of the cart or wagon, the hdOk 



