ARRANGEMENT OF APPARATUS. 171 
except at the time of the second plowing, when two more 
persons will be needed to hoe the cane. During this 
period it will have received one good hoeing, and will have 
been twice or three times plowed. The ground at that 
time will be free from weeds, and the cane shooting. It may 
then be safely left to take care of itself. It will require 
no more work until September, when the blading, cutting, 
hauling, and the subsequent process of manufacture will 
follow in regular order, and require generally the labor of 
three persons until the cane is all worked up, and then one 
intelligent man can prepare the sugar and syrup for the 
market as the different lots come into condition to be suc- 
cessively operated upon. 
The evaporating range should be not less than twenty- 
four feet in length, and the mill should be of the largest 
size, adapted to horse-power. The rolls should not be 
less than a foot in diameter, and fifteen inches long, if all 
of the same size; with the requisite strength in all the 
other parts to sustain the strain that would ordinarily be 
applied by the use of four horses. The mill should be 
placed upon a strong platform of plank, supported by stout 
timbers. This platform should be built on a declivity, 
or preferably, when circumstances will permit of it, it may 
extend from the projection commonly known as the “ over- 
shot” of a side-hill barn. The horses work on the ground 
floor below; the swape is a straight beam secured in a 
horizontal position at a height suitable for easy draught, 
to a vertical wooden shaft of ten or twelve inches in diam- 
eter, which is strongly coupled to the shaft of the driving 
roll. Mills with horizontal rolls possess superior advant- 
ages when used in this manner, and require an increase of 
motive power scarcely appreciable in practice. 
The convenience of this arrangement is obvious. The 
horses work to good advantage; the vicinity of the mill is 
clear of all encumbrance; the loss by waste, dirt, damage 
