190 INDIANA HISTORICAL COLLECTIONS 



makes a scene here, which, if it could be exhibited in 

 January in New York, would command a world of ad- 

 miration. 



Mr. James M. Lapice^ is a large planter, who also re- 

 fines all his juice into loaf sugar, &c. He is the only one 

 that I know of, who regrinds his bagasse in a separate 

 mill. He has two three-roller mills, set 12 feet apart, 

 with a carrier between, so arranged as to reverse the 

 position of the bagasse, in order that it may enter the 

 mill in a different manner from that which it came 

 through the other rollers. By this process, he gets about 

 75 of the 90 per cent, of juice contained in the cane, and 

 makes bagasse so free of saccharine matter, that the 

 acidity arising in the decomposition is not great enough 

 to injure the land to which it is immediately applied. It 

 is ground, or broken up much finer than the common 

 bagasse, and is spread out about six inches thick, at once, 

 upon cane stubble that is to be broken up. This serves to 

 keep the land loose and mellow. This method is the same 

 as that practiced upon grass, &c., called "Guerneyism." 

 In the spring, he sends the hoe hands to rake off the top 

 of old cane rows, and plant a hill of peas every 12 or 15 

 inches. These grow and cover over the ground com- 

 pletely, and the next winter, together with the now-rotten 

 bagasse, are turned under with a heavy plow and planted 

 again in cane, and produce a crop greatly increased in 

 value. This process also serves to keep down the coco, 

 in consequence of being so smothered a whole year, that 

 the cane gets up and ahead of it, and then keeps ahead. 

 Mr. Lapice's rule, in relation to team, is different from 

 most planters. He works 120 hands in the field and 120 

 mules or horses, besides 40 oxen, or one mule or horse to 

 every hand, and never works them but half a day at once. 



^ Probably intended for Peter M. Lapice, mentioned in 1846 as one 

 of the sug-ar planters who had abandoned kettles, either in whole 

 or in part, in favor of more modern refining equipment. One of 

 the foremost planters in using improved processes for the manu- 

 facture of sugar. De Bow's Review, 2:333, 334, 341 (November, 

 1846); 5:250, 257, 287 (March, 1848); 11:42 (July, 1851). 



