CHAPTER III 



CANE JUICE 



WE now begin the main part of our subject, the 

 extraction of the sugar from the cane or the beetroot. 

 With the cane the first thing is, with all speed, to get 

 the juice out of it and to get as much of it as possible. 

 In primitive days or even now in primitive countries 

 they crushed the cane between two vertical rollers of 

 wood or stone, driven by bullocks or by hand. By 

 this method they did not get half the juice, but the 

 remains of the cane made good fuel for boiling the juice. 

 In course of time iron rollers were substituted for wood 

 and stone, and were set horizontally. The driving 

 power for this more powerful mill was wind or water, 

 as in the case of the old flour mill. The island of 

 Barbadoes is not, like its neighbours, mountainous, 

 and is, therefore, well suited to the use of windmills, 

 especially as it has a fairly breezy climate. Many 

 of these windmills may still be seen driving the 

 sugar mills in that fertile, industrious, successful and 

 well-populated little colony. 



But a great revolution has tal&n place in most tropical 

 sugar-producing regions. Extended cultivation soon 

 required new implements capable of dealing with large 

 quantities of cane in an expeditious and economical 

 way. The three-roller mill, driven by steam power, 

 soon became the rule. This machine consists of two 

 rollers placed side by side but with a space between, 

 and another above them nearly touching them. The 

 engine drives gearing which reduces and regulates the 

 speed of the three rollers to the required pace. The 



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