66 



which was a raised platform 3 feet high; an iron hook was secured in 

 the two ropes placed around the load by the farmer; a friction clutch 

 at the opposite end of the cane shed, nearly 200 feet distant; drew the 

 load over the rear end to the scales. Here it was weighed net, and the 

 farmer's ropes removed. An endless sling was then thrown over the 

 cane, the same power taking it into one of the floors comprising the 

 cane shed, where it was left for night rim or taken directly through to 

 a small downward incline, where two men pulled it apart, feeding to 

 three chains with attachments that carried it 1 foot above a cross drag 

 leading to the cutters. The feed was regulated by stopping and start- 

 ing this chain. This drag leading to first cutter has a motion of 40 feet 

 per minute, carrying the cane in bundles a few inches of space between 

 the tops of one bundle and the tops of the next; this permitted seed to 

 drop freely. Seed was hauled directly to the field and left in small 

 piles; that required for sugar work next season is carefully selected by 

 hand, tied up into bundles of 18 tufts, two bundles then tied together 

 and so hung up in a dry place. The rest is stacked, allowed to pass 

 through a sweat, and thrashed in February. It is sold in large quanti- 

 ties at good prices to ranchmen, who sow it for fodder for stock, The 

 inch sections of cane as they are cut fall into a strong blast of air di- 

 rectly underneath, by which the leaves and sheaths are removed. By 

 means of a link-belt drag the cleaned sections are conveyed into the 

 main building to an elevator, taking them above the roof, where they 

 are discharged into the hopper of the shredder and reduced to pulp, 

 which falls into a carrier passing over the diffusion battery. Openings 

 in bottom of this carrier permit the cane chips to be spouted to cells on 

 either side. 



About September 15 a trial run was made with whiting (carbonate of 

 lime) by placing it in each cell of chips, its object being to prevent in- 

 version during the process of diffusion. The results were disappointing. 

 At the instigation of Dr. H. W. Wiley an apparatus was provided for 

 dusting finely powdered air-slaked lime upon the chips as they left the 

 shredder, about 1 quart being required for each 1,400 pounds of chips. 

 As this apparatus was under nearly perfect control, any degree of acid- 

 ity of the juice desired was secured; it was generally carried nearly to 

 the neutral point, preventing all inversion, which the whiting failed 

 to do. 



Ordinary clarifiers of 450 gallons capacity were used and the acid in 

 juice nearly if not quite neutralized. If the juice was properly limed in 

 the cell, very few scums were found in the clarifiers. The battery was 

 operated at a temperature of 180 Fahienheit in center and cooler at each 

 end ; a higher temperature would have greatly assisted classification. 



Double effects concentrated the clarified juice to 40 Brix, and the 

 strike pan completed the work. 



Although the semi sirup contained a purity often above 70, it was 

 difficult and generally impossible to start a grain in the pan ; a strike 



