Provinces of Santa Clara, Matanzas and Habana, where the colono has to 

 employ more labor in the cultivation, fertilizing and sometimes the irrigation 

 of cane, and also because two or more factories compete for this cane in 

 these older sugar Provinces where the factories are close together." 



Colono vs. I n considering the relative advantages and disadvantages 



Administra- of the colono and administration systems of cane culture, there 

 is really only one consideration of importance from a financial 

 standpoint and that is the question of cost. On the whole the Cuban indus- 

 try has found that under prevailing conditions the colono system has impor- 

 tant advantages. Many of the sugar companies, however, raise some admin- 

 istration as well as colono cane, their policies being dictated by conditions 

 and costs. 



From Juice to Crystal 



Raw sugar manufacture is carried on in a factory which, with all of its 

 appurtenances, is known as a "central." A modern sugar mill on the better 

 plantations in Cuba represents a large investment because of the elaborate 

 mechanical equipment required. When the cut canes reach the sugar mill 

 they are conveyed automatically to a stand or set of corrugated rolls and 

 are given a preliminary crushing which breaks down and shreds the cane 

 stalks. The juice in the cane is then squeezed out by running the shredded 

 cane through several successive stands of the rollers. There are three rollers 

 to each stand two large parallel rollers in the same horizontal plane and 

 immediately above them a smaller roller parallel to the larger ones. Between 

 the large rollers is a trough in which the juice is caught as the cane is crushed 

 and from which it is pumped to the purifying tanks while the bagasse or fibre 

 part of the cane is automatically conveyed to the boiler room of the factory 

 for use as fuel. 



The juice is now ready for purification and is treated with lime and heated. 

 The heat causes the heavier and muddy impurities to sink to the bottom 

 of the purifying tank and the lighter impurities to appear on the top as scum. 

 Between the upper and lower layers of impurities is the clear cane juice. 

 This clarified juice is drawn from the tank to be evaporated and the scum 

 and other impurities are pumped to the filter presses where additional juice 

 is recovered and added to the clarified juice already extracted. 



At this stage the juice is a thin mixture containing about 85% water and 

 the next step in the process is the evaporation of this water and the reduc- 

 tion of the juice to the syrup point. This is accomplished in an apparatus 

 known as the multiple evaporator. The syrup is then ready for boiling in 

 the vacuum pan, a cylindrical vessel with a dome-like top and a conical 

 bottom. The vacuum pan makes it possible to boil syrup in a vacuum at 



22 



