Cane Machinery. 31 



CANE MACHINERY 



In the manufacture of syrup and sugar it is important to secure machinery 

 that will avoid waste as much as possible, and give the best product. After 

 incurring the labor and expense- of cultivating a crop of Sorghum and pre- 

 paring it for manufacture, it is poor economy to buy machinery with a view 

 to low prices only. The best is cheapest in the end. To make cane-growing 

 profitable to all concerned, it is of vital importance to save all the product- 

 A poor Cane Mill will waste enough juice to seriously impair if not wholly 

 destroy the margin of profit, and in any case will waste more juice in 

 a single season than would pay for a good mill. 



CANE MILLS. 



The sole object of the cane mill is to extract the juice from the cane, 

 and that mill is best and cheapest which presses out the largest percentage 

 of juice, with the least friction and with strength for all emergencies. Two- 

 roll mills, rolls in wood frames, mills with rolls arranged with levers or rubbet 

 cushions, are wasteful, and no planter can afford loss of juice by their use. 



Good work requires at least three rolls in the mill. No intelligent 

 planter now thinks of using a 2-roll mill. The waste of juice in a 2-roll 

 mill is so great as to use up the margin of profit in syrup making. The 

 ordinary 3-roll mill, as made by inexperienced country founders, is not 

 much better. The best 3-roli mill that can be had is the cheapest in the end, 

 although its first cost may be greater than the ordinary mill. 



To crush cane properly and reliably requires great power. A good mill 

 must be strong, and, when properly constructed, it will be strong and . safe 

 just va. proportion to its weight. Mills made so light that, in order to hide their 

 ■weakness, the rolls are arranged to yield under pressure, cheat their owners. 



Mills with such devices are simply too weak to stand heavy pressure, and 

 however great the loss of juice to the planter, must yield under it or break. 

 The planter can afford neither result. With the best flexible mill that is 

 made the loss of juice will not be less than 10 per cent. Any one can figure 

 how long it will take such a mill to waste more than its price. In most cases 

 the loss of juice will range as high as 20 to 36 per cent. 



But such mills are not secure even- against breakage. The flexible rolls do 

 not provide against it with any certainty. On the contrary, there are abun- 

 dant proofs (which can readily be furnished) that in such mills breakages are 

 quite numerous, and, considering the few sold, very common as compared 

 with rightly constructed rigid mills. 



In a good mill the rolls stay where they are set, whether the feeding is reg- 

 ular or not. If the mill is not evenly fed, it is all the more important that 

 the rolls should do their duty, so that no cane can pass through until all the 

 juice is gotten out of it When necessary to crowd the work, as often hap- 

 pens, the mill must be strong enough to stand it. 



