SUGAR. 



205 



growers, I was informed, received the value of 5^ per cent, (of manu- 

 factured sugar per 100 lbs. of canes), and after 11 per cent, interest 

 had been handed over to the shareholders, the remainder of the profits 

 was divided between the shareholders and the cane-growers. The 

 arrangements between the Usine and the cane-growers are, in almost 

 every instance, different ; and, as far as I have been able to learn, 

 those that have been lately established give more liberal terms to the 

 cane-growers than those of some years' standing. 



6, Some Canes sea-home to Usine.— Some of the Usines on the sea- 

 board bring the canes by water, when steamers are employed to tow 

 iron barges in which the canes are transported, sometimes from 6 to 

 8 miles. 



7. The Petit-Bourg Usine. — The canes are ground in a mill of 40 

 horse-power, made by Cail and Co., of Paris. The rollers are much 

 thicker, in proportion to their length, than the general run of mills 

 manufactured in England and Scotland. Although of 40 horse- 

 power, the mill at the Petit-Bourg Usine has rollers only 5 feet in 

 length. This mill extracts about 72 per cent, from plant canes, and 

 from 60 to 70 from ratoons. The steam is supplied, both for the 

 machinery and boiling, by five multitubular boilers of the shape of 

 locomotive boilers. Were coal only used, these boilers would be 

 equal to 100 horse-power each, but as the megass is consumed in the 

 boiler furnaces immediately on its issuing from the mill by the aid of 

 2 tons of coal per diem for each boiler, their efficiency as generators 

 of steam is diminished about one-half ; that is to say, the five boilers 

 barely supply 300 horse-power. The amount of sugar manufactured 

 is about 15 tons per day of fifteen hours ; and the waste of animal char- 

 coal about 15 tons per annum. Sixteen centrifugals are used, driven 

 by two 12 -horse engines. This Usine, which is not on a large scale, 

 is fed by means of about 6 miles of railway : the rails weigh about 

 25 lbs. to the yard ; the gauge is about 4 feet. Sixty cane-waggons are 

 employed, measuring 11 x 8 x2|- feet, each capable of carrying about 

 6500 lbs. of canes, and each drawn by one mule, of which there are 

 twenty-five attached to the Usine, all small animals. The average 

 cost of the tramway, per mile, in an undulating country, is about 

 $7000 per mile; on level land, the expense hardly exceeds $5000 

 per mile. There are three lines of rail laid down before the mill, 

 to facilitate the discharge of the waggons. The cane-waggons 

 on the tramroad are loaded by the cane-growers, but they have 

 nothing to do with the expense of traction on the tramway, or the 

 cost of laying it down and repairing it. From the mill, the megass 

 is carried by a web to a platform about 16 feet above the ground; this 

 platform is about 40 feet square, close-boarded to a height of about 

 6 feet, except where the web discharges the megass at the end of the 

 platform opposite the discharging web, on five shoots leading direct 

 to the furnace mouths of the boilers, at an angle of about 50°. The 

 megass is put into the furnace by the stoker, with sufficient coal 

 to enable it to burn freely. The boilers contain from 120 to 130 

 tubes, 3 inches in diameter inside, and about 18 feet long. The grating 

 surface is about 4^ by 6 feet. The chimney is 70 feet high by 3 feet 

 in diameter, and of sheet iron. Each boiler has a separate chimney. 



