260 
AMERICAN AGRICULTURIST. 
[July, 
N. C. The notes furnished by Mr. W. say: 
“ The cane on the borders on the Cape Fear 
River and its tributaries is particularly abun- 
leases that valve, and the steam in the dome 
rushes out with such force that it carries the 
cane before it. On reaching the atmosphere, 
| steam-pump under four beating engines, similar 
| to those used in the paper-mills, except that the 
I fiber passes from one to the other instead of 
■TnE BATTERY—LOADING THE CANE AND BIKING OFF THE FIBER. 
dant, the average bight to which it grows being 
twelve feet. Large gangs of negroes are sent 
up into the swamps to cut it, under the super* 
intendence of a white overseer. It is 
then made up into bundles, for con¬ 
venience of future handling, corded 
up, and the tops cut off, the cutter 
being paid by the cord. Other gangs 
‘tote’ the cane from where it is cut, 
and load it in large flats capable of 
carrying 150 cords at a trip. When 
landed at the company’s dock, the 
bundles are opened, cleaned of all 
refuse matter, trimmed up, and made 
into compact bundles, from seven 
to eleven feet in length and one foot 
in diameter. The bundles are then 
taken in hand-cars to the gun-room 
of the factory. In the gun-room 
is arranged a battery of five guns, 
23 feet in length, each surmounted by 
a steam-dome having connection with high- 
pressure boilers. The guns being loaded, and 
the front and rear valves screwed tight, steam 
is turned on at a pressure of 180 lbs. to the inch. 
the steam -with which all the pores of the cane 
are filled violently expands, thoroughly disinte¬ 
grating it, and the load strikes a target, at about 
Fig. 2.—CLEANING AND BUNDLING CANE. 
thirty feet from the guns, a mass of brown, i 
sugary-smelling fiber. The report made by the | 
expansion of the steam is equal to that of a I 
large cannon. The fiber is next submitted to I 
traveling round and round. It then passes on 
to an endless wire apron, and is carried through 
several sets of iron rollers, the last set being 
covered with india-rubber. The 
fiber is thus squeezed of all water that 
will run from it, and comes off in 
a thick, solid sheet. By this wash¬ 
ing the bulk is reduced one third, be¬ 
ing deprived of all the gum, dirt, etc. 
Next, the fiber has to be dried. It is 
slightly picked apart and thrown on 
to an apron, which leads it through 
feed-rolls to a picker, revolving at a 
high rate of speed, which thoroughly 
pulls it apart, and throws it on to 
the apron of the drying-house. This 
house is seventy feet long, and is heat¬ 
ed by four steam-pipes running side 
by side. The endless apron travels- 
slowly over these pipes—taking about 
twenty minutes to make the trip— 
and the fiber is taken off at the end perfectly 
dry. It is then baled by one of Dederick’s 
hay-presses, and made into bales, averaging 500 
lbs. in weight. The pulp made from this fiber 
Fig. 3.— WASHING THE FIBER. 
Fig. 4. —ROLLING THE FIBER. 
After being in this steam-bath for twenty min¬ 
utes, a trigger, or rather a rod connected by 
cranks to the front valve, is pulled, which re- 
the washing process. It is gathered up, thrown 
into large tubs, and passed by means of a con¬ 
tinuous stream of spring water thrown by a 
is soft, and admirably adapted for making 
paper, either alone, or mixed with the harsher 
paper-making substances, such as straw, etc.’’ 
