The cane when brought from the field is placed between two heavy rollers, worked by steam, and the juice falls into a conductor below--the squashed cane being carried away to dry for fuel--whence it is raised by what is termed a "_monte jus_" into a tank above the "clarifier," which is a copper boiler, with iron jacket and steam between.

A proper proportion of lime is introduced, sufficient to neutralize the acidity.
When brought to the boiling-point the steam is shut off, and the liquid subsides.

This operation is one of the most important in the whole process; from the clarifier it is run through an animal charcoal filterer, which, by its chemical properties, purifies it; from the filterer it runs into a tank, whence it is pumped up above the condensers, i.e., tubes, about fifteen in number, laid horizontally, one above the other, and containing the steam from the vacuum pans.

The cold juice in falling over these hot tubes, condenses the steam-therein, and at the same time evaporates the water, which is always a considerable ingredient in the juice of the cane; the liquor then passes into a vacuum pan, which is fitted with a bull's-eye on one side, and a corresponding bull's-eye with a lamp on the opposite side, by which the process can be watched.

Having boiled here sufficiently, it passes through a second filtration of animal charcoal, and then returns to a second vacuum pan, where it is boiled to the point of granulation; it is then run off into heaters below, whence it is ladled into moulds of an irregular conical shape, in which it is left to cool and to drain off any molasses that remain; when cooled it is taken to the purging-house.
The house where the operations which we have been describing were going on, was two hundred yards long, forty yards broad, and built of solid cedar and mahogany.
In the purging-house, these moulds are all ranged with the point of the cone down, and gutters below.