Page:Foods and their adulteration; origin, manufacture, and composition of food products; description of common adulterations, food standards, and national food laws and regulations (IA foodstheiradulte02wile).pdf/508

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juice from the cane. At the time of harvesting the canes are topped in such a way as to cut off the green portion of the upper part of the stalk and the leaves also are removed.

Fig. 76.—cane Field Partly Harvested.—(Photographed by H. W. Wiley.)

There are two methods of extracting the juice from the cane, one similar to that described for the sugar beet but used very little. Only one or two factories in the United States use this method of extraction. The most common method of extraction is by passing the canes through heavy mills. These mills are made of great strength so as to bear an immense pressure without breaking. The largest mills have a capacity of grinding from 500 to 1000 tons of cane a day. Many of them grind only from 200 to 500 tons per day. The mills are nearly always placed in series, that is, the cane is subjected to a double pressure. The first mill is uniformly composed of three rollers of the same size and set so that the first and second are not quite so close together as the second and third. The second mill also often