_First_, The topped cane is delivered at the factory by the farmers
who can grow it.

_Second_, The cane is cut by a machine into pieces about one and a
quarter inches long.

_Third_, The leaves and sheaths are separated from the cut cane by
fanning mills.

_Fourth_, The cleaned cane is cut into fine bits called chips.

_Fifth_, The chips are placed in iron tanks, and the sugar
"diffused," soaked out with hot water.

_Sixth_, The juice obtained by diffusion has its acids nearly or
quite neutralized with milk of lime, and is heated and skimmed.

_Seventh_, The defecated or clarified juice is boiled to a
semi-sirup in vacuum pans.

_Eighth_, The semi-sirup is boiled "to grain" in a high vacuum in
the "strike pan."

_Ninth_, The mixture of sugar and molasses from the strike pan is
passed through a mixing machine into centrifugal machines which
throw out the molasses and retain the sugar.

The process of the formation of sugar in the cane is not fully
determined, but analyses of canes made at different stages of growth
show that the sap of growing cane contains a soluble substance having a