The New Orleans _Times_ contains, in a late number, an account of the
manufacture of sugar as conducted on the Poychas estate, from which we
extract portions containing the essential particulars of cane sugar
making as conducted in the southern portions of the United States.

"Reaching the Cane shed, the crop, dumped into piles, is received by a
crowd of feeders, who place it (eight or ten stalks at a time) on the
cane carrier. This is an elevator, on an endless band of wood and iron,
which carries them to the second story, where the stalks drop between
the rollers. An immense iron tank below, called a juice box, receives
the liquid portion, and another elevator bears the bruised and broken
fragments to the opposite side of the building, where they are dropped
into the bagasse burner.

"This invention, at its introduction, caused more scientific inquiry
and dispute, probably, than any other of the age, and settled beyond
question the possibility of combustion, without the use of atmospheric
air. The process consists in dropping the wet, spongy mass into a fire
of wood or coal, and closing the furnace doors. The steam arising from
the drying matter passes to a chamber in the rear, where, by the intense
heat, it is decomposed. Oxygen and hydrogen (both strong combustibles)
unite with the carbon, reaching there in the form of smoke, and a white
heat is the result.

"Cane juice, as it escapes from the mill, could scarcely be considered
inviting to either palate or vision. The sweet, slimy mass of fluid,
covered with foam, and filled with sticks, has more the appearance of
the water in a brewer's vat than anything which now suggests itself. A