The plantain
grows freely in South America, and Mr. Hardy had planted a number
of this graceful tree near his house; but these had not been
advanced enough to cut, and he had therefore procured a sufficient
quantity from a friend at Rosario. It was three months before the
drainage of the molasses quite ceased; and the Hardys were greatly
pleased, on emptying the hogshead and removing the plantain stems,
to find that their sugar was dry, and of a very fairly light color.
The sugar-canes did not require planting again, as they will grow
for many years from the same roots; and although the canes from old
stools, as they are called, produce less sugar than those of the
first year's planting, the juice is clearer, and requires far less
trouble to prepare and refine. Before another year came round the
boys made a pair of wooden rollers of eighteen inches in diameter.
These were covered with strips of hoop iron, nailed lengthways upon
them at short intervals from each other, thereby obtaining a better
grip upon the canes, and preventing the wood from being bruised and
grooved. These rollers were worked by a horse mill, which Mr. Hardy
had ordered from England. It was made for five horses, and did a
great deal of useful work, grinding the Indian corn into fine flour
for home consumption and for sale to neighboring settlers, and into
coarse meal, and pulping the pumpkins and roots for the pigs and
other animals.
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