The cane juice was boiled in a series of five or six copper kettles placed over a furnace fed by bagasse and wood. These kettles were of different sizes, the largest being farthest from the fire and the size of each decreased as the furnace door was approached, the smallest being directly above the fire. The kettle next to the largest was set a little higher than the largest one, the third higher than the second and so on until the last and smallest, which was the highest of the series. Clarification was done with lime and wood ashes, and sometimes a little crude antimony. As soon as the raw juice reached the first and largest kettle the clarifying material was thrown in and the boiling began. The scum was removed as soon as it formed, and when the juice became sufficiently clear it was quickly transferred to the second kettle; a small amount of alkali was mixed with it and further boiling and skimming was done. The liquor was then ladled into kettle number three, potash lye and an extract of herbs were added, and after being boiled for a time it was passed to kettle number four, and finally concentrated in the last and smallest kettle immediately above the fire. When the required consistency was reached, the massecuite was put into vessels to cool, at the same time being kept in motion by stirring until the grains began to form. It was then placed in moulds, and after having become thoroughly cool it was dumped into hogsheads that had perforated bottoms. These hogsheads stood on racks, beneath which there was a receptacle to catch the molasses as it drained on through the holes in the bottom. The draining was allowed to continue until about one-half the weight of the contents of the hogshead was crystallized sugar. The holes were then plugged up and the sugar was ready for shipment. The molasses was manufactured into rum.