The paper boxes, or cartons as they are called, are weighed and filled by special machinery. This machinery seems to possess an intelligence almost human. One girl feeds the cartons (the tops and bottoms of which are open) into the machine at the rate of thirty-two per minute. The machine glues the bottom, weighs the sugar to within one thirty-second of an ounce, fills the carton, glues the top, seals it and passes it on to a conveyor which delivers the finished package to a table, from which it is packed into a box for shipment. Women are usually employed in putting up the lighter packages. A short distance from the bag-weighing machines, and running parallel with them, is a line of pipes or spouts for filling barrels. On the floor under each spout is a barrel shaker. This is a heavy cast-iron plate that is lifted about one inch, first on one side, then on the other, by the action of two cams or arms attached to a revolving shaft underneath. The shaker drops back violently on the supporting frame after each lift, causing the sugar to settle compactly in the barrel as it is filled to an average weight of three hundred and fifty pounds. Naturally, the greater the amount of sugar packed in a barrel, the less the container costs per unit of output, and as the average cost of a sugar barrel in the United States is fifty cents, the container cost per one hundred pounds of sugar is 14.3 cents. Without the shaker, not more than three hundred and thirty pounds of sugar could be put in a barrel, which would increase the cost per one hundred pounds to 15.1 cents. This difference on a single day’s output of two million pounds represents one hundred and sixty dollars, an eloquent argument in favor of the shaker. [Illustration: FILLING BARRELS] [Illustration: METHOD OF HANDLING BARRELS] In packing barrels, the operative first lines the barrel with heavy paper to prevent the sugar from coming in contact with the rough wooden sides and to keep it from sifting out between the staves. The barrel, thus lined, is placed on the shaker, a valve on the spout opened and the shaking barrel filled to the top. The barrel is then removed and turned over to the cooper, who heads it up and rolls it on the scale for weighing. Before an empty barrel reaches the packing room, it is weighed and the weight (generally from nineteen to twenty-five pounds) is stamped on its side. The gross weight of the filled barrel is determined by the packing-room scales. The weight of the empty barrel is deducted and the net weight of the sugar stenciled on the head. The full barrel is then sent down a chute to the waiting freight car or to the dock for steamer shipment, or to a conveyor that automatically delivers it to the storage warehouse.