The southern agricultural landscape is enriched by the occasional old cane mill, once the center of family activity each fall as juice was squeezed from the cane, evaporated in a kettle or evaporator pan, and converted into syrup for home use or cash income. Now these grand old machines sit rusting behind weather-beaten barns, abandoned in pastures, entangled in vines, or stored in decrepit sheds, their history all but forgotten.

This work gives a full history of the American cane mill, including the people who designed them and the foundries that manufactured them. The agricultural origins of sugar cane and sorghum, a manufacturing history of the roller cane mill, and earlier syrup extraction devices are discussed. The majority of the book is devoted to the histories of more than 150 American foundries that manufactured cane mills, with hundreds of photographs and other illustrations.