INDUSTRIAL GEOGRAPHY.
Industrial Geography has been continued this term, and our first visit was to the Medway Milling Co. Here we were shown the grain used, which is Canadian, Russian, Australian and a little English. This was being unloaded from a barge by means of a bucket dredger.
The corn is then washed and passed between ribbed rollers, which travel at different speeds, thus separating the corn from the chaff. The chaff is then blown away. This operation is performed several times, and the wheat is washed again. It is now ready for the grinding rollars. There are several sets of these, each grinding smaller than the one preceding it.
After each rolling operation, the flour is sifted through silk. The silk is hung in large boxes, which are oscillated by an eccentric. There is a room full of these, all oscillating alternately. It makes you think at first that the room is moving. The flour is then graded and packed. Our thanks are due to Mr. Earl, who kindly showed us round.
The next factory visited was that of Messrs. Cadbury at Bournville, which naturally included an interesting train journey.
We were shown the cocoa beans being washed and winnowed. They are then squeezed to remove the superfluous cocoa butter, baked and ground.
The cocoa is now measured out mechanically into tins, which are made at the factory.
We then saw the chocolates being made. The centres are cut out by a press, and are dipped in a bowl of chocolate. They are lifted out and a little twirl of chocolate neatly placed on the top.
Next was the packing department, where all the different sizes and amounts of chocolate are weighed and packed, the paper packing, when being weighed, goes on the side opposite to the chocolates.
We saw the department in which the boxes are made. This is a huge room, at one end of which is flat cardboard, which gradually progresses towards the other end, and assumes the final shape. At the extreme other end are several printing machines, which print the familiar blue "King George V" covers, etc.
We were driven round the village by charabancs, and noted the various places of interest, such as the sports grounds, the schools, the war memorial, etc.
After seeing the showrooms, in which were models of their cocoa bean plantations and various factories, we had