Vol. XII. Xo. 293. 



THE AGKICULTURAL NEWS. 



227 



SUGAR INDUSTRY. 



LOUISIANA AND SYRUP-MAKING. 



The critical position of the sugar industry in Louisiana 

 led recently to an interesting and iii>tructive discussion at 

 ft meeting of the Sugar Planters' As.Hicialion of that State. 

 The proceedings have been very fully reported in the 

 American Sinjar Iiidustri/ (April 191 .3), and from this source 

 the following information has been abstracted. 



In the course of his speech, Dr Stubbs, who addressed 

 the meeting first, examined the probable condition of the 

 industr)' in Louisiana under free trade in sugar and under 

 the preservation of the tariff, respectively. With a continu- 

 ation cf protection, the speaker foresaw an enormous 

 increase of the area in the West under heet. This would 

 mean a large increase in the number of beet factorie.a, and 

 a correspondingly large output of high-grade granulated 

 sugar. 



Such development would react unbeneficially on Louis- 

 iana: 'Every beet factory added to the West means a diminu- 

 tion of the capacity of our refineries, and in ten \ ears, with 

 a prosperous development of beet factories, we shall have 

 few, or no refineries throughout the Eist.' 



The besi response to such a change would be to produce 

 syrup. 'If, the speaker continued, 'we can get a demand for 

 syrup bj- whicli the price can be kept up above twenty or 

 twenty-five cents a gallon, we are .^-ure that it will be equally 

 as profitable, if not more so, than making sugar at present 

 prices. An ordinary gallon of syrup, with .3-5 j)er cent. 

 of water, which the Government allows, contains about five 

 pounds of sugar and, at the present price, is worth about 

 twenty cents; therefore, it will be found, that, if we can get 

 above twenty cents for syrup, that it will be equally as 

 profitable as making sugar at four cents per pound, and dis- 

 pensing with high-priced machinery ' 



Under a tarift', then, it would appear that Loui.'iana 

 must make syrup or else pure white sugar. 



If, on the other hand, however, frie trade were instituted, 

 it would still be no longer profitable to make sugar, since at 

 3c. per lb. the manufacture cannot pay. In any case, 

 then, the question of adopting sjrup-making in the near 

 future was one for most serious consideration. 



Mr Irving Morse, supervising chemist for the Louisiana 

 Sugar Company, then took part in the discussion. He referr- 

 ed to the fact that the manufacture of table syrup and the 

 out-turn of white sugar are so closely allied that the same 

 principle applies to both. Colour and flavour are of primary 

 importance, and since Louisiana can make high-grade sytuji 

 in the course of the production of white sugar, there was no 

 reason why it could not specialize in the production of syrup 

 for table purposes on a large scale. He believed the idea 

 that Louisiana can continue to compete with Cuba in the 

 manufacture of 90° test sugar was a thing of the past, and 

 that if the former were to continue in the sugar business they 

 would have to turn their attention cither to white sugar or 

 to syrup 



Luuisi'ina Plnnfer (June 14, 1913) deals with the question 

 of the possibility of utilizing cane tops for ensilage, and such 

 of the information as is thought likely to be of practical 

 interest under West Indian conditions has been abstracted as 

 follows: — 



Professor W. R. Dodson, Director of the Loui.--itna 

 E.fperiment Station, by whom the paper referred to above 

 was prepared, deals firstly with an experiment conducted with 

 various green crops for the purpose of determining the 

 quality of ensilage they would make. In regard to the tests 

 with sugar-cane tops, it was found that the cattle consumed 

 the ensilage made from it very well, but they were not disposed 

 to like it as much as corn ensilage. However, the cane ensilage 

 seemed e<|ually as palatalile as sorghum ensilage. Two tables 

 of figures are given showing the compo-ition of the cane tops 

 before fermentation and alter. These indicate that a very 

 material decrease in the carbohydrates takes place, though 

 the acidity was not excessive. The percentage of water 

 increased, whilst that of both ash and protein decreased. In 

 general, it may be stated that these analyses show that, as 

 far as can be judged, cane tops make a fairly good quality 

 ensilage. It is intimated further that the relatively large 

 iimount of sugar present in cane tops would not be likely to 

 be followed by excessive acetic fermentation in the silo. 



The author next proceeded to make use of the figures of 

 analysis with a view to showing the actual feed vahu ot the 

 ensilage. A calculation is given which makes it evident that 

 1 ton (2,000 lb.) would contain 31S 80 feed units.* A ton of 

 cane top ensilage, therefore, carries the equivalent of more feed 

 units than ol bushels of corn. 



Although the feeding value of cane ensilage may be 

 regarded as having been established, the practicability of 

 making the foodstuff on the estate is another matter. A 

 suggestion is put forward that while inventors are seeking 

 to introduce a cane-harvesting machine, it might be 

 well tor them to consider the possibility of using a machine 

 in the field that will simply cut the cane without 

 stripping it of greeu leaves, hauling tops and leaves 

 to the factory where machinery might more readilj' strip 

 and top the canes, preparing the canes for the mill and the 

 tops and leaves for the silo. 



This led the writer to consider the subject of cane 

 itself as a feed. It is stated that 2,000 lb. of cane contains 

 370 feed units. The statement is also made that corn 

 ensilage would contain 341 units, being 29 units below 

 those in a ton of cane ensilage 



The writer's figures in general show that as regards the 

 theoretical feeding value, cane ensilage is superior to that 

 made from corn. In practice, however, at least in the West 

 Indies, it would never be profitable to grow cane by the 

 acre for ensilage, though there might not be so many objec- 

 tions to the cultivation of earn for this purpose. In this 

 connexion reference may be made to articles appearing in 

 the last issue of the A'/ricitUural Ni-ws on the cultivation of 

 corn, and the suggestion here put forward thit the loaves 

 may be a value for feeding estate animals may be cunbidercd 

 an additional argument in favour of the subject there 

 discussed. 



SUGAR-CANE TOPS FOR ENSILAGE. 



Considerable ditticult)- is experienced during the drier 

 months in certain parts of the West Indies in the matter of 

 providing fodder for estate animals. An article in the 



* Professor Podson calculates the number of feed units in 

 100 lb. of foodslutt' as follows: percentage of carbohydrates 

 -f- (percentage of fat X '.i '25) -1- (percentage of protein x 2 'S). 

 Some authorities employ 2 5 .is the fat equivalent — [Ed. 

 A'jiiculliiral News.] 



