172 ANNUAL REPORT 



better demand for home-made syrup. The wholesale price of 

 syrups has ruled very low for several years, because a pure prod- 

 uct has to compete with those made with a cheaper material. 

 I am not finding fault about prices. I have sold the largest part 

 of my last crop at forty-five cents, by the barrel, and fifty cents 

 per gallon by the keg. At these figures I can live myself, and 

 am able to hold my customers. But every citizen, loyal to the 

 state of Minnesota, would be glad to see, in the days when wheat 

 growing is not remunerative, another industry that instead of 

 sending money to other states for cane syrui), the farmers of 

 Minnesota could find a home market where they could ex- 

 change their pure goods for such products as they may need. 



I would not advise large outlays in machinery without some 

 previous knowledge. There are several successful works con- 

 nected with this Association that have made it a financial success. 

 Mr. O S. Powell, of River Falls, Wis., Mr. John F. Porter, of Eed 

 Wing, and my own works at Morristown, Minn., each factory 

 producing several thousand dollars worth each year. I worked 

 up the cane the past season for forty-eight farmers; the average 

 for each one was forty-two gallons each; the price paid was 

 twenty cents per gallon for making. Nearly everyone has a good 

 share of his product in sugar. I have several thousand pounds, 

 like the sample I have brought here, to be drained when the 

 warm weather approaches. The syrup then is drained easily 

 and quickly, and at less than one-tenth the cost to do it in cold 

 weather. 



In planting cane I would recommend high, rolling land, and 

 a southern exposure when practicable. The highest land is 

 less liable to early frosts. I think it is highly important to 

 give cane good cultivation. I found I could produce as good 

 a growth the j)ast dry season as ever, by plowing often, while 

 cane not plowed well failed of maturing a good crop. Stripping 

 cane is rather expensive. It can be dispensed with in cutting 

 the cane from twenty-four to forty-eight hours in advance of 

 your grinding, so that the leaves will become wilted. Cane that 

 is used in this way in the early part of the season care must be 

 taken that it is not left in piles over night as it will heat much 

 more readily as the leaves shut out the circulation of air. In 

 grinding the cane I find it very important to scald out the 

 sprouts at least twice in twenty-four hours and the storage tanks 

 once in three or four hours. 



I usually introduce a little lime to neutralize the vegetable acids 



