186 ANNUAL REPORT 



about one per cent and by the result of persistent experimental 

 work directed exclusively to this object, the percentage has been 

 raised in Europe to thirteen per cent. 



Capt. Blakeley. Ifthathasbeendone with the sugar beet what 

 can not be done with amber cane ? It is said a man was indicted 

 for having brought it up to thirteen. 



Prof. Porter. When we take steps to increase the saccharine 

 strength of amber cane we shall go far in the direction of placing 

 the industry on a permanent basis. As the result of my experi- 

 ence and observation I have found the greatest difficulty to over- 

 come in the development of this industry is to get the agricultur- 

 al community to turn their attention towards the cultivation of 

 the sugar cane, they all acknowledge the profit there is in it, its 

 value as a crop and the importance of it for the community, but 

 as soon as they are ready to grow cane they drop back into the 

 old ruts of raising their rye, oats, barley and grass, and the same 

 thing year after year ! When a new canditate for favor comes 

 up, it has to fight its way and show itself to be about five times 

 as profitable as anything else before it will get an introduction 

 and become a favorite. I was at one time engaged in the beet root 

 industry for about four years in the East and as the result of our 

 efforts we were enabled to get nine to ten per cent from the 

 beet and make the business pay a fair return. But the trouble 

 was to get enough beets to run more than two months out of the 

 twelve, and we could not induce farmers even with the aid of 

 large bonuses to grow the beets in sufficient quantity to keep the 

 factories in operation. This is the experience with the amber 

 cane. You can't get material enough to keep your mills going. 

 It is not because the sugar isn't there or because you can not ex- 

 tract the syrup, but you can not get farmers to grow more than 

 enough to supply their home mills, and of course caj)ital will not 

 be embarked in the enterprise. 



Capt. Blakeley. What can you say as to the experiments with 

 the amber cane upon the state farm; can yoii give us a short re- 

 port as superintendent ? 



Prof. Porter replied that the work upon the state farm had 

 been in progress the past four years in getting well established 

 and in a condition for work as a practical experimental station. 

 First the land was bought, cleared up, the farm buildings erected, 

 fenced and suj^plied with proper tools and machinery. It was 

 now in a condition to be one of the best equipped stations in 

 the United States. It was now in a condition where all that was 



