X PREFACE. 



most varieties of sorghum contain an amount of crystalliza- 

 ble sugar sufficient to yield a very substantial profit to those 

 who employ proper manufacturing methods. As in all new 

 and great industries, there are still many unsolved questions 

 relating to the perfection and cheapening of working proc- 

 esses. It must not be expected that all beginners will be 

 successful, for the neglect of necessary precautions is very 

 likely to be followed by failure; but, with proper conditions 

 and attention to the rules for practice here laid d-own, it is 

 believed that the successes will greatly outnumber the fail- 

 ures. 



There was a time in the earlier years of the present cent- 

 ury, when sugar seems to have been considered a luxury, 

 chiefly to be enjoyed by the wealthy, and when the average 

 annual supply fell short of ten pounds per capita. N"ow, 

 sugar may safely be classed among the staple articles of food 

 which we term necessities, and the average consumption is 

 about forty pounds per year for each person in the United 

 States. 



The sum annuall}^ paid to foreign nations for this great 

 amount of sugar exceeds one hundred million dollars, and 

 the first cost is further augmented by the tax of nearly fifty 

 million dollars which is levied by our government. 



In the matter of supplying our own demands, this country 

 has never been able to make much headway, our present ca- 

 pacity being equal only to about one-eighth of the total con- 

 sumption. Because' the tropical sugar-cane can only be suc- 

 cessfully grown in a very restricted area, and also owing to 

 the fact that early frosts endanger the crop and compel sugar 

 makers, in our southern states, to work up the canes while 

 immature and containing less than the maximum amount of 

 suffar, the production of all our sugar from the cane, within 

 our present boundaries, can not be considered probable. 



