SUGAR 411 



SUGAR. 



THE sugar product of the country is one of immense and growing importance, as well as 

 the various industries connected with its production. With the increase of this staple 

 and also of population, there has been for several years an increased proportionate 

 consumption of sugar per individual. In addition to the consumption of the home product, the 

 fact of there being over a hundred and seventy-five millions of dollars annually paid for 

 imported sugar and molasses by the people of this country, proves that the cultivation of the 

 sugar cane is not as extensive here as it might and should be. The one State of Louisiana, 

 with its resources well developed, might easily be made to furnish this supply, and the amount 

 of money thus expended on the importations be retained at home to benefit our own nation. 

 The largest importations of sugar into this country have for several years been made from the 

 island of Cuba, which produces about six hundred and fifty thousand tons of sugar per year, 

 a greater part of which is taken by the United States, where it is refined and then put upon 

 the market. The importations from other countries, although in the aggregate amounting to 

 considerable, are each small in comparison with those from Cuba. The introduction of 

 sugar-cane into this country is said to have been in the year 1751 by some French Jesuits, 

 who brought it from San Domingo, and planted it on the present site of New Orleans. 

 The accounts of the progress of the manufacture of sugar under Spanish rule are somewhat 

 conflicting. It was first manufactured in this country about the year 1764, but it was not 

 until between 1794 and 1800, at a period when the revolution in San Domingo sent many 

 planters to Louisiana, that the cultivation of this product became of marked importance. 

 Sugar-cane belongs to the family of GramineaB or grasses, and is supposed to be a native of 

 Southeastern Asia. Its growth is from eight to twenty feet in height, according to variety 

 and conditions of soil, climate, etc., having a solid stem from an inch to an inch and a half in 

 thickness, which is jointed from every three to six inches. The leaves are from three to 

 four feet long, and about two inches in breadth, and fall off with the ripening of the plant. 

 Louisiana is the great sugar -producing state, although Florida, and all the other Gulf coast 

 states, yield it in considerable quantities. The coast counties of Texas are especially adapted 

 to this product, where its cultivation is being rapidly extended. Sugar may be made from a 

 variety of substances, but the principal sources of supply are the sugar-cane, the sorgo-plant, 

 the beet-root, and the maple tree; although efforts have recently been made to utilize maize 

 for this purpose, the enterprise has not, thus far, proved sufficiently profitable to be recom 

 mended. 



Yarieties of Sugar-Cane. There are many varieties of sugar-cane, some of which 

 differ so widely from others, such as the Chinese for instance, as to be thought by many to 

 be distinct species. The Otaheite or Tahiti cane is extensively cultivated, and is taller, more 

 hardy, larger jointed, quicker in growth, and more productive in sugar than the Creole 

 variety, while its juice, being more easily crystallized than the latter, together with its large 

 yield and quick maturity, render it very popular. The Eibbon cane, thought by many to be 

 the best kind cultivated, and the Bourbon belong to this variety. The Creole, also known as 

 Madeira or common sugar-cane, grows to the greatest height, and has thin stems closely 

 jointed. It will grow on moist soil at the altitude of 5,000 feet above the sea. Another 

 variety, known as the Batavia or purple violet, is covered with purple stripes, grows from 

 eight to ten feet high, and is characterized by a resinous or waxy substance about the joints. 

 The Chinese cane, Sorgo or Sorghum, also known as Northern cane, is a very hardy variety, 

 and can be grown in nearly all parts of the country, the cultivation of which will be treated 

 separately, and following that of the southern sugar-cane or tropical product. There are 

 various other varieties cultivated to a limited extent, but the above-mentioned are the prin 

 cipal or leading ones known generally in this branch of agriculture. 



