SUGAR PLANTS. 255 



annually from beets, sorghum, sugar cane or maple 

 sap. Two cents a pound is paid on sugar containing 

 not less than ninety per cent, of pure sugar and one 

 and three-quarters cents on that containing not less 

 than 80 nor more than 90 per cent, of pure sugar. Un- 

 der this law there are 4,770 licensed sugar producers, of 

 which 4,025 produce sugar from maple sap, 731 from 

 sugar cane, 8 from beets and 6 from sorghum. 



SUGAR CANE. 



The cultivation of sugar cane {Saccharum officinar- 

 ium) is very ancient. It was known to the Chinese 

 and to the people of India in very remote times. 

 It was cultivated in the countries bordering the 

 Mediterranean in the Middle Ages and sugar was 

 made from it. The manufacture of sugar did not 

 become commercially important, however, until the 

 sixteenth century, at which time the plant was 

 introduced into the West Indies. 



It is estimated that the annual production of sugar 

 from cane during the five years, 1885 to 1890, was 

 about two and one-third million tons. The United 

 States produces one-quarter of a million tons. 



A ton of sugar cane may produce from 150 to 300 

 pounds of sugar. The average in Louisiana is proba- 

 bly somewhat over 125 pounds, with one-half to two- 

 thirds as many pounds of syrup. There has been 

 great improvement in the methods of sugar-making in 

 the past decade, and consequently in the number of 

 pounds of sugar obtained from a ton of cane. A varia- 

 tion of from ten to forty tons of cane per acre is not 

 extraordinary. An acre of cane may, therefore, pro- 

 duce from 1,000 to 8,000 pounds of sugar. 



