24 THE SUGAR INDUSTRY. 



or early in July. Af ter " lay by, " the cane grows very rapidly, particularly if fre- 

 quent showers at short intervals conspire with warm weather. 



After the cane is planted we usually get two crops, sometimes three, from the 

 same planting. The first crop is usually termed the "plant cane," and the second 

 and third "first stubble" or rattoons. Cane is planted in this state so as to secure a 

 continuous stand at maturity of from three to five stalks to the running foot. The 

 stalks usually weigh from 2 to 4 Ibs apiece. Like all grasses, cane tillers or suckers 

 very greatly, and during the summer months many of these suckers or tillers perish. 

 Hence the necessity of not planting cane too thick or too thin. If planted thickly, it 

 will exhaust its energies in trying to sucker a natural quality which seems to be exer- 

 cised. If planted too thinly, the field will be filled at harvest with a large proportion 

 of immature suckers, low in sugar. 



HARVESTING. 



In Louisiana the general harvest begins in October and lasts till January. In trop- 

 ical countries grinding does not begin before January and usually lasts till June or 

 July. In Louisiana, on account of the severity of our winter, cane must be harvested 

 in the fall and winter or be killed. It is therefore only about eight or nine months 

 old when worked in the sugarhouse. In tropical countries it is frequently fifteen 

 and sometimes eighteen months old when harvested. Hence the superiority of tropic- 

 al canes in sucrose over those grown in the southern part of this country. 



In the latitude of southern Louisiana, we make a crop every year, while in the 

 tropics only two crops are made in .three years. Our less yield per acre than in the 

 tropics is therefore somewhat made up. But, per contra, in the tropics, they only 

 plant cane once in four to six years, while we must plant every other year. 



ROTATION OF CROPS. 



In Louisiana the regular rotation of cane is as follows: Cane, two 'or three years, 

 and then followed with corn, sown broadcast at lay by with cowpeas (usually the clay 

 variety), and the entire mass of vines and stalks turned under in August or Septem- 

 ber, and replanted in cane. 



HOW TO START THE CANE SUGAR INDUSTRY. 



A community can experiment to demonstrate what it can do with sugar cane in 

 this way : 



Let each individual plant sugar cane on a small area and manufacture it on a 

 small scale, with horse mills and open evaporators, according to the old-fashioned sys- 

 tem. In this way, the saccharine content of their cane and the average available 

 tonnage per acre can be established. Then, they can present to the commercial world 

 a valid argument to enlist capital in a factory. The average yield being say 20 tons 

 per acre, 5000 acres would be required to furnish the maximum crop of 100,000 tons 

 that can be worked up in a single season by a modern factory of large size. Certainly 

 nothing less than 2500 acres under cane each year would answer for a modern 

 factory. 



The Louisiana experiment station at Baton Rouge has published a bulletin (No. 

 5) giving full directions about sugar making on a small scale, which also gives direc- 



