35 



has less power to resist frost and ice than Kansas Orange, and the 

 Kansas Orange less than the Late Orange. The time which the sugar 

 remains in high percentage in the cane is largely under the control of 

 the cultivator. In all attempts to improve the see^l by selection and 

 increase the sugar and purity, the cultivation must be taken into con- 

 sideration. High testing seed will make poor testing canes, if plant 

 food is not present in sufficient quantities, or if the cultivation is neg- 

 lected. Poor testing seed will give high testing canes if the seed is of 

 a good variety, and ample food has been supplied, with good culti- 

 vation. 



Canes can not be grown, rich in sugar, by starving them. Ground 

 well supplied with plant food and badly cultivated will give very small 

 canes, rich in sugar. That there are other peculiarities in other varie- 

 ties is shown plainly in the case of the White African. Although 

 planted late last spring, and the ground fertilized precisely like the 

 Amber and Kansas Orange, it contained this year 12.30 per cent, cane 

 sugar, purity 69 on September 27, time the field was cut. The seed 

 was given to the writer by Dr. Collier along with sixty-eight other va- 

 rieties in 1883, all of which were planted; but for certain good reasons 

 this cane was the only one selected from the lot. It has been grown 

 since then each year, always giving high percentages of sugar. Some 

 of its peculiarities are, viz, the unusual toughness of its stalk, when 

 overripe, and its great strength at all times. 



It is hard, for some unexplained reason, to get a good stand. The 

 seed is white, and local millers, with their crude appliances, have told 

 me that they can get 30 pounds of flour from 1 bushel of seed, which, 

 mixed with a small proportion of wheat flour, is preferred to buckwheat. 

 The birds ravage the seed, and will select it from a hill planted with 

 mixed Orange and Amber canes, leaving the other varieties unmolested. 

 In order to be protected from these depredators and secure the seed, 

 plots of sufficient size must be raised and calculations made for this 

 loss. It has been found true here that they will not take quite all the 

 seed from 1 acre in a season, consequently plots of 5 or 10 acres are 

 comparatively protected. 



The purity of the canes of this variety has been noticed as high as 

 77.920. 



The cane has not been properly studied, and the birds have taken 

 nearly all the good seed from the acre raised this season. 



MANUFACTURING. 



I will confine myself, in my report, to methods adopted for the first 

 time this year. 



Sawdust filters. It has always been found that filtration of the juice 

 through some medium that would remove the particles of matter me- 

 chanically suspended was necessary. For two years, filter presses were 

 used. It was found if the juice was acid they soon became gummy and 



