27 



green leaves, which will afford somewhere between half a ton and 

 a ton of dried leaves per acre. 



All who have fed these dried leaves speak of them as equal to 

 liav in value; they are not difficult to dry or care for, but owing 

 to the season of the year and the great press of work at that time, 

 they are apt to be neglected. Toe unusual rainy fall made it im- 

 possible to save the leaves from our cane for experimental feed- 

 ing, as had been intended. 



THE LESSONS OF THE SEASON. 



As a summary of the reports sent in by one hundred and eighty 

 manufacturers, I would state that the season, upon the whole, can- 

 not be called a favorable one. Probably owing to the intense cold 

 that came on in November, 1880, the vitality of cane seed was so 

 injured that when planted last spring it failed in many instances 

 to grow. 'Phis 'cut down the acreage very considerably in many 

 localities. The fall frosts were long delayed, and in this regard 

 the season was peculiarly favorable. The almost daily rains dur- 

 ing the whole fall made stripping very disagreeable and the roads 

 almost impassable, so that the cane could not be drawn far, and 

 much of it spoiled in the fields. Again, heavy autumn winds 

 laid the cane flat and tangled it, making the expense of stripping 

 and cutting fully double what it should have been. 



Mr. Swenson's analyses show that the cane sugar is mostly 

 changed to glucose when the cane is blown down, though the loss 

 is not so manifest when syrup alone is made. Had sugar been 

 the object with our manufacturers this season, it would have been 

 a very unfavorable one. 



This year has seen the introduction of steam into quite a num- 

 ber of factories, by which means syrup can be made much cheaper 

 than by direct heat. With such facilities defecation is easily 

 practiced, and syrup of superior quality made. I consider the 

 success attained by these steam boiling works as the most marked 

 event of the season. Previous to this year no one had but a few 

 hundred dollars invested in the business. There seemed to be 

 no chance for capital to take hold of it as long as direct heat was 

 used, but with the introduction of steam apparatus, capital can 

 be invested with profit to the owner and advancement to the busi- 



