48 THE SUGAR BEET. 



much talk, and many expected wonders from it, but 

 there can be no possibility of its competing with the 

 imported cane. The glucose, or grape sugar has not 

 the pretentions of being a rival, as this has an entirely dif- 

 ferent usage. There have been of late great ex^Dectations 

 of wonderful results in the manufacture of sugar from 

 corn stalks. The practical figures we have not as yet 

 seen. The plan if financially profitable, is a good one, 

 as these stalks have but little value. But we have 

 great reason to doubt that the sugar made from this 

 special product will ever be sufficient to supply the 

 home consumption. 



There still remains our cane sugar from Louisiana, 

 Texas, Florida, &c. Even under the most favoring 

 circumstances (as shown in the table above) this has 

 never more than supplied one-half the home demand ; 

 then again, during our war, for example in 1865, it be- 

 came so small that it nearly passed out of existence. It 

 is true that since then there has been a steady increase, 

 but when it is considered that last year it was only 

 13 per cent, of the total consumption, and the molasses 

 from the same source was but 21 per cent., it is to be 

 feared that the chances are but small for the accom- 

 plishment of any great results in this direction. 



It is easy for those not familiar with the special cir- 

 cumstances of the cane culture in the Southern States 

 to argue that it is only a question of time, but let it 

 be remembered that the protection of home sugars by 

 a duty on the imported article was very low during the 



