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the cane. It is the one crop that is unaffected by droughts; for 

 let the season be as dry as it ever becomes in this country, the cane 

 grows sufficiently large to produce a good yield. Cane stripped 

 of its leaves will make from 37 to 39 per cent of its weight in 

 juice. 



An acre of first-class land will make 30 tons per acre, and it 

 varies down to 10 tons with the character of soil and climate, and 

 method of cultivation. The Commissioner of Agriculture at 

 Washington caused analyses to be made of every species of cane 

 grown in the United States, and ascertained that the variation in 

 amount of syrup or sugar was so slight that but little attention 

 need be given to the species. He also found out that it makes 

 good syrup and sugar in every stage of its growth, from the milk 

 stage of the seeds to their full ripening, so this peculiarity enables 

 the farmer to begin the process of cutting and boiling down at an 

 early period of its growth, which can be continued for at least six 

 weeks after the full ripening of the seeds. He recommends, how- 

 ever, that it should be boiled down as soon after cutting as possible, 

 as the juice in the ends ferments and some of it is thus lost. 



The poorest syrup makes two to three pounds of sugar, while the 

 best makes nine pounds per gallon. The medium and average may 

 safely be put at six and a half pounds per gallon of syrup. But 

 there is no loss in it, or not more than two per cent, as what is 

 left makes a choice and superior syrup. It may be safely said that 

 one gallon of syrup will make ninety- eight per cent of sugar and 

 syrup. 



In Minnesota, where the business has already assumed large 

 proportions, there are but about two months in which to make 

 syrup, while in Tennessee the seasons extend from the 1st of Au- 

 gust to the 1st of January. 



The refinery can work all the year from the store .of syrup it 

 lays in, provided the farmers grow enough to keep them at work. 



The refinery in Minnesota buys cane and syrup. There is, as 

 yet, but one large refinery, and that is at Faribault, Minnesota, 

 although there are hundreds of lesser ones that act as feeders to 

 the larger one. 



From $2 to $3 per ton are paid for the cane, stripped and ready 

 to grind, or from twenty to thirty cents per gallon for the syrup, 

 according as the saccharometer declares the proportion of saccha- 



