( U2) 



Hon. Seth H. Kinney, of Morristown, Rice county, Minnesota, 

 writes : 



" About ten tons of cane is an average crop with us. The average yield is one 

 hundred and sixty gallons per acre of good syrup, and this makes, on an average, 

 six pounds of sugar per gallon, leaving the balance in syrup. It costs six and a 

 half cents per gallon when made thick enough for sugar. We plant and cultivate 

 in drills, as Indian corn is raised, rows three and a half feet apart But I think it 

 would be better to check it off on hills four feet apart each way. I strip the leaves 

 off with a forked stick, cutting off the seed first. We prefer the amber variety. 

 There are seventeen factories in my vicinity, each as large as mine, besides some 

 smaller ones, all sprung up within the last two or three years. I have been grind- 

 ing and making syrup twenty years, but have been making sugar about six years. 

 I find it very profitable. I pay $2.80 per ton for cane. One ton makes one hun- 

 dred pounds sugar and sixteen gallons syrup. I work at it five or six weeks. I 

 have expended about $3,000 in perfecting my machinery. We have a good thing 

 of it out here in Minnesota, and there is no good reason why you should not enjoy 

 it also. It is within the reach of any man of ordinary intelligence. He can soon 

 learn with a little showing. It is the very best agricultural pursuit we know or 

 ever heard of. It beats wheat a long way with us, and will beat cotton with you. 

 It is a cash business, also. It will bring in cash at all times, and never lacks a 

 purchaser. It will pay you to send for a press and go into the business. I have 

 made sugar now about six years, and each year find out something new that lessens 

 the work and makes better sugar. The early amber is the best by all odds. I have 

 supplied the Commissioner of Agriculture with amber seed every year for seven- 

 teen years. Last year I sold him 50,000 Ibs. of seed, besides shipping 2,400 Ibs. to 

 Japan and 1,500 Ibs. to France. It retails at fifty cents per pound, though I only 

 got ten cents per pound. That I shipped I got eighteen cents for. The stalk of 

 the amber is eleven to twelve feet high, and three-quarters to one inch in diameter. 



This closes what is to be said on the subject. It is seen that there 

 is a difference of opinion about the results or yield, but this arises 

 from the difference in soil and treatment. But even taking a point 

 far below the lowest estimate and it will be seen that the yield is 

 very great. The man who takes the initiative in this business will 

 probably work without competition for a few years. In that time 

 he will reap rich rewards, for there is no doubt of the profitableness 

 of this special industry. When the matter of making sorghum 

 sugar was first agitated, this department held aloof from recom- 

 mending it to the citizens of the State. It is the policy of the Bureau 

 to act conservatively, and to do nothing and to recommend nothing 

 that will cause the people to lose money. The attention of this De- 

 partment has been drawn to it constantly by prominent gentlemen, 

 amon& them the late Col. Sam D. Morgan, and now, by actual ob- 

 servation, it can conscientiously reccommend the production of 



