28 



This makes the cost of working a ton of cleaned cane, with a factory of the capac- 

 ity of ours, about $1 per ton for labor and fuel, or 90 cents per ton of field cane. The 

 cost per ton for salaries, insurance, wear and tear, etc., must depend, of course, not 

 only upon the size of the salaries and other general expenses, but the number of tons 

 worked. This plant, rated as above, is capable, in seventy days, of working 9,450 

 tons of chips, or 11,900 tons of field cane. There is necessarily considerable expense in 

 preparing for the season's work, and again in closing up. Allowing liberally for this 

 and for the proper management and control of the works, we may still bring our total 

 expenses, outside the cost of labor and fuel, a_t $1 per ton upon the above basis. Add 

 to this the cost of labor and fuel, and we have $2 per ton as the total cost per ton of 

 working cleaned cane. These figures are fully verified by our pay-rolls, coal bills, 

 and other expenses while working to our capacity during the season, separated from 

 expenditures in the completion and changing of machinery directly connected with 

 experiments made. And to work a factory with a capacity at least one-half greater 

 than this one would require very little additional expense except in the matter of 

 fuel, and that would be relatively less. It seems to rue a very conservative basis, 

 with {t. factory of the capacity of ours, to place the actual cost of manafacture at $2 

 per ton of cane; and with such a factory as I have indicated, and with a season of, 

 say, seventy days, it is safe to place the cost of manufacture at considerably less than 

 that sum. It requires but little figuring upon this basis, and with the cost of cane at 

 $2 per ton, and the yield of cane and product secured this year, to show that we have 

 here developed a business of great interest and profit to our State and Nation. 



To run a factory at the maximum profit it must be operated constantly during the 

 working season. The loss this season by reason of the irregular operation of the fac- 

 tory for want of sufficient cane was very consideraole. During the whole season the 

 factory was operated but three whole days of twenty-two hours each. Some idea of 

 the loss from this source may be gathered from the fact that not less than 2 tons of 

 chips were lost at each break in the operation of the diffusion battery. Sixty-five 

 such breaks or stoppages were made while running for sugar. With a larger crop of 

 cane and better arrangements for delivery upon the part of the larger contractors, 

 but little or no difficulty from this source need be apprehended in the future. 



Tons. 



Total cane bought 3, 840 



Total seed tops bought 437 



Total field cane 4, 277 



This represents the crop, less about 30 t^ns of seed tops yet to come in, from about 

 450 acres of land. There were something over 500 acres planted. Some of it failed 

 to come at all, some "fell upon the rocky places, where they had not much earth, and 

 when the sun was risen they were scorched ; M so that, as nearly as we can estimate, 

 about 450 acres of cane were actually harvested and delivered at the works. This 

 would make the average yield of caue 9| tons per acre, or $19 per acre in dollars and 

 cents. I beg to observe, in this connection, that the present was the lightest in ton- 

 nage of the five successive crops I have handled. It was probably also the poorest in 

 orystallizable sugar, covering the same period of time, in the State. It may not be 

 amiss to observe, too, in this connection, that a very commonly accepted theory, that 

 " the dryer the weather the sweeter the cane," is not verified by my experience. 



Of the total cane worked, 162 tons were consumed in experiments with our cutters 

 and cleaning machinery before the cane was ripe enough for use for either sirup or 

 sugar. No product whatever, not even seed, was saved from this, nor from 10 tons 

 additional brought in since the factory closed down. About 300 tons of mostly down 

 and inferior cane was worked in the early part of the season on the crushers, and 

 without diffusion. The only product from this was molasses, and of that but a small 

 quantity. About 375 tons were also worked for molasses only on the diffusion battery. 

 This, with the exception of 50 tons at the close of the season, and which came in too 

 irregularly to be worked for sugar, was worked before the sugar season began, and 



