56 



It will doubtless be found economical to provide the central factory 

 with sugar apparatus of two or three times the capacity required to 

 take care of its own sirup, thereby increasing the number of auxiliaries 

 which may be made dependent upon it. Jt must not be inferred from 

 what is here said that the sugar -factory can make sugar from ordinary 

 sorghum molasses. The auxiliaries will necessarily be under the super- 

 vision of the central factory, and the value of its sirups will depend 

 upon the proper execution of the processes of manufacture. The sirups 

 from the auxiliaries may be transported to the central factory in tank 

 cars or by pipe lines. 



HOW FAB MAY CANE BE HAULED? 



The price paid for cane delivered at the sugar factory has heretofore 

 been $2 per ton. It needs only to be stated that long hauls by wagon 

 would cost too much to leave any profit to the farmer at this price. It 

 is doubtful whether the farmer who lives more than 3 miles from the 

 factory can afford to raise cane unless he can transport it most of the 

 way by rail. Again, the factory will easily obtain all it can work from 

 farmers whose distance does not exceed 2 miles, and will prefer to 

 patronize these on account of the greater regularity with which they 

 can deliver their crops, as well as the greater facility with which the 

 supervision of the factory may be extended. Farmers living on a line 

 of railroad may be able to ship their cane on such favorable terms as to 

 avail themselves of the market at the factory. In Cuba and in some 

 parts of Louisiana, light railroads are constructed where the distance 

 is too great for hauling on ordinary roads. On these a team hauls about 

 13 tons at a load. 



The system of central and auxiliary factories seems, however, to offer 

 the best solution for the problem of distance. 



CAN THE FARMER MAKE HIS OWN SUGAR FROM SORGHUM? 



Several experimenters have sought to answer this question in a prac- 

 tical way. The developments of the last few years have clearly estab- 

 lished the fact that the cane crusher has had its day. Hereafter the 

 juice will be extracted by the process of diffusion, whereby at least 

 double the yield possible with crushers is obtained, at the same time 

 giving a juice which may be readily treated. 



Mr. H. A. Hughes, of Kio Grande, N. J., has been experimenting with 

 a small diffusion battery, and has this season worked 80 acres of sorghum 

 with a battery whose capacity is 25 tons per day. I have not received 

 Mr. Hughes' official report, but the results claimed are fully as favor- 

 able as those obtained at Fort Scott. II is report will be looked for 

 with interest. 



Messrs. Densmore Brothers, of Red Wing. Minn., had an evaporating 

 apparatus at Fort Scott during a part of the present season, and made 



