HIE CANADIAN IIOIITICULTURIST. 



" The inaiuxfacture of gi'a])e .snqar from corn was commenced originally 

 hy Williams and his jnirtner. He invented some of the machinery by 

 M'hich the process was l)roughb to peifection. He obtained patents in 

 order to keep his process a seci'ct. Their firm name was then A. W. Fox 

 •-& Co. They commenced with two or three hundred bushels a day, and 

 -increased this amount gradually to two thousand. This was the amount in 

 1874. The Buffalo Grape Sugar Company was then organized. There 

 were two hundred shares, of which Fox owned 102 ; witness ovv'ned sixty 

 shares, and the balance was held by William Hamlin. Improvements 

 have since been made in the machinery, by which a better article of sugar 

 is made and with greater facility. They first produced a crude sugar — 

 used in the manufacture of ale and lager beer, principally ale. The sugar 

 was used in the place of malt. At a later date they refined the sugar. 

 'Grape sugar was also used in 1874 by tobacconists. As its quality was 

 improved it was used in other branches of business. A large quantity is 

 now iised in making sirups for table use. Witness knew there was very 

 little pure cane syrui) sold now. The grape sugar is more wholesome and 

 delicious. Glucose and grape sugar are one and the same thing — glucose 

 being the sugar in liquid form. When it is called grape sugar it is in a 

 solid form. This is being used considerably in New York in mixing sugar, 

 making what is called improved sugar. Witness understood that the 

 Buffalo Grape Sugar Company was interested in this mixing of sugars in 

 New York. At the present time the demand for gra))e sugar exceeds the 

 ■su})ply, and the price of it has increased. In 18C4 thirty pounds of sugar 

 were made from one bushel or fifty-six pounds of corn. The price was then 

 from 3 J to 4 and sometimes 4 J- cents a pound. The refuse is sold as feed, 

 and the price of it was from 7 to 8 cents a bushel. In mixing sugar the 

 grape sugar is piilverized and about twenty -five per cent, added to cane 

 sugar. It improves the color of the sugar, and enables dealers to sell it 

 for a better price. 



During 1874 and 1875 the earnings were about $15,000 a month, and 

 in 1876 they averaged from $19,000 to $20,000. In 1878 the earnings for 

 one month were $35,000. Witness did not see many statements during 

 1878. A starch factory was run in connection with the sugar works, about 

 -500 bushels of corn being used each day. Witness did not know about the 

 earnings of the starch factory. He was aware that the business was profit- 

 able. He understood all of the process of the establishment and had charge 

 ■of the manufacturing of the sugar, glucose, etc. He made estimates from 

 time to time of the cost of turning a bushel of corn into sugar, and in doing 

 so took into consideration the outlays, cost of naachinery, buildings, etc. 

 He estimated it to be about twenty-five cents per bushel, and the net profit 

 of a bushel of corn at forty five cents a bushel, when- tui-ned into sugar, 

 to be seventy cents, A number of small numufactories have sprung up 

 in this country, but there are only four or five of any account. The 

 :amount of corn -con&umed in 1879 was from 4,000 to 6,000 bushels a 

 day. In some respects it costs less per bushel to run a lai'ge amount of 

 •corn than it would to consume a small quantity. The net profit per bushel 

 from 1874 to 1879 was from 40 to 50 cents." 



