Teen CU Bea] FE VL BW. 29 
THE SUGAR INDUSTRY 
CUBA’S INCOME FROM SUGAR 
Cuba’s income from sugar and molasses 
crop was $1,005,451,0S0, the average sell- 
ing 11.95 cents per pound and molasses 3 
cents per gallon. 
Up to February 1, sugar mills to the 
number of 152 had begun grinding the 
1921 crop, compared to 185 on the same 
date last year. 
A number of these have since shut 
down, owing to financial difficulties, cane 
shortage or labor shortage. It is esti- 
mated that 330,891 tons of sugar of the 
present and last crops are now in ware- 
houses in Cuba for sale. 
According to statistics of the Depart- 
ment of Agriculture, last year’s sugar 
production in Cuba was 3,735,425 tons, 
or a falling off compared to the previous 
crop of 274,312 tons. 
By provinces, Pinar de Rio increased 
its yield 5.77 per cent. and Camaguey 
4.85 per cent. The other provinces showed 
decrease in production—Havana 7.15 per 
cent., Matanzas 14.76 per cent., Santa 
Clara 3.16 per cent., and Oriente 15.46 
per cent. 
The average production of sugar by 
weight as compared to weight of cane 
was 10.99, against 10.76 for the previous 
crop. The mills having modern ma- 
chinery secured a production of 11 pounds 
of sugar to 100 of cane. 
CANE WAX 
The West India Committee Circular 
prints the following interesting article on 
cane wax: 
It is a well-known fact that the sugar- 
cane contains amongst its constituents, 
other than sugar, a considerable quantity 
of a wax which, when purified, resembles 
Carnauba wax, and is consequently an 
extremely valuable product. It exists to 
a varying extent in the cane, and is most 
apparent in the rind. Indeed, some va- 
rieties of cane owe their external ap- 
pearance of “bloom” to its presence. The 
wax finds its way into the juice during 
the milling, and is found in the filter-press 
cake, in which it exists to a considerable 
extent, 10 per cent. of the crude wax being 
no uncommon proportion. On the aver- 
age, it may be stated that 100,000 tons of 
cane would yield in the press cake up- 
wards of 250 tons of the crude wax. 
The only working process of extraction 
extant is by drying the cake and digesting 
it with benzine, which is a solvent of the 
wax. The mixture is then filtered, after 
being washed with benzine to extract the 
last of the wax; the benzine solution is 
distilled, the wax being left as a residue, 
and the benzine being condensed for fur- 
ther use. During this process the loss of 
benzine is stated to be only 1 per cent. It 
is difficult to believe, however, that in a 
tropical country, with a volatile body like 
benzine, the loss is not greater. The resi- 
due of the press cake, after extraction 
with benzine, is in a good condition for 
use as a Manure. 
The wax thus obtained is in a hard, 
brown condition, and resembles beeswax. 
It contains about 60 per cent. of pure 
wax, but is shipped in the impure form. 
It unfortunately happens that, in many 
instances, the filter presses, instead of 
giving a cake containing not more than 50 
per cent. of water, yield a mud rather 
than a cake. This condition, of course, 
would complicate the solution consider- 
ably. 
From some cause, a natural explana- 
tion of which is the cost of working, the 
process has been far from being generally 
adopted. The fact remains, however, that 
the canes contain a valuable by-product 
which has not as yet been utilized. Any 
experiments in connection with the sub- 
ject should, of course, be carried out on 
the estate. It unfortunately happens, 
however, that estates’ chemists have their 
time fully occupied with other matters 
during the crop season, the only time 
when the work of investigation can be 
carried out. It would, however, be possi- 
ble, if cake be dried and sent to some ex- 
pert at home for purposes of experiment, 
that a more feasible process of extraction 
might be discovered. 
