10 BULLETIN 473, U. S. DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE. 



during the last five years has been approximately double that of cane. 

 In 1909 cane was grown on 278,233 farms, compared with 35,682 

 farms for sugar beets. The custom in Louisiana is to grow two 

 crops of cane from one planting, thus the plowing and planting of 

 cane occurs only every other year on the same piece of ground. The 

 time of planting cane usually begins in September and is completed 

 about the 1st of March. The crop grown from this planting is called 

 " plant cane " and is harvested the following November and Decem- 

 ber. The crop produced from the preceding year's stubble is called 

 " stubble " or " ratoon " cane, and produces less than the initial crop 

 of plant cane. The production of cane increased from 4,202,202 tons 

 in 1899 to 6,240,260 tons in 1909, of which 74.7 per cent was produced 

 in Louisiana in 1899 and 79.2 per cent in 1909. The yield of cane 

 per acre was 10.9 tons in 1899 and 13.1 tons in 1909. The value of 

 the cane per ton decreased from $4.89 in 1899 to $4.23 in 1909, but 

 the total value of cane produced increased from $20,542,000 in 1899 

 to $26,416,000 in 1909. The value of the cane per acre for these two 

 years, respectively, was $53.08 and $55.40. Louisiana is the principal 

 cane-growing State and produces nearly all of the cane sugar pro- 

 duced in continental United States. A small amount of cane sugar 

 is produced in Texas, but the cane grown in the other ten States is 

 mostly used for sirup. In point of area in 1909 as compared with 

 other crops, sugar cane was third in Louisiana, being exceeded by 

 corn and cotton, but held first place in value. The total area under 

 cultivation in 1909 was 5,276,016 acres, of which 1,590,830 acres (or 

 30.2 per cent) was used for corn, 957,011 acres (or 18.1 per cent) for 

 cotton, and 329,684 acres (or 6.2 per cent) for cane. In Louisiana the 

 value of sugar cane exceeded the value of any other crop in 1909, 

 and with corn and cotton formed two-thirds the value of all crops. 

 The total value of all crops was $77,336,143, of which $17,752,537 (or 

 23 per cent) was sugar cane, $16,480,322 (or 21.3 per cent) was corn, 

 and $17,324,804 (or 22.4 per cent) was cotton. The area of cane har- 

 vested for sugar in Louisiana was 310,000 acres in 1911, 197,000 in 

 1912, 248,000 in 1913, 213,000 in 1914, and 183,000 in 1915. The yield 

 per acre for these five years was 19, 11, 17, 15, and 11 tons, respec- 

 tively. Of the 214 cane-sugar factories in operation in 1909, all but 

 10 were in Louisiana. Of the total number, 192 produced sugar or 

 sugar and sirup, and 22 only sirup. The production of cane sugar 

 per factory was 1,702 tons in 1909, compared with an average pro- 

 duction of 8,650 tons per beet-sugar factory. The power of the 214 

 cane-sugar factories in 1909 was 122,189 horsepower as against 57,202 

 horsepower for the 68 beet-sugar factories. Practically all of the 

 power in both cases was steam. The number of people employed in 

 the cane-sugar factories in 1909 was 5,313, compared with 8,389 in 

 the beet-sugar factories. The capital invested in the cane-sugar fac- 



