14 BULLETIN 473^ U. S. DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE. 



1909 was $5,177,509, compared with $2,636,711 in 1899, an increase 

 of 96.4 per cent. The average value per farm was $59 in 1909 and 

 $42 in 1899. The value of maple sugar produced was $1,074,260 in 

 1899 and $1,380,492 in 1909, compared with $1,562,451 in 1899 and 

 $3,797,317 in 1909 for maple sirup. The State of Vermont led all 

 the others in value of maple sugar produced, amounting to 43 per 

 cent of the total in 1899 and 52 per cent in 1909. Ohio was the 

 leading State in value of maple sirup produced, amounting to 39 

 per cent of the total in 1899 and 28 per cent in 1909. The produc- 

 tion of maple sugar in Vermont has decreased nearly one-fourth dur- 

 ing the last half century. The production in 1859 was 9,897,781 

 pounds, compared with 7,726,817 pounds in 1909. However, the pro- 

 duction in 1909 was nearly double that of 1899. In 1859 four coun- 

 ties in Vermont each produced more than 1,000,000 pounds of sugar ; 

 in 1889 six counties exceeded that figure, and one county produced 

 more than 2,000,000 pounds; in 1909 only two counties exceeded the 

 million mark. For the years 1913, 1914, and 1915 Vermont has 

 tapped annually more than 5,000,000 trees, with 4.700,000 more avail- 

 able but not tapped. The sugar produced in each of the j-ears 1913, 

 1914, and 1915 exceeded 7,000,000 pounds, and the sirup aggregated 

 500,000 gallons. 



• SUGAR SUPPLY. 



The sugar consumed in the United States during the last 125 

 years has been mostly of foreign origin. The West India islands 

 have exceeded all other sugar-growing countries in providing this 

 supply. Of the 9,114 tons imported in 1790, 8,879 tons came from 

 the West Indies. The French West Indies furnished 4,658 tons, 

 and the remainder came from British, Danish, and Dutch possessions 

 in the West Indies. From 1795 to 1808 the imports of sugar were 

 nearly evenly divided, coming from the British, Danish, Dutch, 

 French, and Spanish West Indies. A small quantity also came from 

 British and Dutch East Indies, Swedish West Indies, and the beet- 

 growing countries of Europe. For 1809 and subsequently Cuba, 

 with a few exceptions, was the source of approximately two-third? 

 of the sugar imported into the United States. For the four years 

 1897 to 1900 imports of sugar from the Dutch East Indies exceeded 

 the imports from Cuba, and for 1897 and 1899 sugar imported from 

 Germany exceeded the imports from Cuba. The imports of sugar 

 into the United States are practically all raw and have shown a 

 gradual increase from year to year. The imports in 1822 were 

 25,212 tons, which increased to more than 100,000 tons in 1847, 

 200,000 tons in 1855, 500,000 tons in 1870, 1,000,000 tons in 1883. 

 2,000,000 tons in 1902, and 3,000,000 tons in 1914. During the period 

 1822 to 1839 approximately two-thirds of the total supply of sugar 



