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



in London. The factory was to have a capacity of not less than 

 3,000 tons of sugar in a season of 100 working days, and the owners 

 of sugar estates were to supply the cane from a stated number of 

 acres for a period of 15 years. During the ten years 1905-1914 the 

 factory crushed 534,988 tons of cane and produced 56,531 tons of 

 sugar. The quantity of cane crushed increased from 17,563 tons in 



1905 to 92,994 in 1914. The first year, 1905, the factory produced 

 only 1,830 tons of sugar, which increased to 2,631 the next year, both 

 of which were less than the quantity agreed upon. In 1907 the output 

 of sugar was 4,739 tons, which gradually increased to 10,227 in 1914. 

 The average percentage of sugar extraction per weight of cane for 

 the decade was 10.57 per cent, which varied from 9.52 per cent in 



1906 to 11.16 in 1910. The average quantity of cane required to pro- 

 duce 1 ton of sugar during this period was 9.42 tons, which varied 

 from 8.96 in 1910 to 10.51 in 1906. 



MEXICO. 



CANE SUGAR. 



The area upon which sugar cane is grown in Mexico is located in 

 18 of the 27 States. Some of these States lie along the Pacific and 

 Gulf slopes and others in the interior just south of Mexico City. 

 The entire country is adapted to the growing of cane, except the 

 higher altitudes in the mountain regions and the north-central States. 

 Approximately one-half of the Mexican sugar is produced in two 

 States — Morelos and Vera Cruz. Two other States of importance 

 are Pueblo and Sinaloa. In the State of Morelos rainfall is insuffi- 

 cient and irrigation is necessary to provide sufficient moisture for the 

 growing of crops. The lowlands along the coast are well adapted 

 to the growing of cane, and as many as 10 crops may be harvested 

 from one planting. In the coast regions very little cultivation is 

 needed and the yield has been as high as 35 tons per acre. The sugar 

 industry is in a backward state and very little modern machinery is 

 in use. The old open-kettle process is most in use, which extracts 

 only about 6 per cent of sugar per weight of cane. The area used 

 for cane in 1872 was 6,061 acres, which increased to 174,823 acres in 

 1909. The production of cane increased from 1,535,047 tons in 

 1903-4 to 3,044,574 in 1906-7, and the farm value for these two years 

 was approximately $8,000,000 and $22,000,000, respectively. The 

 sugar produced decreased from 112,930 tons in 1903-4 to 102,931 in 

 1905-6, increased to 178,134 in 1910-11, decreased to 167,258 in 

 1911-12, to 143,000 in 1913-14, and to 121,000 in 1914-15. The per- 

 centage of sugar extraction per weight of cane produced decreased 

 from 7.36 per cent in 1903-4 to 4.23 per cent in 1906-7. A small 

 amount of sugar cane grown in Mexico has been sent to the United 



