42 BULLETIN 486, U. S. DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE. 



larger ones. etc. He can substitute figures fitting his conditions and 

 compute the cost to him of the production of the cane or the sirup. 

 Thus the Florida farmer previously mentioned who estimated the 

 cost of the plant-cane crop at $69 an acre will find that his sirup 

 from this crop costs him $8.56 per barrel (or 26 cents per gallon) if 

 the yield and the manufacturing expense are the same. In the case 

 of the second illustration of the cost of cane production, if the farmer 

 could by a different rotation, plowing under a leguminous crop or 

 otherwise, reduce his fertilizer bill by half without reducing his 

 yields, it would increase his profit per acre $10, reducing the cost of 

 sirup by 67 cents per barrel, or 2 cents per gallon. The fuel item is 

 bound to increase as timber gets scarcer unless means are provided 

 for using a cheaper grade of fuel (dead and down timber, slab wood, 

 or coal if near the railway). If varieties or methods of treatment 

 could be discovered that would enable the farmer to increase the 

 yields of his stubble crops or allow him to take off more stubble 

 crops with high yields before replanting, the profits per acre would 

 be greatly increased. Table II shows that the higher the price 

 of sirup the greater is the advantage in profit per acre of the plant- 

 cane crop over the stubble crops, provided our assumption that the 

 yield of the first-year stubble crop is only two-thirds and the second- 

 year stubble crop only half that of the plant-cane crop corresponds 

 to the facts. 



The price of sirup in the general market in recent years has ranged 

 from 28 to 35 cents per gallon. In the fall of 1914 the price was ab- 

 normally low, leading many farmers to go out of the business or to 

 reduce their acreage. In the fall of 1915 it took a sharp upward 

 trend, reaching 40 cents, or even more. This was when sugar also 

 was abnormally high, but it was due mainly to the abnormally short 

 crop. This shortage in turn was due to two causes: (1) Severe 

 droughts in the principal sirup-producing sections and (2) a small 

 acreage, which, in its turn, was due to low prices the previous year 

 and to much spoilage of seed cane reserved for planting. In many 

 sections the local demand for sirup exceeds the supply. In such 

 cases the sirup producers usually get a much better price, viz, from 

 35 to 50 cents a gallon — even higher if they have the reputation of 

 making a product of extra good quality. 



By present practices the farmer's income from the sugar-cane sirup 

 industry is confined almost exclusivel} T to the sales of the cane or the 

 sirup therefrom. It is but natural that he thinks of higher prices for 

 the product as the main hope, if not the only chance, of increasing 

 his profits. As the price of the product, however, may be beyond his 

 control, he is forced to turn to the cost of production and to the in- 

 dividual factors contributing thereto for possible opportunities to 



