492 SOUTHERN FIELD CROPS 



Red or Purple variety there was found about three quar- 

 ters of a ton of tops, leaves, and roots. Nearly 90 per 

 cent of the weight of the stripped cane may consist of 

 juice. However, the small mills having only three rollers 

 usually extract only about half of the total juice. 



The large and powerful mills connected with sugar-houses 

 extract from 75 to 80 per cent of the weight of the cane as juice. 



A ton of stripped cane is expected to yield between 150 and 

 180 pounds of sugar. Exact data for the yield of sirup are not 

 abundant, but the output may be roughly estimated at 12 to 

 15 gallons per ton of stripped cane crushed in small, poor mills, 

 or as much as 22 gallons in good miUs in Louisiana. 



473. Relative composition of sugar-cane in the sugar- 

 belt and in the coastal pine-belt. — The sandy uplands of 

 the coastal pine-belt of the United States afford a cane fully 

 as rich in sucrose, or crystaUizable sugar, as the canes of 

 Louisiana, the sucrose usually ranging from 10.50 to 14 

 per cent. But the shorter season in the pine-belt makes the 

 percentage of glucose, or non-crystallizable sugar, greater 

 here than in Louisiana. This higher glucose content would 

 be a great disadvantage in manufacturing sugar, since glu- 

 cose not only fails to crystaUize, but its presence also causes 

 some of the sucrose to fail to make sugar. 



On the other hand, this high percentage of glucose is a 

 positive advantage in sirup making, because the greater 

 the amount of this substance the smaller is the tendency 

 for the sirup to crystaUize, or to turn to sugar, — a change 

 that is extremely undesirable. 



474. Removal of plant-food from the land. — At the 

 Louisiana Sugar Station (Bui. No. 59) the following facts 

 were learned as to the amount of plant-food removed by 



