SUGAR-CANE — HARVESTING, ENEMIES 425 



tion soon begins which if allowed to proceed will greatly 

 diminish the sucrose content. Hand labor is commonly- 

 used in loading the cane on the carriers that take it to the 

 mill, although mechanical cane loaders are coming into 

 rather wide use in Louisiana. These usually consist of 

 a heavy wagon on which is mounted a swinging boom. 

 From the end of the boom a grapple fork, operated by a 

 gasoline engine, is lowered and lifts the cane from the heaps 

 on the ground to the carts, or from the carts iato the 

 railroad cars. Plantation railways are sometimes built 

 in the more important cane-growing regions. Much 

 ingenuity has been exercised in the invention of engines, 

 trucks, and portable rails adapted to this purpose. 



Many patterns of unloaders have been invented and are 

 in successful use. The problems of unloading the cane at 

 the mills, and transporting it to the rollers are much simpler 

 than those involved in loading and transporting the cut 

 cane from the plantation to the mill. 



525. Yields. — From 25 to 30 tons of stripped cane 

 to the apre is considered a good yield in Louisiana. The 

 average yield for the state is about 21 tons to the acre. 

 The amount of sugar secured from a ton of pane varies 

 with the sucrose content, of the cane and with the kind of 

 mill used in grinding. As a rule a ton of cane will yield 

 from 150 to 160 pounds of sugar, and in addition 5 or 6 

 gallons of molasses. In making sirup alone the average 

 acre in the sugar-belt of Louisiana will yield from 500 to 

 600 gallons. 



In the coastal pine-belt, the average yield of cane to the 

 acre is about 15 tons. On reasonably good land a yield of 

 20 tons of plant cane and 15 tons of stubble cane to the acre 

 may be expected. Throughout this region a ton of cane 

 corresponds roughly to 20 gallons of sirup at a density of 



