PART TWO. 
THE CANE SUGAR INDUSTRY. 
CHARLES A, FARWELL, 
First vice president American Sugar Growers’ Society, 
President United States Cane Planters’ Association, 
New Orleans, La. Having been in the sugar business 
all his life, and possessing the confidence of the whole 
sugar interests of the South, Mr. Farwell is a type of 
the men who are doing so much to develop this and 
other great industries in the South and throughout 
the country. 
BRIEF HISTORY of this 
(| industry is given on Page 
12, from which it will be 
bs seen that it is a very old 
industry, although its prin- 
cipal development dates from about 1885. 
Cane was originally introduced into Lou- 
isiana by the Jesuits from San Domingo 
in 1757, but the ribbon cane now generally 
planted was introduced via Georgia from 
the island of St Eustatius. There are 
many varieties of cane and these are be- 
ing daily increased by additions obtained 
from the planting of the true seed of the 
cane. The Louisiana sugar experiment 
station at Audubon park, New Orleans, 
is experimenting with over 100 varieties; 
of these, however, only two kinds are in 
general use in the state—the Purple or 
Black Java, and the Purple Striped Rib- 
bon cane. A few planters grow a white 
variety known as the Light Java. These 
varieties were introduced about the year 
1825 and have become so thoroughly ac- 
climated to our soil and climate that they 
are now almost universally used. 
a 
THE AREA CAPABLE OF GROWING 
SUGAR CANE 
is far larger than has been supposed. The 
sugar cane belt can be extended along the Gulf coast froma point near Savannah, 
Ga, running almost parallel to the coast line, to the northern extremity of Louisiana 
and on through Texas to the Rio Grande river. 
If irrigation could be secured, a por- 
tion of Arizona and New Mexico could also be utilized for this crop. 
The area of cane in Louisiana for 1896-7 is about 300,000 acres. 
This amount can 
