NORTHERN SUGAR INDUSTRY. 



9 



has previously been thoroughly dug up and iiulverized by a loug-bladed mattock. 

 The fertilizers used are ashes, fish, decomposed hay, straw, aud sea-weed, or night 

 soil. The plants are thoroughly hoed, hilled, aud irrigated. In October and No- 

 vember the leaves are stripped off and the stalks are then cut and the hard outer 

 covering is removed, and the remaining portion is then ground between rollers of 

 stone or hard wood. The cane juice is then boiled in iron kettles till granulation 

 takes place, when it is placed in bags and pressed dry. The expressed sirup is used 

 as molasses. Dry uplaud soils are required for the successful growth of the cane, 

 and the expenditure of labor and fertilizers is as great, if not greater, than for any 

 other crop. Great exertions are being made to promote the increased production of 

 sugar, and large orders for apparatus for sugar-making came from districts which 

 heretofore have not grown sugar-cane. 



USE OF MACHINERY FOR OTHER PURPOSES. 



It may be asked also, OanDot the machinery be used to refine raw 

 sugars and molasses or to make glucose during the part of the year 

 when not needed for working the cane crop'?" I think the answer to 

 this question must be " No." The refining of sugar is a business of itself. 

 The profits of the refiner are not large, and he has to work immense 

 quantities of raw sugar in order to make money. He has also to have 

 the advantage of the best shipping facilities. Our successful refineries 

 are built near water transportation, on the seaboard and at Saint Louis. 

 A sorghum factory must be far from the great centers of trade, where 

 land and labor are cheap. From these considerations I am certainly of 

 the opinion that refining carried on in such localities and without special 

 facilities would only result in financial loss to the operator. 



In regard to the manufacture of starch sugar, perhaps I could not do 

 better than to refer to the manufacturers of this article themselves. In 

 fact, it is a business which is already sadly overdone. The /?^rore which 

 attended the first years of its introduction attracted a flood of capital 

 which finally washed away all the profits. 



I think it best that the sorghum-sugar manufacturer should under- 

 stand perfectly that his business is sufficient unto itself," and that he 

 cannot count on any lateral business to help him out which does not 

 directly pertain to the sorghum industry. 



1 have thus dwelt somewhat in detail on the season as it affects this 

 great problem, because 1 believe that in this one point the sorghum- 

 growers have more occasion for careful thought than in any other one 

 factor which they will be called on to consider. 



To further illustrate the problem of climate, I present herewith illus- 

 trations of the isothermal lines,* including the region about Cape May, 

 where the climate appears to be the most favorable to the manufacture 

 of sorghum of any of the localities in which that business is now con- 

 ducted on a large scale. I select Cape May as a point of comparison 

 because in that locality, as illustrated by the experience of the Eio 

 Grande factory, the seasons appear favorable both for the growth and 

 manufacture of the crop. 



* See isothermal maps at end of report. 



