SUGAR PRODUCTION IN U. S. AND FOREIGN COUNTRIES. 9 
shows an increase of 7.6 per cent, compared with 14.5 per cent for 
sugar extraction, which indicates that the improvement in obtaining 
sugar from the beet has been nearly twice as great as the improve- 
ment in the quality of the beet. A similar comparison of the three 
principal producing States for the five-year period 1904-1908 with 
1911-1915 shows an increase in sugar content of 8 per cent for Cali- 
fornia, 5.7 for Colorado, and 1.2 for Michigan. The increase in sugar 
extraction was for California and Colorado each 12 per cent, and for 
Michigan 2.4 per cent. 
The annual production of sugar for the period 1863 to 1887 varied 
from 100 to 1,200 tons, the average being about 500 tons. In 1888-89 
the production amounted to 2,084 tons and gradually increased to 
32,726 tons in 1895-96, to 184,606 tons in 1901-2, to 483,612 tons in 
1906-7, and to 862,800 in 1915-16. The annual average production of 
sugar for the decade ending with 1912-13 was 448,346 tons, as against 
77,202 tons for the decade ending with 1902-3, an increase of 480.7 
per cent. 
Comparing the five years 1901-1905 with 1911-1915, the production 
of sugar increased 202.2 per cent, and the quantity of beets used for 
sugar increased 166.4 per cent, as compared with 138.5 per cent in- 
crease for the area harvested. 
The fuel used by the beet-sugar factories in 1909 was mostly coal, 
amounting to 575,731 tons; oil, including gasoline, was next in im- 
portance, amounting to 554,174 barrels; the other fuels were small 
quantities of coke, wood, and gas. The total value of the fuel used, 
including rent of power, was $1,899,468. 
CANE SUGAR. 
The cane-sugar industry of the United States began about 1794, 
and has been an important industry for the farmer ever since. The 
cane is grown in nearly all of the Southern States from North Caro- 
lina and Arkansas south, and from the Atlantic coast to Arizona 
on the west. Arizona produces both beets and cane, and one estab- 
lishment in that State is equipped with machinery for producing 
sugar from both of these products. In 1890 cane was grown in seven 
States, but this number was increased to twelve in 1899 and 1909. 
The area under sugar cane, as reported by the census, has more than 
doubled during the last 30 years. The area used for cane was 227,776 
acres in 1879, 274,975 in 1889, 386,986 in 1899, and 476,849 in 1909. 
Louisiana is the principal cane-growing State and contained 80 per 
cent of the cane area in 1879, 68 per cent in 1889, 72 per cent in 1899, 
and 69 per cent in 1909. The area under cane in 1909 exceeded the 
area under beets by 112,756 acres, but the production of beet sugar 
exceeded that of cane by 167,543 tons. The production of beet sugar 
62069°— Bull. 473—17 2 
