42 BULLETIN 486, U. S. DEPABTMEXT OF AGEICTLTUEE. 
larger ones. etc. He can substitute figures fitting his conditions and 
compute the cost to him of the production of the cane or the sirup. 
Thus the Florida farmer previously mentioned who estimated the 
cost of the plant-cane crop at $69 an acre Trill find that his sirup 
from this crop costs him $8.56 per barrel (or 26 cents per gallon) if 
the yield and the manufacturing expense are the same. In the case 
of the second illustration of the cost of cane production, if the farmer 
could by a different rotation, plowing under a leguminous crop or 
otherwise, reduce his fertilizer bill by half without reducing his 
yields, it would increase his profit per acre $10. reducing the cost of 
sirup by 6T cents per barrel, or 2 cents per gallon. The fuel item is 
bound to increase as timber gets scarcer unless means are provided 
for using a cheaper grade of fuel (dead and down timber, slab wood. 
or coal if near the railway). If varieties or methods of treatment 
could be discovered that would enable the farmer to increase the 
yields of his stubble crops or allow him to take off more stubble 
crops with high yields before replanting, the profits per acre would 
be greatly increased. Table II shows that the higher the price 
of sirup the greater is the advantage in profit per acre of the plant- 
cane crop over the stubble crops, provided our assumption that the 
yield of the first-year stubble crop is only two-thirds and the second- 
year stubble crop only half that of the plant-cane crop corresponds 
to the facts. 
The price of sirup in the general market in recent years has ranged 
from 28 to 35 cents per gallon. In the fall of 1914 the price was ab- 
normally low. leading many farmers to go out of the business or to 
reduce their acreage. In the fall of 1915 it took a sharp upward 
trend, reaching 10 cents, or even more. This was when sugar also 
was abnormally high, but it was due mainly to the abnormally short 
crop. This shortage in turn was due to two causes: (1) Severe 
droughts in the principal sirup-producing sections and (2) a small 
acreage, which, in its turn, was due to low prices the previous year 
and to much spoilage of seed cane reserved for planting. In many 
sections the local demand for sirup exceeds the supply. In such 
cases the sirup producers usually get a much better price, viz. from 
35 to 50 cents a gallon — even higher if they have the reputation of 
making a product of extra good quality. 
By present practices the farmer's income from the sugar-cane sirup 
industry is confined almost exclusively to the sales of the cane or the 
sirup therefrom. It is but natural that he thinks of higher prices for 
the product as the main hope, if not the only chance, of increasing 
his profits. As the price of the product, however, may be beyond his 
control, he is forced to turn to the cost of production and to the in- 
dividual factors contributing thereto for possible opportunities to 
