SUGAR-CANE CULTURE FOR SIRUP PRODUCTION. 33 
for propagating and testing, an avenue is open through the United 
States Department of Agriculture. They will be propagated under 
suitable quarantine isolation until it is ascertained that the samples 
harbor no dangerous pests or diseases. 
The risk incurred in introducing cane from other regions is illus- 
trated by an incident that occurred a few years ago. The United 
States Department of Agriculture introduced a small mail shipment of 
cane of a rare variety from Hawaii for propagation in Porto Rico, 
observing the precaution of planting it the first season in one of our 
quarantine greenhouses. In spite of the fact that the cane had been 
carefully 'Selected and prepared for shipment by an official of the 
Hawaiian Sugar Planters' Experiment Station and that when the 
package arrived at Washington, D. C, it seemed to be free from pests 
and diseases, it developed during that season an abundant crop of 
the Hawaiian Ieafhopper, one of the most destructive insect pests 
that have ever been known to attack sugar cane. This simple pre- 
caution, which led to the subsequent destruction of the cane, doubtless 
saved the Porto Rican planters from losses by this pest such as the 
Hawaiian planters suffered, amounting in Hawaii at one time to mil- 
lions of dollars annually and threatening the complete destruction of 
their great sugar industry. 
SOME BUSINESS CONSIDERATIONS IN CONNECTION WITH THE 
SUGAR-CANE AND SIRUP INDUSTRY. 
One of the first questions that a new settler in a sugar-cane and 
sirup-producing section will ask is "What profit can be expected 
from this branch of the farm business? " Even the old settlers and 
old sirup producers as a rule can profit by making a closer study 
of the farm-economics side of their industry. The publication here 
of data on the business side of the industry, collected from some of 
the best-informed farmers in the sirup belt of southern Georgia and 
northern Florida, may therefore be of interest. The subject will be 
considered under the several headings: (1) Equipment and capital 
invested, (2) cost of producing the cane, (3) cost of manufacturing 
the sirup, and (4) value of products and profits. 
EQUIPMENT AND CAPITAL INVESTED. 
Sugar-cane growing requires the best of land that the sections in 
question afford. While vast areas of land in these States can be 
bought at $10 an acre and less, it is not to be expected that such cheap 
lands have much value for cane production. There are large areas 
of flat coastal plains that are too sandy for profitable cane culture. 
One must expect to pay from $20 to $60 for good cane land in Geor- 
