SUGAR-CANE SIRUP MANUFACTURE 9 
the small Japanese 5 to 7 per cent less. As a rule, the juice of the 
small Japanese cane is about 1° Brix less dense. If the Louisiana 
Purple cane yields 20 gallons cS-sirup per ton of cane, the Cayana—10 
and the Uba may be expected to yield about 19 gallons per ton and 
the small Japanese about 17 gallons. The higher tonnage per acre 
from the slender hardy varieties of the Chinese group, however, 
‘usually more than offsets the decrease in extraction, so that the 
yield of sirup per acre is actually greater, especially from the Cayana— 
10 and Uba varieties. 
CONSIDERATIONS GOVERNING SIZE OF SIRUP PLANT 
By C. F. Watton, Jr., Bureau of Chemistry, U. S. Department of Agriculture 
After a survey of agricultural and marketing conditions has been 
made to estimate the probable success of a proposed sirup plant, the 
_ scale of operation demands consideration. 
COST OF TRANSPORTING CANE 
| The acreage of suitable land available within economical hauling 
| distance is important. The transportation of cane to a mill may so 
/ increase the price of manufacture as to make it impossible to compete 
|) with producers more advantageously placed. Sugar cane is such a 
heavy crop that the haul to the mill plays an important part in 
« determining profits. ; 
| Past experience will show the approximate charge which is con- 
j sidered reasonable for transporting cane to the mill. In most in- 
| stances, even with very good roads, a radius of 5 miles has been 
accepted as the maximum hauling distance for delivering cane by 
|) wagon or truck to a mill. A haul shorter than this over poorer roads 
| has usually proved to be fully as expensive. 
| The problem oi delivering cane to the mill by railroad has received 
much attention in Louisiana. A sugarhouse in that State requires 
as many as 2,000 acres of sugar cane for profitable operation, and 
many of the sirup factories there are much larger than those in 
other States. As a result of the extensive shipment by railroad, 
freight rates for sugar cane are lower in Louisiana than in other 
P States. Cane can not economically be brought to the mill from a 
|' distance much greater than 50 miles, and the average distance for 
) the haul is closer to 25 miles. The rates between points in Louisiana 
on sugar cane in carload lots from June 25, 1918, to May 12, 1924, 
per ton of 2,000 pounds, were as follows: 1 to 25 miles, $0.60; 25 to 
135 miles, $0.70; 35 to 50 miles, $0.80; 50 to 100 miles, $0.90; 100 to 
| 150 miles, $1.30; and 150 to 200 miles, $1.60. The average distances 
) Over which cane was transported in Louisiana by three railroad sys- 
f tems from 1916 to 1920, inclusive, are given in Table 3. The New 
® Orleans Joint Traffic Bureau, to which acknowledgment is made for 
‘these data, believes that the figures for 1921 to 1924, inclusive, do 
)not differ substantially from those given in Table 38. 
| Assuming that approximately 20 gallons of sirup is obtained from 
#\a ton of cane, the portion of expense for manufacturing sirup which is 
‘chargeable to transportation of cane to the mill may readily be 
B® calculated. For example, if the distance is 35 to 50 miles, the trans- 
® portation cost by railroad is $0.80 per ton of cane. In addition there 
® is the charge for loading the cane on the cars, which varies from 
