Our Sugar Industry

rae department oí agricultura has issued a bulletin on the silgar industry of the United States. It is a work of 224 pages and is accorapanicd by soveral mapa, oharts, aud piates. It contains an introduction on the production and consumption of sugar in this and various foreign countries, and roports on the manufacturo of cano, beet, sorghuni, and niaple sugar in tho United States. It is conipilüd by II. W. Wiley, chemist to tho department. It shows from tho annual report on commerce and navigation that the valuo of naolasses, sugar, candy, and confectionery importad during tho fiscal year ondiner June 30, 1884, was $103,884,760. Tho total dutycolleoted on these articles amounted to $43,929,668.26. The value of the doniestic molosscs and sugar made from cane is given as $1,893,805.30; tho maple sugar and molasses aro valuad at $5,004,842.10; thesorghum at $9,036,385.55; the beet at $102,626.08, and the giuoose producís at $9,000,000. Tho total valuo of all tho doniestic sweets produced is cstimated at $43,037,109.63. The value of tho sugar and molasses made from tropical cane in other states than Louisiana is estiniated, and the yield of raaplo sugar and molasses is taken from the census report of 1880. This sugar is estimated to be worth 10 cents per pound and the molasses 73 cents per gallon. It is not claimed that the figures ia ragard to beet sugar and glucose aro entirely correct. The report ín relatiou to cane sugar industry is not fiattering. Tho following are somo of the conclusions in regard to it: The production of sugar and niolasses in Louisiana has almost seased to be profitable. üamagefrom overflow, unfavorable seasons, and depression of prices have been the causes which have rendered the cultivation of the suarar-cano a precarious undertaking. It would be useless lo discuss furtlier here tho causes which havo found tho price of sugar down to less than the cost of production. Yet in spito of rapidly increasing consumption the amount of sugar made has been so enormous that a fair price for it could not bc maintained. In fact the progress of agriculturo is more rapid than the increase of population; a,nd more food per capita is grown now than ever before. Since we cannot hopo for any marked decreaso in the sugar product of the worLl tho anly remaining way lo save the ïudigenous industry of this country is to oiake its processes more economical. Iho sum of all the analyses shows that the percentage of sueroso in sugar-caao in thi8 country is neither as largo as in the tropics or as it has gcnerally been regarded. I had expected to find the mean percentage of sueroso in the uices of cane at least 14, and was not a little surprised to find it greatly less. Uno of the great problems to which the sugar-eane growcr should seriovjsly address himself is to secure the production of a cane richer in sugar. Careful and systomatic selection of sned, and a constant practico of a most favorable system of fertilizing and cultivation, will surely result in such an improvement. Ño sueli soientific attempts have been attended with such signal success with tho 3iigar beet in Europe. Yet what would be thecondition of this industry to-day f the beetgrowers of Germanywere to use the same kind of seed they plantad fifty years ago? It may bo truc that the sugar-cane would not lend itself to improvement as rapidly as tho beet has done, but the natural law of 3election still holds good, and a certain improvoment must follow its application. The best way to accotnlisli this result would be the establishment by the state of an experiment station wherc a principal object of the work would be tho ímprovemcnt of the quality of the cane. Tho results thus obtained in a small way could bo made of the greatest possible ad vanlage on the plantation. Having secured the bost development of tho cane and established the most favorable conditions of culture, the process of manufacture would next receive attention. As this is now generally earried on it is neither scientitic nor öconomical. The history of the development of the sugar industry shows that only in central factories, where the operations can be carried on on a largo scale, the most economie methods can bo applied. With the exception of tho manufacture of sugar and molasses for domestic use thé small mili and open kettle must be abandoned. The report states that all the beetsugar enterprises in the eastern sta tea have apparently been abandoned. The Alvai-ado, Cal., beet-sugar factory. situatod on the oast sido of the bay, twenty-four miles from San Francisco, is tho only ono in operation in the United States. The climate of Alvarado is a peculiar one, and, as experience has shown, very suitable to the development of a first-class sugar beet. Tbe winters are mild. Planting begins in February and can be continued up to the middlo of May. The early planting matures in the nimmer, and the factory can bo startsd by tho middlo of August. From this time uutil December there is a 3onsecutive maturity of bects. The 3iimmers and falls are dry, and there is little (langer of the beets taking a second growth by reason of early rains. Vvheji harvestcd tho beets do not requiro to bo siloed, but are kept up in heaps oithcr with no covering it all or at most a littlo straw. In tho naiddlo of December, 1884, the company had nearly tweiity thousand tons of beets on hand. Tho belief is expressed that there iro 5,830 square miles of land in California, and perhaps as much more in Dregon and Washington, well adapt3d to raising silgar beets. Land near towns, however, is costly and labor lear. Tho prospect of making beet sugar prolitablo even in tlio most favored regions of the Paoiücslope does not therefore appear to be very cnDonragins. After rnentioniug several sorghum sugar faetones that were olosed daring the year, the report adds: The men who bare put their mouey in ;hese enterprises seem likoly to loso it, ind intendin investers wili carefully jonsider the facls hereiu set forth beforc making final arrangoments. The expectations of the oarlier advocates )t the Industry havo not been met, ind the predictions of enthusiastic propliets have not been verified. It would bo unwise and unjust to conceal the fact that the future of the sorCfhum-sugar is somewhat doubtful. This unsatisfactory condition is due to many causes. In the first place, tho difficulties inherent in the plant itself have been constantly undervalued. The success of the industry has been based on the belief of the production of sorghum with high percentages of sueroso and small amoimts of reducing sugar and other impurities. iiut the universal experience of practical tnauufacturers shows that the average constitution of the sorghum cane is f ar inferior to that just indicated. Taking the mean of several seasons as a sure basis of computation, it can now be said that the juices of sorghum as they come from the mili do not contain over 10 per cent. of sucrose, whilo the percentage of other solidsin solution is at least 4. Hij neealess to say to a practical sugai-niaker tbat the working of such a juico is one of extreme dilneutty and the output of sugstr necessarily small. Another difficuUy with wiiich tho industry has had to contead has been founcl in the crudoncss and inofficioncy of tho maohinery which has boen in use. Successful sugar-making depends more on the efficiency of the machinery used than almost any other kind of inanufacturing. It is safe to say that should the sugar-makers of Europe attompt to mako beet silgar with machinery as imperfect as that usod in the sorghum-sugar manufacture the attempt would end in disastrous failure. The working of sorghum juices will befound as difticult as those of .beets, and true success can not be hoped for until the processes used for the one are as complete and scientilic as for the other. It is not meant by this that the processes and machinery are to bo identical. The chomical as well as mechanical treatment of the two kinds of juice will doubtless difl'or in many respects. And this leads to the consideration of the third diiliculty - viz., the chemical treatment of sorghum juice. I.t has taken tnoarly three-quarters of a eentury to develop the chemistry of the beet-sugar process, and even now the process in this direction is great. Ihe chemistry of the sorghum-sugar process is scarcely yet a scienco. It is only an imitation of what has been done in other fields of work. Sorghum will have to devolop a chemistry of ltsown. This will not be the work of a day or a year, but it will be accomplished sooner or later. Considerable matter of value and interest to thoso situated whore they can evapórate the sap of the niaple is contained in the report. The observations of a large number of the makers of maple sugar and molasses arogiven in regard to the proper time to tap trees, the methodof doing it, the relative yield and richness of sa drawn from tsees growing on high and low ground, and the utensils to employ in gaihering and evaporating the same. It seems lo bo tacitly admitted that maple sugar and molasses are the only domestic sweets, asido from glucose and honoy, that are certain to yield a profit to the producer, and tbat tho manufacture of sugar and molasses from beets, tropical or northern cane, could only be carried on at a loss ïf the protective duties were removed or considerably reduced. Tho economy to tho nation of keeping up these protective dulies is not apparent to most persons. They do not encourage the maple-sugar industry, as maple sweets rank among tho luxuries which will oommand a high prico even if other kinds of sugar and sirups are low. They are in effect simply premiums paid by the consumers of particular articles to tho producers of them. They are taxes paid by one class of our peoplo for tho benelit of another class.