Daily Los Angeles herald., 1883-12-08
our sugar supply


The great increase OF the population
Of the country, and the very great in
crease in the demand for sugar. with no
perceptible increase In the supply Of
a. sis,v, siivaia arouse earnesu al
tention to the subject Of our supply. In
Los Angeles county there is large
amount Of land where sorghum grows
in the most rank and luxurious manner,
and there Is now an abundance Of capi-
tai to commence the planting of sorghum
and the manufacture of sugar from the
same.
Some attempts have been made at
Westminster to make syrup from sor-
gbum. and very good article was pro.
duced, but no large aud systematized
plan has ever been started for manufac-
turing this plant on large scale. Our
soil produces such heavy crops Of sor-
ghum that large profit can be made
from its production.
A short time since the HERALD con.
tanned notice Of sorghum syrup fac
tory in Illinois which showed $3.50 per
acre profit from the crop annually manu-
factured. In this county there is more
sacharine matter in the plant than in
Illinois, and with heavier crop a yield
Of $3.50 per acre ought to be realized by
manufacturing on large scale. where
greater economy can be used than when
small parcels are made up separately.
Between Los Angeles and Whining.
ton would be fine place for such an es-
tablishment. A tract oi 1000 acres could
be planted and a factory erected on the
same to work up the crop. The price Of
sugar is so high that the business cannot
fail Of being profitable. Strange as it
may seem, the demand for sugar and
molasses is 80 great that it requires all
the gold and silver taken from all the
mines in the Union to pay the bills for
these two articles of consumption. In
the last fifteen years we have sent
abroad nearly billion of dollars to pay
for these two products. There is NO
good and sufficient reason why large
part OF this money cannot be kept at
holue. Already there are signs Of the
good time coming when we shall make
our own sugar and syrup.
An important establishment has been
started in Illinois for the purpose indi-
Gated, an account of which Is here re-
produced from the Cotton, Wool and
Iron Journal. Of Boston, Massachusetts,:
The Champaign Sugar Works, Cham-
| sorghum sugar works ever started in the
United States. They have ground the
cane this season raised on about 1000
acres of land, and the result is a perfect
success in the way Of making first-cla
| quality of sugar that polarizes 81 de-
| grees, and much sweeter than sugar
| made from cane or beet roots. For years
experiments have been made to find out
some way to change sorghum syrup into
sugar. The attempt was unsuccessful
up TO last year, when the State Of ILL
nois offered bounty to any one who
would succeed in granulating the syrup
into sugar. Experiments made at the
State University Of Illinois, in Cham
paign, by Profs. Weber and Scovell,
succeeded ia accomplishing the result.
| A ready sale is found for all the sugar
and syrup made, and the success here
will cause large number Of sugar works
to be erected all over the West, for
shrghum cane will grow where corn can
be raised and where farmers oan make
Sl5 an acre in raising corn, they can re-
alize $50 an acre ia raising sorghum
cane to sell to these factories.
The result Of this discovery is likely
to make ms great change in this couR-
try as the making of beet sugar has in
Europe. where to-day two-thirds of all
the suger In the world IL made. Out Of
q total production Of three million
tops. France, Belgium and Germany
| produce two million tons. The Cham
pagn Sugar Works have introduced all
the modern improvement The ma
chiaery. boiler and vacuum pans were
nude by the Atlantic Works, in Brook
lyn. New York. They use both the
Weston and Hepworth centrifugals,
The sugar cane trash, called "hagasse, is
carried on conductors directly from the
grinding mill and dropped into the fur.
naces In its green, wet state. The boil
ers are set with the Jarvis patent fur
mace, and bot air is discharged directly
over the fires, igniting the gases gener.
ated by the burning fuel.