, 1891-08-26
NEUTRALITY-SUSPICIOUS. FOR SUGAR
Production.

immense acreage that could be added to our
cane fields at once when the machinery is
built and ready to handle the cane. From
New Orleans to Baton Rouge, on either side OF
the river, there doesn't seem to be over one
third of the open fields now in cane culture.
There seems to be a larger acreage Of rice than
o sugar cane, and many fields lie entirely
idle.
If this be the case on the Mississippi
river from New Orleans to Baton Rouge, it
seems likely to be the case all over the sugar
parishes
If we assume then that Louisiana produced
over 200, 900 tons of sugar in 1890 and this
from one third of its old cane fields, leaving
two thirds Of the cane fields of ante beIlum days
uncultivated or now cultivated IN rice,
we see at once that the cane fields
in 1860 cultivated in cane as in 1890
and the cane manufactured into sugar as
in 1890, would give us right now a production
of 5000 900 tons Of sugar. We are 10Y on the
high road to reach these figures and they Will
come through the adoption Of the central fac
tory idea.
Sugar cane is an incomparably more certain
crop than rice, and can be made fully as prof
table wherever there are buyers for sugar cane,
and buyers are developing everywhere.
1t is not necessary that a central factory
6IlOull ~ DulIb CJSUluB Hull 1t lilllllOi OIldI W.
ensure a market for sugar cane. Let every
planter that has a good sugar house buy all
the small patches Of cane near him, paying
for it all he can possibly aft ord to and thus en-
courage such cane product ion. In a general
way any planter can afford to pay for sugar
cane delivered to him, one half the produce OF
the cane packed ready for market, or one half
its net proceeds, if money price be paid.
If this matter were carefully considered and
if our present sugar planters would take the
trouble and make the effort, we could doubIa
our area in sugar cane within five years.
1t has been the reproach Of Louisiana that
her sugar industry was not progressive; that
it was not worth legisl atin8 for. Tie authors
of these remarks had no adequate idea Of what
Louisiana had done during the last twenty
years, how wonderfully she has progressed,
how she has thrved in the face of disaster and
has now become the third largest producer Of
sugar in the world, from tropical cane.
The long drought this spring and early
summer threatened disaster to Louisiana sugar
interests, but the magnificent weather we are
now having from an agricu lturaI point of
view, hot and humid, with daily showers, is
forcing the crop right along, and its condi-
ton seems to be unquestion ably better than an
average. Shou ld 5hose showers continue
through August, 1891 will 60 in the calendar
Of red letter years, like 1890, 1887, 1852
and 1878.
Our present careful cane culture and sugar
manufacture are showing what can be done
and are making the business a more certain one.
The vicissitudes of the industry are being re-
duced and increased certainty reached.
These facts should lead to the rapid cXpan-
sion Of our acreage in cane culture, and as we
are now upon the eve Of fall ploughing and
seeaeane allotment and say ing for the crop of
1899, every one interested should endeavour
to promote the common good by lending all
possible aid to the enlargement of the area IN
sugar cane. Economic sugar production must
come from large quantities handled with skill
and economy.
Our 700 sugar houses hope to make 275,00o
short tons Of sugar in 1891, They may make
225. 900 short tons or 800 tons average per sugar
house. Germany's 400 sugar houses make
over 1900 600 long tons, or over 5000 long
tons per sugar house. If we require 10 sugar
houses, 10 engines, 10 sugar boilers 10 sugar
chemists. etc. to do what Germany does with
one of each, can we hope to compete?
The suggestion is obvious. We must en-
large our cane acreage and enlarge our pre-
sent factories and from the magnitude of the
enlarged business reach a degree of economy
in production that can be reached in no other