The sun., 1898-12-04
SUGAR CROP A FAILURE.
sOMETRTwG WRoNG WITH THH CANE
IN LOUISTLNd.


NEW ORLEANS. Dec. The Louisiana suGa
plantsrs are puzzling over mystery OF grea
Importance 10 them. It is. Why has the sugal
crop failed 80 badly this year 1t is one of th'
most extraordinary failures In the history o
Agriculture In Louisiana and is probably due u
some secret OF nature that man has not ye
discovered.
II should be said parenthetically that there
n no dispute as to the failure of the crop and
that the reports concernlng It are not inspired
b. desire TO advance prices. The cane
urower In this State realizes that the Louisiana
production of sugar is so lmall as compared
With tho total consumptlon Of this country
shat Il cute no figure in fixing the price. There
IA. IL Is true. usually slight decline In the
pfice OF suUar-a fraction OF n tSent-when the
Louisiana crop ia being marketNd; but this is
q mere trick OF the trade. and the decline
oocurB however large or small the crop may be.
There IL no incentive, therefore, sor the cane
grower TO misrepresent facts and nnderestt-
mate the yield In the belief that IL may tend
% send up the price Of sugar And even IL
there were the inclination. IL would be difficult
20 carry out any conspiracy OF the kind. The
statistics OF no crop In the world are more
fully. carefully and accurately kept than tholie
Of the sugar product OF Louisiana. 1t Is a
triumph OF mathematics. Covering as the
and refining OF the sugar being controlled by 4.
comparatively few persons.the utmost accuracy
% insistedon In the preservation Of all the sta
tistics be6ring on the yield. Every acre planted
is recorded as is every ton OF cane ground
and every pound OF sugar and gallon OF mo-
lasses. At the end of the season Il is possible
20 tell within a pound and a gallon what has
been the yield 10 the acre and for the entire
State. Hence. when 1t Is announced by the
sugar planters that the crop is a failure 1t can
be accepted as a fact. and this announcement
has b6ef made and the figures given for it.
The crop. in proportion to the acreage planted.
will see the smallest yield in sugar known
since the civil war; unless there should be
some radical and unhoped for change between
now and the end OF tho grinding season. To
fnd anything like the present condition the
planters have had to go back tweuty-one years
10 1877. when the cane crop similarly failed in
o mysterious manner.
The planters themselves are puzzled over It
and are trying to understand 1t, and have
failed so far. The cane in the fields is in ap-
parently as perfect condition as 1t ever was
It is large. thick and high. The yield in cane
In much heavier than the average. EVERYTHING
Is apparently in the most satisfactory condi-
tion except one important item-the sugar is
lacking: When the planters began grinding
uurlnR Uno 1lrSJ pdrJ Oh NONeHDer uneV UOOk
most optimistic view of the situation. save
as 70 the possible effect of the annexation of
the Philippines. They had planted 20 per
cent. more cane than the previous year; the
crop was large anil bountiful. with heavier
tonnage to the acre and promised better yield,
and the price of sugar lie satisfactory.
What. then. was their surprise when during
the first week Of the grinding it was discov-
cred that the cane was yielding 80. 80 and
rarely 100 pounds OF sugar to the ton, against
the usual average of 1S0 pounds The sugar
yield had fallen off one-half or more. from or
10 per cent. Of The cane tonnage to per cent.
The news came a shock to the planters
for they had not had the slightest reason to ex-
pect It, No suspicion seems to have existed
that there was something wrong with the
sugar as IN the most bountifu year.
greenness of the cane-and there is no Gueso
ton that Il Is slightly behind its condition at
this time last year. Several of the sugar mills
stopped operations in order to let the cane
grow riper, as 1t does not paw to get eighty
rounds OF sugar to the ton Of cane A serious
grinding operations risk Of freeze fol-
lowed lowed by a thaw; that will kill the canes and
the Juice will not Yield sugar. and can be used
only for the manufacture OF mollsses. In old
days sudden and unexpected freeze meant u
ana turned out syrup only.
Such accidents. however, never occur to-day
Louisiana and the. means Of informing the
planters OF probable change in the tempera-
ture are 50 good that every one knows of a
prospective freeze from two TO four days in ad-
vance. When the warning is received the
planters put their whole force into the field to
Ntndrow the cane. that Is. TO cut 1t down, so
that the cane proper is covered and protected
by the abundant green leaves of the plant.
minimum. and freezes no longer, as of old,
cut figure IN the planters calculations.
But this winter It has looked different The
failure to return the amount of sugar expected
from. Y. is temptation TO planters TO hold back
hope that a cool sDell-a frost, not freeze
win tend to ripen 1t and make 1t yleId more
everything In the hope Of getting more~and OF land
the planters have received many warnings
that the winter is to be an early ami severe
one. and therefore that the risk they take is
b But tined the delay has been productive of little
Of sugar has shown, no change or improve
men msnt i Is quit f evident ~ that as an expana
cane will not suffice. and that something else
is at work to cut down the sugar crop. There
ia so extraordinarily large an amount Of ,glu-
cose In the cane that, ut tho very best, only 75
per cent. o. the sugar can be extracied and
very few mills can do even this, as consider
luton II, order to secure the rest in tile form
OF CRYSTALS Some physiological change has
nently injgring it. so that the colder weather
which ought 70 ripen it and increase the yield
has hao no effect on IT,
The yield to the ton Of cane 30 far will fall
below 1J0 po unds. In Assumption and Iberia
parishes II is below 80. The best planta-
tons in the State. with the most perfect ma
phinory. will run up TO 10 or l2O pounds. The
Miles New HOPE plantation OF Ascension which
usually leads the parish IN production, has
been able to get only 12O pounds TO the ton:
and only one other place. Salzburg, has gone
over the latter figures. II having secured 1liT
poapds Thisisto be eompaIed with lSO pounds
70 tho ton OF cane obtained by the first class
sugar houses and refineries in previous sea-
sons 1t should be further said that the smaEer
yield OF sugar costs more to extract from the
cane. and many plantations report that they
are using 20 per cent. more fuel than last year
and getting only 90 per cent. as much sugar.
What is the mystery of nature which caises
the cane to yield 80 much less sugar whan it
looks so promisingl A failure like this oc-
CURED only once before In Loui siana, In lS77,
and the history Of the sugar croR Of that year
dayL agricultural mystery Unfortunately
the planters OF 1877 kept very poor records.
Ihe cane crop was cultivated then In very
careless, slipshod manner The planters fol-
lowed the, old beaten pnyhs and made no I'M
proyements u their nielhods Of cultivation or
tracted from the cane the other halt being