The morning news. [volume] (Savannah, Ga.) 1887-1900, 1899-08-05

There is a prospect Of something practi-
cal being done towards establishing a sugar
refinery In this city. Capt Purse, presl-
dent of the Board of Trade. has arranged
to have the juice Of the cane Of this sec
ton analyzed at the Louisiana experiment.
station, for the purpose of determining
the percentage Of sugar it contains The
director Of that station says that II IS the
unders landing among those acquainted
with the subject that the cane of Georgia
and Florida Is considerably richer in sugar
than the cane of Louisiana. We have
made the statement, on what appeared 10
be good authority, several times that it is
Il Is from to per cent. richer.
While it is important to know what per
centage of sugar our cane contains, it
seems to US that it is of far greater inn
portance to know how many pounds Of
sugar a gallon of Georgia or Florida syrup
will yield. To this question Mayor Myers
has been directing his attention. and he
says ne will be one of a half dozen, or
any other number of men who will bear
the expense of having the question def
nitely and satisfactorily settled. That is
Of the mayor, and if the test is made il
will practically settle the question as to
whether or not We shall have suger re
finery In this city for handling the syrup
or this state and Florida
The railroads ought to be prompt to as
sist Mayor Myers in having the test made
They are much more deeply interested in
the matter than even this city is, because
il a refinery here is practicable, addi-
tional business viii be provided for them
amounting to many hundreds of thousands
of dollars annually
The refining of one barrel of syrup
wouldn't, of course. be a satisfactory test,
though it seems 20 be the very general
understanding that there is very little diff
ference in the amount of sugar which the
different grades of syrup contain. The
price which would be paid for the syrup
would be based on the amount of sugar
that could be got out of it, the syrup pos
sessing the greatest amount of sugar
bringing the highest price.
What il is necessary to know, however,
is whether the syrup contains enough
sugar to make the refining of it profitable
at the prices at which farmers can af-
ford or are willing TO produce it. Ac-
cordng to figures published by Mr.. Till
man, an average gallon of syrup viii yield
seven pounds Of refined sugar That
yield at the present price of sugar would
permit the refiner to pay twenty cents a
gallon for the syrup and leave him a very
handsome profit. But will the syrup yield
seven pounds to the gallon, or even six
pounds? That is the question which must
be satisfactorily settled before anything
else can be done. 1t is the question which
Mayor Myers is ready to help settle Are
there not other public spirited citizens who
are willing to assist him? Will not the
railroads lend helping hand? We IN
derstand from what Mayor Myers says
that there will be no difficulty in getting
all the capital necessary for the enter
prise If two things can be satisfactorily
shown, namely, that the syrup will yield
enough sugar to make the refining of it
profitable az the prices at which the syrup
can be obtained, and that a sufficient sup
ply of syrup can be obtained. OF a suffl-
cient supply of syrup Mayor Myers doesn't
have any doubt and nobody else, who has
an acquaintance with the situation, ap-
pears to have any doubt. The thing
therefore that is 20 be done is to have a
test made of the syrup. What percentage
of sugar does it contain?