The St. Lucie County tribune. (Fort Pierce, St. Lucie County, Fla.) 1905-1920, 1911-03-03
OPPORTUNITY
AS SUGAR BELT
Florida's State Chemist Says Our
Soil is Best Suited for Cane
CROP IS EASILY MADE
Expert Ayers That Careful Work and
Modern Methods Would Rout Beet
Growing From The Industry

The production of sugar cane as a
money crop for st. Lucie county, which
has more than half million acres of
soil peculiarly adapted to its cultivation,
is attracting the attention of many, to
whom the following article, written for
the Chicago Examiner, will prove inter-
esting:
Florida is not generally considered as
sugar growing state, but in the Opin-
ion of Prof. R. E. Rose, state chemist
there are few places that offer greater
advantages for this purpose. When
progressive, up to date methods are
adopted throughout the sugar belt,
Prof. Rose believes the beet sugar in
dustry will be forced into the back
ground. In a discussion of present
conditions in Florida he said
1.-THE culture of sugar cane and the
manufacture of raw sugar, or sirup,
in Florida dates from the earliest settle
ment. The plant was introduced by
the Jesuit fathers and was cultivated
largely on the East Coast, near st. Au-
gustine and New Smyrna, by the earli-
est Spanish settlers, the cane having
been introduced from the West Indies,
where it was cultivated on commercial
scale as early as 1913.
"The remains of sugar factories and
evidences of sugar culture on an I'M
mense scale are still found at New
SMYRNA in the Turnbull hammock. A
drainage system that was established
by the sugar and indigo planters more
than two hundred years ago is still in
use. There is no good reason for doubt
ing that Florida was the first part of
the United States where sugar was cul-
tivated and manufactured on a large
scale.
IL regret to say that the same print
tive methods used in those ancient days
still prevail and that a modern economi-
cal sugar factory does not exist in the
state today. To this fact, and the lack
of modern apparatus | attribute the
present condition of the industry. No
effort has been made to improve the
wasteful two.roller horse mill, with
wooden frame, and the old Jamaica
kettle set in clay furnace, the mil
extracting not to exceed 30 per cent OF
the Juice, and sometimes less, while
the kettle, juice trough and skim bar
rel account for loss of 20 per cent
more of the small amount secured by
the mill. am convinced by a study
of number of sirup plants in the state
that, on an average, not more than 40
per cent of the sugar content OF the
cane is secured, and that 60 per cent
IL wasted after producing the cans and
hauling it to the mill. The methods
generally pursued in Florida are as prim-
tive to lay as those in Mexico and South
America. There are few up to date
strip plants, but they are not numerous.
Gin no other agricultural and manu-.
featuring enterprise has the farmer and
manufacturer failed to take advantage
of improvements in methods and ma
chinery. l can attribute this only to
the generally accepted belief that cane
growing and strip making, even under
the present crude and wasteful method,
is considered most profitable business,
have talked with hundreds of farmers
in all parts of the state, from Pensacola
to Key West, and have yet to meet one
who was not positive in saying that he
derived more cash, with less laber per
acre, from his cane patch than from
any other crop. y, :. -,
"The only reason why it is possible
to make beet sugar prOfitably is that
none but the most modern apparatus is
used, making it possible to extract all
of the sugar from the beet at the least
possible cost 1t is well known that
the beet is inferior to tropical cane in
average sugar content, and also that
it contains larger percentage of i'm
purities. a,
1.-The American people are the great
est consumers of sugar in the
world. Sugar is the only agricultural
products that the United State imports.
Of all other crops that can be grown
within our boarders we export enormous
quantities.
1--WE believe Florida's climate to be
superior to that of any other state for
sugar growing. Our rainy season is
during the growing months, when most
needed. A wet fall or winter ia an ex-'
ception. A dry fall and winter insure
the ripeness of the cane and a quick
harvest, while a wet fall and winter re-
tard the ripening and entail heavy ex-
pense for harvest. A killing frost
seldom occurs in Florida before Janu-
AIRY, while in south Florida killing frosts
are of rare occurrence. In tropical
Florida, south of the twenty seventh
parallel, there has never been a frost
that would kill oranges or sugar cane.
"Much interest is being shown in
beet culture and in the manufacture of
sugar in the west. Were it generally
known that larger amounts of sugar
can be made IN Florida ut much small
| (continue ed ON pape 81