Atlanta tri-weekly journal. [volume] (Atlanta, Ga.) 1920-19??, 1921-10-27
GEORGIA CANE INDUSTRY
HARD HIT BY LOW PRICES

better be distributed in relatively
small shipments from points that
enjoy better shipping facilities and
better freight rates than Cairo. The
carload rate on syrup in barrels is
of course much cheaper than the
rate on smaller shipments of syrup
in cans, but since the buyer pays the
freight, it is difficult to see the dis
advantage of a giant refinery at
Cairo.
And speaking of refineries, it is
pertinent to remark, in this con-
nection, that the syrup men at Cairo
and in the cane country do not dig
Nifty the men who buy their syrup
in quantity with the title of refin-
erS.
800 to 400 Gallons to Acre.
"They are syrup mixers, that S
what they are" insisted Thomas
Wight, president of the Farmers and
Merchants bank. "They don't re-
fine our syrup. They mix it with
other syrups and put it on the
market that way. They cheaper our
product by mixing it with corn
syrup and glucose. Grady county
syrup needs no refining when it
leaves here"
Under normal conditions, ! learn
ed at Cairo, from 800 to 400 gallons
of syrup can be produced on an
acre of ground. Assuming that the
average normal production is $50
gallons to the acre, syrup at so cents
a gallon means about $3.50 per acre,
gross That is a handsome return,
seemingly, but there are lots of
things that enter into the cost of
production that reduce this return
materially.
Not the least of these are the bar
rels, not to mention the cost OF
planting, cultivating, harvesting,
grinding the cane and cooking the
syrup. At 80 cents q gallon, thir-
ty gallon barrel would bring SO, from
which must be deducted the cost of
the barrel-$1. S5-leaVing $7.15 to
cover all other costs of making the
thirty gallons of syrup.
But this year only a half crop
has been raised in the cane country.
The Mosaic disease and the drought
cut the crop i'll half, so that the aV-
erage per acre production Will not
exceed IT'S gallons of syrup, and the
gross return from an acre or cane
will not exceed $3.50.
Inc plICS WlllCIl Ll4C
producers had expected to realize
from the short cane crop obviously
has not ensued, otherwise the mar
ket price would not be SO low. 1t
is difficult to find an explanation
for the slump in the price. Certain
Nv, it is hard for the average pro-
Queer in Grady county to under
stand it.
In Cairo 1 heard several reasons
assigned, but the concensus of opin-
ion was that the refiners themselves
and many farmers are loaded up
with a part of last years crop,
which they have been unable to
sell. The carry-over will more than
| offset the shortage in this years
production, and there, think, is the
answer to the slump in the price.
The Mosaic Disease.
In these circumstances there is
considerable disquietude and many
| apprehensions in Cairo concerning
the ability of the producers to sell
! this years crop even at 80 cents a
gallon.
But whatever the result of the
present situation in syrup, the fact
| remains that Grady county has
| quit cotton as it's chief money crop
and taken to syrup. 1t is natural.
| therefore, that the merchants, bank.
| ers and farmers should feel deep
concern over the appearance of the
| dread Mosaic disease, which has
| been imported into this country
from the Philippine Islands. 1t
| is a fungus growth that attacks
| the growing cane, and dwarfs it,
sapping it's vitality, reducing it's
juice to nearly nothing and leaving
only a stunted stalk of pulp and
| fibre.
The federal government is doing
| it's best to check the disease, but
during the past season it made no
| progress Notwithstanding the efforts
of the best experts.
Tobacco in Grady County.
| In certain parts of Grady county
! tobacco had been grown with profit
prior to this year, but the present
crop is a sad story. Here again, it
| is not lack of facilities for market
| ing the crop SO much as it is the
| difficulty of finding a buyer.
Shade grown wrapper tobacco
| Sumatra, they call it-fOund ready
market last year at from S1.15 to
| $3.50 per pound. The American
! Cigar company bought all that was
produced. Filler for cigars, grown
in the sun, sold easily for from 40
! to so cents pound.
The farmers, [ learned at Cairo,
were forced to accept from 80 to
| so cents for what Sumatra they
could sell this year, while their filler
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