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Title: Something about sugar
Its history, growth, manufacture and distribution

Author: George M. Rolph

Release date: May 13, 2024 [eBook #73616]

Language: English

Original publication: San Francisco: J. J. Newbegin, 1917

Other information and formats: www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/73616

Credits: Peter Becker and the Online Distributed Proofreading Team at
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*** START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK SOMETHING
ABOUT SUGAR ***

SOMETHING ABOUT SUGAR

Refined Sugar Showing Form of Crystals

SOMETHING ABOUT SUGAR
ITS HISTORY
GROWTH, MANUFACTURE AND
DISTRIBUTION

BY
GEORGE M. ROLPH

Sugar
is nothing more nor less
than concentrated
sunshine

SAN FRANCISCO
JOHN J. NEWBEGIN
PUBLISHER
1917

COPYRIGHT, 1917, BY GEORGE M. ROLPH

PRINTED BY TAYLOR & TAYLOR, SAN FRANCISCO

DEDICATION:
TO R. P. RITHET

FOREWORD
The purpose of this book is to tell in simple language “Something About
Sugar.” It gives a brief history of the commodity and its production in
different parts of the world, and seeks to show, for the information,
especially, of the layman and the pupil in school, the various steps by which
sugar from cane and beets is prepared for the consumer.
G. M. R.

CONTENTS
PAGE

Part I
Growth, Manufacture and Distribution
What Sugar Is 3
The Growing of Sugar Cane 6
Soil Analysis 8
Entomology 8
Pathology 9
The Manufacture of Raw Sugar 22
Extraction 22
Purification 25
Evaporation 28
Concentration and Crystallization 31
Preparation of Crystals for the Market 33
Transportation and Delivery of Raw Sugar 37
Polarization 39
Refining of Raw Sugar 44
Washing 50
Melting 54
Defecation 54
Bone-char Filtration 59
Crystallization 65
Partial Drying 69
Final Drying of Crystals 69
Screening 71
Packing 73
Cube Sugar 77
Powdered and Bar Sugar 79
Yellow Sugars 81

Mechanical Department 84
Laboratory 87
Cost of Refining 88
Shipping Department 91
Marketing 93
Beet Sugar 100
The Sugar Beet 102
Selection of the Soil 103
Planting 104
Thinning 106
Cultivation 107
Harvesting and Topping 107
Manufacture of Beet Sugar 110
Transportation and Cleaning 110
Extraction of Juice, Slicing and Diffusion 111
Purification of Juice, Carbonation and Filtration 112
Concentration of Juice 113
Sulfitation 114
Formation of Grain 115
Steffen Process 115
Part II
History of the Industry
Early History 119
Beet Sugar in Europe 128
Beet Sugar in the United States 148
Territory of Hawaii 163
Louisiana 175
Porto Rico 182
The Philippines 189
Cuba 201
Jamaica 213
Barbados 220
Trinidad 224

Santo Domingo 227
Guadeloupe and Martinique 233
Guadeloupe 233
Martinique 234
Guadeloupe and Martinique 236
Mexico 243
Peru 249
Brazil 256
British Guiana 264
Argentina 271
Formosa 276
Java 283
Australia 302
Mauritius 309
Natal 317
Egypt 320
Spain 324
India 330
Conclusion 338

ILLUSTRATIONS

Part I
Growth, Manufacture and Distribution
Refined Sugar, showing form of crystals Frontispiece
Sugar Cane, showing eyes or buds To face page 4
Roots of Sugar Cane 6
Jungle-like Vegetation of Cane Field 7
Leaf-Hopper 10
Sugar Cane 11
Experiment Station 12
Plantation Scene in Hawaii—light-colored foliage is
sugar cane 13
Steam Plough 14
Planting Cane 15
Irrigation Ditch, showing tunnel 16
Irrigation Ditch 17
Young Sugar Cane 18
Ripe Sugar Cane, showing tassels 19
Cutting Cane 20
Loading Cane 21
Train-Load of Cane ready for the mill 22
A Modern Mill 23
Cane Carrier and Mechanical Unloader 24
Another Type of Cane Unloader 25
Twelve-Roller Mill 26
Modern Crushing Plant; two fifteen-roller mills and
crushers, capacity 105 tons per hour 27
Delivering Bagasse to Fire-Room 28
General Interior View of Modern Raw-Sugar Mill 29
Filter Presses 30

Set of Quadruple Evaporators 31
Vacuum Pans 32
Centrifugal Machines 33
Filling, Weighing and Sewing Sacks 34
Train-Load of Raw Sugar leaving mill 35
Steamer Loading Sugar Alongside of Dock 38
Loading Sugar at an Outport in Hawaii 39
Polariscope (in body of text) Page 40
A Modern Refinery, showing water and rail
transportation facilities To face page 46
Plan Elevation of a Modern Refinery 47
Steamer Discharging Raw Sugar at Refinery Dock 48
Sugar Stored in Warehouse—25,000 tons shown in
this picture 49
Cut-in Station, showing sugar first entering the
refining process 50
Centrifugal Machine, motor driven 51
Bag Filters, showing bags in place 56
Filter Presses 57
Making New Bags and Lining the Washed Bags 58
Printing the Empty Raw-Sugar Bags 59
Char Filters 60
Char Filters, showing outlet pipes 61
Top of Char Filters, showing pipe connections 62
Exterior View of Char Drier 63
Interior Arrangement of Char Drier 64
Exterior View of Char Kilns, showing oil-burning
apparatus 65
A Refinery Vacuum Pan and Pump 66
Arrangement of Steam Coils in a Vacuum Pan 67
Refinery Centrifugal Machines 68
Exterior View of Sweater 69
Front View of Sweater, showing steam coils for
heating the air 70

Interior View of Sweater 71
Separator, closed, ready for operation 72
Separators, one of which is open, showing three
screens for separating the sugar grains 73
Filling, Weighing and Sewing 100-pound Sacks 74
Filling, Weighing and Sewing 25-pound Sacks 75
Filling Barrels 76
Method of Handling Barrels 77
Cube Sugar Machine 78
Carton Machine 79
Filling, Weighing and Sewing 2-pound, 5-pound and
10-pound Bags 80
Laboratory 86
Oil-Burning Boiler Plant 87
Inland-Waterway Steamer Loading Sugar at Refinery
Dock 92
Car-Float Arriving at Refinery Dock 93
Sugar Beet[1] 100
Another Type of Sugar Beet 101
Ploughing with Caterpillar Engine 102
Planting Beet Seed 103
Thinning 104
Cultivating 105
Field of Ripe Beets 106
Topping Beets 107
Hauling Beets 108
Delivering Beets to the Factory by Wagon 109
Delivering Beets to the Factory by Train 110
General Interior View of Beet-Sugar Factory,
showing filter presses in foreground; pans and
evaporators in rear 111
Diffusion Battery, showing diffusion cells in circular
arrangement 112
Diffusion Battery, showing diffusion cells in straight
lines 113

Weighing, Filling and Sewing Bags in a Beet Factory 114
Cattle Feeding on Beet Pulp 115
The First Successful Beet-Sugar Factory in America
—Alvarado, California 116
Part II
History of the Industry
A Modern Beet-Sugar Factory 117
Christopher Columbus 124
Olivier de Serres 128
Andreas Marggraf 129
Franz Carl Achard 130
First Beet-Sugar Factory in the World—Built at
Cunern, Silesia, 1802 131
Napoleon I 132
Building in Salt Lake City, Utah, in which the First
Beet-Sugar Machinery Brought to the West was
Installed 150
E. H. Dyer, the Father of Beet Sugar in America 151
Hauling Cane in the Fields, Louisiana 178
Hauling Cane in the Fields, Louisiana 179
Sugar Plantation Scene in Porto Rico[2] 182
Sugar-Shipping Port, Porto Rico 183
Ploughing Cane Field with Steam Plough, Porto Rico 184
Unloading Sugar Cane at a Mill, Porto Rico 185
Ploughing Field Before Planting Cane, Philippines 190
Ploughing at La Carlota, Occidental Negros,
Philippines 191
Hauling Cane, Philippines 192
Carabao Mill, Philippines 193
Old-Style Sugar Mill, Philippines, showing poor
crushing 194
Tinguian Cane Crusher, Lingayen, Philippines 195
Old Water-Driven Mill, Island of Negros, Philippines 196

Mill Driven by Water Power, Occidental Negros,
Philippines 197
Native Sugar Factory, Pampanga Province, Philippines 198
Interior of Camarin, Philippines 199
Luzon Sugar Refinery, Malabon, Rizal, Philippines 200
Loading Sugar on Lorchas, Philippines 201
Central Factory, General View, Cuba[3] 202
Cuban Central, General View 203
Cane Field, Cuba 204
Loading Cane on Ox-Carts, Cuba 205
Train-Load of Sugar Cane, Cuba 208
Self-Dumping Cane Car, Cuba 209
Morelands Sugar Mill, Vere, Jamaica. Photo by H. H.
Cousins 216
The Fleet, Morelands, Vere, Jamaica. Photo by H. H.
Cousins 217
Leveling a Cane Field, Peru 250
Leveling Ground by Steam, Peru 251
Planting Cane, Peru 252
Portable Branch Line of Field Railway and Cane
Cutters, Peru 253
Hauling Cane-Laden Cars with Ox-Team, Peru 254
Train-Load of Cane En Route to the Factory, Peru 255
Sugar Plantation between Rio de Janeiro and São
Paulo, Brazil 260
Train-Load of Cane En Route to the Ingenio La
Mendieta, Argentina 270
Unloading a Car of Cane, Tucumán, Argentina 271
Battery of Boilers, Ingenio, La Trinidad, Tucumán,
Argentina 272
Home of Superintendent of a Sugar Plantation,
Tucumán, Argentina 273
Ingenio Nueva Baviera, Tucumán, Argentina 274
Ingenio Nueva Baviera, Tucumán, Argentina 275
Kohekirin Mill, Formosa 280

Sugar Cane Affected by the Sereh, Java 296
Seedling Canes, Java 297
Cutting Cane, Maroochy River, South Queensland 302
Carting Cane to Mill, Ingham District, North
Queensland 303
Isis Central Mill, Childers, South Queensland 304
Cane Unloader, Mulgrave Central Sugar Mill,
Cairns District, North Queensland 305
Sugar Mill, Nahan Factory, India 330
Centrifugal Worked by Hand, India 331
Wooden Mill from Gorakhpur, India (in body of text) Page 332
Boiling by Old Method, India To face page 332
Furnace and Pans for Making Rab, India 333
Stone Mill, Agra, India (in body of text) Page 333
Small Locomotive Used to Draw Cane-Cars, 2-foot
Gauge, India To face page 334
Loading Cane Carrier, Marhourah Factory, India 335
Water-Driven Centrifugals, Marhourah Factory,
India 336
Champaran Sugar Company, Ltd., Barrah Chakia,
Champaran, India 337

Part I
Growth, Manufacture and Distribution

WHAT SUGAR IS

Among the many varieties of sugar the most important are the sucroses
and the glucoses. They form a natural group of substances, chiefly of
vegetable origin. Chemically considered, all sugars are carbohydrates, that
is to say, bodies composed of three elements: carbon, hydrogen and oxygen.
Sucrose contains twelve atoms of carbon, twenty-two atoms of hydrogen
and eleven atoms of oxygen.
Apart from sucrose, which is usually cane and beet sugar, the variety
most generally met with is dextrose—one of the glucoses. It possesses less
sweetness than sucrose and differs from the latter in chemical composition.
As an example: dextrose is found in the raisin in small grains. It also occurs
in other fruits and is the result of the inversion of sucrose.
Glucose enters largely into the manufacture of candy, being particularly
necessary in the preparation of soft filling for creams, as a certain amount
of it added to cane-sugar syrup prevents crystallization.
Sucrose is derived from sugar cane, maple sap, sorghum and the sugar
beet. It is a solid, crystallizing in the form of monoclinic prisms, generally
with hemihedral faces, which are colorless, transparent, have a sweet taste,
a specific gravity of 1.6 and a melting point of about 320 degrees
Fahrenheit. It is soluble in about one-half its weight in cold water, and in
boiling water in almost all proportions. It is practically insoluble in alcohol,
turpentine, ether, chloroform and similar fluids.
The crop of 1914-15 showed a world’s production of 18,409,016 long
tons of sugar, and in the chapters relating to the history of sugar will be
found a statement setting forth the amount produced by each country. The
total was derived about one-half from cane and one-half from beets,
produced as follows:

CANE BEET
Total in America 5,017,375 660,236
” Asia 4,268,618
” Australia and Polynesia 348,408
” Africa 523,788

” Europe 7,376 [4] 7,583,215
10,165,565 8,243,451

Sugar cane, described in botany as Saccharum officinarum, is a giant-
stemmed perennial grass that grows from eight to twenty-four feet long.
When ripe it produces at the top of its stalk a large feathery plume of
flowers of a gray inflorescence called the “tassel,” which is from two to
four feet in length.
There are many kinds of cane, all of which are regarded as varieties of
one species, although some botanists have raised a few to the rank of
distinct species. The cultivated types are distinguished by the color of the
internodes, yellow, red, purple or striped, and by other general
characteristics.

SUGAR CANE—SHOWING EYES OR BUDS

The stem of the cane is solid, with joints at intervals of three to six
inches. In diameter it ranges from one to two and a half inches, and is
unbranched, bearing in its upper part numerous long, narrow grass-like
leaves, arranged in two rows. The leaves spring from large sheaths around
the joints, and have a more or less spreading blade from three to five feet in

length and two inches or more in width. The pith, of open cellular structure,
contains the sugary juice. The tops, which contain but little sugar, are not
crushed, but are used for seed, as the plant germinates from the eyes, or
buds, which grow on the stem around the joints. Practically no cultivated
cane is propagated from its seed. The roots that remain in the ground after
the cane is harvested throw up fresh canes or ratoons for many seasons,
after which replanting is necessary. Hawaiian growers do not count on
ratoons for more than a few crops, whereas in Cuba this process can be
repeated for many years.
As a rule, sugar cane consists of about eighty-eight per cent of juice and
twelve per cent of fiber, the juice content varying from time to time, both as
regards quality and amount. The quantity of the juice pressed from the cane
determines the efficiency of the extraction, while quality is the main factor
when the result of subsequent manufacture is under analysis.
It is difficult to arrive at a fair average of the composition of the juice of
the cane, as it varies in different countries, on different plantations in the
same country, and at different periods in any one year. The following is an
approximation:

Water 80.8 per cent
Sugar 16.4 ”
Invert sugar 1.98 ”
Organic non-sugar .54 ”
Ash (mineral matter) .28 ”

THE GROWING OF SUGAR CANE

Sugar cane grows almost exclusively in the tropical belt, extending from
twenty-two degrees north to twenty-two degrees south latitude, where the
three essentials for its successful culture, viz., fertile soil, hot sunshine and
plenty of moisture, are present. It flourishes in the islands of the Pacific
ocean, particularly in the Hawaiian group, in Cuba, Mexico, Central
America, the islands of the East and West Indies, Australia, China, India,
along the shores of the China sea and the Indian ocean, and in certain parts
of Africa and South America. In the low latitudes of the temperate zone it is
grown with only fair success.
Owing to peculiar climatic conditions, sugar cane has been raised in
southern Spain for generations, notwithstanding the fact that the provinces
in which the sugar cane is grown lie, roughly speaking, between thirty-six
degrees and thirty-eight degrees north latitude. The Gulf Stream is no doubt
largely responsible for this phenomenon. The quantity of sugar produced in
Spain, however, is small, the crop of 1914-15 amounting to less than 8000
tons.
Sugar cane thrives best in a moist, warm climate, with moderate intervals
of dry, hot weather, and plenty of water for irrigation. It requires marly soil,
free from saline ingredients. As a rule, it is raised on the lowlands, where
the temperature is highest and where it is easy to bring water for irrigation.
In Hawaii it takes eighteen months to ripen, and “tasseling” occurs about
thirty days before it is ready to be cut. In Louisiana and Texas, because of
the short seasons, cane is harvested in from nine to ten months from the
time of sprouting, and, consequently, before it has attained maturity. In
Cuba it is cut in twelve months, whether it is ripe or not.

ROOTS OF SUGAR CANE

JUNGLE-LIKE VEGETATION OF CANE FIELD

As the scientific culture and manufacture of sugar is probably further
advanced in the Hawaiian islands than in any other part of the world, a
description of the industry as carried on there will serve to illustrate the
intensive cultivation and scientific methods of the present day.
The Hawaiian islands are situated in the Pacific ocean, in latitude
nineteen degrees to twenty-two degrees north and in longitude one hundred
and fifty-four degrees to one hundred and sixty-one degrees west, and are
free from the destructive hurricanes of the East and West Indies. They are of
volcanic formation and, as a rule, their centers are mountainous, in some
instances reaching an elevation of nearly fourteen thousand feet. During the
ages, torrential rains carried volcanic ash from the mountains toward the
sea, near which it was deposited, thus forming alluvial areas of vast
richness around the circumference of the islands. Parts of some of the
islands are fringed with coral reefs, barriers that retain the washings from
the mountains. In these low-lying areas the soil is extraordinarily fertile,
and it is on such ground that the most generous crops are raised.

The soft, warm trade winds that blow from the northeast become laden
with moisture as they sweep over the ocean; when they strike the cold
mountain peaks the moisture condenses immediately into copious rains. The
precipitation in some places reaches the astounding total of three hundred
inches per annum. The rain water is conserved and, when needed, is carried
to the various plantations by immense irrigation ditches.
In this tropical region there is an abundance of sunshine, accompanied by
humid heat, exactly the conditions needed. It required only man’s ingenuity
to utilize what nature so lavishly provided.
The commercial cultivation of sugar cane in these islands began about
1850, when a few hundred tons of raw sugar were produced, but the
methods of husbandry and manufacture were crude. Time and experience
worked great changes, until in 1914-15 the crop of raw sugar totaled
646,448 tons of 2000 pounds each.
For many years past the sugar planters have maintained in Honolulu an
experimental station that is the marvel of the agricultural world. The
bulletins issued by it are recognized as authoritative, and are read with
interest in every sugar-producing country.
The most important features of the work carried on at this station are:

1. SOIL ANALYSIS

Skilled chemists examine the soils of the various plantations and, when
occasion demands, advise the planter what necessary element is lacking, as
well as how to obtain and apply it. A few years ago this branch of the work
was considered highly important. Recently, however, the agriculturists have
been depending more upon well-defined systems of experimentation. Each
plantation has on its own lands plots of ground on which different methods
of culture are tried and on which various kinds of fertilizer are used.
Experiments are also made to determine the exact amount of water needed
for irrigation. Particular attention is paid to seed cane, and a number of
types of it are planted in order to obtain seed that will produce stalks that
grow rapidly, yield a large tonnage per acre, contain a maximum amount of
sugar, and have a high resistant power against disease and insect pests. The

success attending this practical experimental work is such that soil analysis
is being relegated to second place.

2. ENTOMOLOGY

A staff of trained experts assiduously study the insect life and eagerly
watch for harmful, troublesome pests, which in the past have wrought great
damage. It is their duty to find the means of eliminating these pests, and this
they usually accomplish through the skillful use of insect parasites.

3. PATHOLOGY

The pathologists attached to the station supplement the scientific labors
of the chemists and the entomologists by prescribing for any disease that
may attack the cane. Plant life is subject to as many ills as the human
family, and the work of these specialists in restoring health to ailing cane is
of the highest importance.
To fully illustrate the character and scope of their work, a particular
instance for each department may be cited:
A certain planter found that the amount of sugar obtained from his cane
was decreasing yearly, though he could see no good reason for it. The land
looked right; he ploughed deeply, harrowed well, kept the weeds down,
gave the cane plenty of water, could find no reason to complain of climatic
conditions, but still did not get satisfactory results. Finally the head of the
experimental station was consulted and an agricultural chemist was sent to
the plantation. This chemist, after careful investigation, took samples of the
soil from various parts of the land; these were analyzed and the source of
the trouble was found to be the lack of potash. Just here it may be explained
that when the same crop is taken from the land many years in succession,
without adequate fertilization, some of the essential properties of the soil
become exhausted. Speaking generally, these are lime, soda, potash,
phosphates and nitrogen. In this particular instance, as has been said, the
land had been gradually drained of its potash. The experimental station
recommended the planter to scatter a certain fertilizer over his fields. This
advice was followed and the next crop showed remarkable improvement,
the yield of cane and sugar per acre being greater than ever before.

At one time the sugar industry of the Hawaiian islands was threatened
with annihilation by a little insect called the “leaf-hopper.” The harm done
by this pest was so enormous that one plantation having an average yearly
crop of 19,000 tons was so severely affected that the yield dropped from
19,000 to 12,000, and then to 3000 tons in three successive crops. All the
plantations on the islands suffered to a greater or lesser extent, and the
entire sugar industry of Hawaii was jeopardized.
The hoppers punctured the stalks and leaves of the young cane, and in the
holes thus formed laid their eggs by thousands. When the young hoppers
hatched out, they fed on the juices in the stalk and in the leaves, thus
destroying the leaves and depriving the cane of its protection and principal
means of absorbing nourishment from the air.
As soon as the leaf-hopper by its ravages made itself known in the
islands, the entomologists were consulted, and they were confronted with
the task of studying the life and habits of the hopper for the purpose of
finding, if possible, some other insects that would attack and exterminate it.
It is well known to entomologists that every insect pest has natural enemies;
the vital question in this case was—what were the natural enemies of the
leaf-hopper and where were they to be found? Obviously, too, the problem
was to discover insectivorous enemies that would not themselves attack the
cane after they had destroyed the hopper.
After careful investigation it was concluded that the leaf-hopper had been
introduced in Hawaii in new varieties of seed cane imported from Australia,
and, as the hopper was not doing material damage on the plantations in
Australia, the inference was that it must be controlled there by its natural
enemy. The chief of the Department of Entomology was sent to London.
There in the archives of the British Museum he found a full description of
the leaf-hopper and that its native habitat was Queensland, Australia. On his
return to Hawaii, entomologists were sent to Australia and the search for the
enemy of the hopper began.

LEAF-HOPPER (GREATLY MAGNIFIED)

SUGAR CANE

For weeks the entomologists virtually lived in the cane fields, undergoing
extreme privations, but at last their faithfulness was crowned with success.
Several species of parasites that kept the Queensland leaf-hopper in check
were discovered, and later on more were found in the islands of Fiji. These
tiny creatures as a rule were invisible to the naked eye and could only be

seen with the aid of a powerful magnifying glass. All of these insects were
parasites either of the leaf-hopper or its eggs. Two of them were particularly
efficacious. One, quicker in movement than the hopper, caught it unawares
and attached itself to the hopper’s body much in the same way that a
mosquito does to a human being. After catching it, the parasite would sting
the hopper and lay an egg in its body. In a few days a young parasite was
hatched from the egg, and so ravenous was this young insect that it
devoured the hopper in a short time and then sought a fresh victim in which
to lay its eggs.
The other insect was even more effective. It liked the hoppers’ eggs and
for a long time found plenty in Hawaii to stay its appetite. As soon as the
leaf-hopper laid its eggs in the cane, this particular insect would appear and
lay its eggs in the eggs of the leaf-hopper. When the little enemies hatched
out, they fed on the hoppers’ eggs and in turn laid their eggs in the eggs of
the hopper. It came to pass that the hoppers, attacked by the parasite on the
one hand and by the enemy on the other, rapidly dwindled in number until
only a few remained, and these not enough to do material damage. As the
hoppers and their eggs diminished, so did the parasite and the enemy, for
the latter could live on insect food only.
How the scientists collected these tiny animalcules, kept them alive,
transported them thousands of miles across the ocean, bred them in Hawaii
and saved the Hawaiian sugar industry, reads like a romance.
The study of entomology is extremely interesting and the every-day
business man rarely understands its importance. The finding, breeding and
distribution of parasites of insect pests vitally affects the world’s food
supply. The entomological name of the leaf-hopper family is Hemiptera,
and Dr. Sharp, an authority on the subject, has said: “There is probably no
order of insects that is so directly connected with the welfare of the human
race as the hemiptera; indeed if anything were to exterminate the enemies
of hemiptera, we ourselves should probably be starved in the course of a
few months.”
It has been estimated by competent authority that the damage done in the
world each year by the hemiptera, in spite of all their parasites, is
conservatively $600,000,000. Were it not for the parasites, it would only be
a year or two at most before every green leaf and spear of grass would

disappear from the face of the earth. The direct influence of the practical
application of this science to the production of sugar is readily apparent.
Pathology is almost equally important. In former years when cane failed
to grow strong and sturdy and did not yield much sugar, the planter usually
attributed the difficulty either to lack of water, poor soil, cool weather, too
much rain or insufficient cultivation of the field by his manager, when in
fact the trouble was due to none of these causes. He would personally
oversee the operations of the following year, but with no better results.

EXPERIMENT STATION

PLANTATION SCENE IN HAWAII—LIGHT-COLORED FOLIAGE IS SUGAR CANE

When the roots of the cane became matted, stuck together and turned
black, when a thick gum exuded from the stalk and leaves, preventing the
plant from drawing proper nourishment from the air, it was thought that
these troubles arose from climatic or local conditions, while in reality the
plant was sick and needed a doctor. Today, under the new régime, whenever
the plant shows any symptoms of ill-health, the pathologists are called in to
eradicate the disease by scientific treatment.
Insect pests and plant diseases are generally brought into a country
through planters sending to other cane-raising countries for new varieties of
cane for seeding purposes that they think may produce more sugar than
their own. Great trouble and heavy loss have been occasioned in this way
and, as a consequence, the United States government has established a strict
quarantine, allowing plant life to be landed only after rigid examination and
when it is clear that no danger exists.
Another example of the work of the entomologists may be of interest:

During the visit of a well-known Hawaiian to Mexico many years ago,
his attention was attracted by a beautiful shrub that he thought would make
a splendid hedge around his home. It grew about five feet in height and its
foliage was of a rich green, with a brown, red and yellow flower. The slips
he brought to Honolulu thrived wonderfully and cuttings of the plant were
taken to the other islands for a like purpose. Wherever planted it grew
amazingly fast. It quickly spread over the hillsides and became so dense
that cattle could not penetrate the thickets formed by it. It made valueless
large areas of land that formerly had been used for the pasturing of cattle
and plantation stock, and reduced the grazing area at an alarming rate. Land
that adjoined the plantations and that in the course of time became needed
for plantation purposes was also over-run by it.
The curtailment of the grazing lands and the increased cost of clearing
were so great that the entomologists were finally sent for and asked if they
could not eradicate the trouble. After a careful investigation they went to
Mexico, whence the lantana, as the shrub is called, had come. On their
return journey they brought back with them a fly. The fly laid its eggs in the
bud of the lantana, and when the young flies were hatched they fed upon the
lantana seeds. The flies multiplied rapidly and soon made away with the
seeds, thus preventing the shrub from spreading any further. When it was
once cleared from the land or the plantation it did not reappear.
These illustrations demonstrate the fact that the culture of sugar cane
involves a constant struggle between science and unrestrained nature.
As a rule, Hawaiian sugar plantations are located close to the seacoast,
between it and the base of the mountains. The lands slope gently toward the
sea, thus insuring good drainage and easy application of water for irrigation.
Most of the cane is grown on land less than five hundred feet above sea-
level, although in a few rare instances it is cultivated at an elevation as great
as three thousand feet. Parts of the leeward side of the islands, where it is
extremely dry and hot, and where the cane thrives best, depend entirely on
irrigation, the water being brought to the plantations by ditches or pumped
from wells. On the windward side of the island of Hawaii, where the
rainfall is abundant, irrigation is unnecessary except during very dry
periods.

In cultivating, the ground is turned with steam ploughs to depths up to
twenty-four inches. These ploughs are operated by powerful engines that
work in pairs, one on each side of a field, usually from one thousand to
fifteen hundred feet apart. One engine pulls a gang-plough across the field
and the other draws it back. By this method the rich soil is thoroughly
loosened and a wonderful vegetable growth results. Ordinarily in California
the farmer ploughs only from four to six inches deep.

STEAM PLOUGH

PLANTING CANE

After the lands are ploughed and harrowed and all the weeds turned
under, double mould-board ploughs are used to make the furrows in which
the seed is planted. The furrows are not like those made for planting
potatoes, but are about five feet apart and eighteen inches deep, each furrow
and hill being symmetrical. They follow the contour of the land so that the
irrigation water will fill the furrow and remain there until it is absorbed by
the soil and penetrates to the cane roots. At regular intervals of about thirty-
five feet, lateral ditches are cut, from which there is an entrance into every
furrow. These lateral ditches deliver the water from the main ditches to the
various parts of the fields. The land is now ready for the seed.
Meanwhile, the harvesting of the ripened cane in other fields is going on.
As the laborers cut the cane, they top it, that is to say, they cut off about
twelve inches of the upper part of the solid stalk. Sugar cane resembles
bamboo, in that it is cylindrical in shape and divided every few inches into
sections by rings or joints. In every joint there is a bud or eye, from which a
shoot of cane will sprout, if properly planted in the ground and watered.

These tops, always cut from untasseled cane, contain very little sugar.
They are carried to the newly prepared field and placed in rows in the
furrows, end to end, lengthwise, the ends overlapping a trifle in order to
guard against blank spaces in the growing cane. They are then covered,
according to the season, with one to one and a half inches of earth, and the
water is turned in until the furrow contains from three to four inches of
water. Between six and ten days afterward, the little green cane shoots
appear above the ground. From this time forward continuous irrigation and
cultivation, together with proper fertilization, are required until the cane
matures.
Planting usually begins in March and continues until September,
sometimes later, and the cane ripens one year from the following December.
Growing cane should be watered every seven days, and the amount of
water used for this purpose is enormous. For example: a plantation
producing thirty-five thousand tons of sugar per annum needs twice as
much water per day as the city of San Francisco.
The appearance of growing cane is much like that of Indian corn. The
whole field area is covered with a dense, jungle-like vegetation of brilliant
green. The leaves are long and narrow and hang in graceful curves. The
cane grows so thick that it is almost impossible to crawl through it, and so
seldom do the sun’s rays penetrate to the ground that rapid evaporation of
the irrigation water cannot take place, hence the cane gets the full benefit of
the moisture.
In certain varieties of cane, the great weight of the juice in the stalks
causes them to bend, droop and take fantastic shapes. Sometimes they lie on
the ground with the ends turned upward, and in fields where the stalks grow
to a length of twenty-four feet, the average height of the tops above the
ground is not over twelve feet. In other kinds the stalks stand straight up to
a height of from eight to fourteen feet.
The production of cane per acre varies in different countries and in
different parts of the same country, according to the character of the soil,
climatic conditions, care and attention, use of fertilizer and amount of
rainfall or irrigation. In Hawaii it ranges from twenty to eighty-five tons,
and the amount of sugar obtained per acre runs from two and one-half tons
to twelve tons, the average being about five tons.

Broadly speaking, lack of a normal amount of cane per acre, lack of
sugar in the cane, or the prevalence of disease, is primarily due to an
unsanitary or unsuitable condition of the soil. This can usually be corrected
by proper cultural methods, such as adequate aeration of the soil, the
turning under of the cane tops and leaves, application of lime and suitable
combinations of fertilizing ingredients. Fundamentally, cane requires a
well-aerated, moist, alkaline soil and a fertilizer in which the nitrogen
content is high and in excess of the potash and phosphoric acid. It is found
that nitrate of soda, when applied alone or in combination with potash and
phosphoric acid, produces a very strong growth. The proper sanitation of
the soil tends to promote the beneficial bacterial action so essential to the
growth of the cane.

IRRIGATION DITCH—SHOWING TUNNEL

IRRIGATION DITCH

In December and January the cane tassels or flowers, which indicates that
it has about reached maturity and is ready for cutting. Thenceforward very
little irrigating is done, as additional water applied at this time might retard
ripening, which would mean a reduced amount of sugar stored up in the
cane.
It is interesting to note that while the cane is growing and in an unripe
state, there is no discernible sucrose or pure sugar in it. As the ripening
process goes on, the content of the cane juice is changed by the action of
the sun’s rays, and the amount of sucrose as determined by polariscopic test
shows when the time for harvesting is at hand. Nature’s operation in thus
changing glucose or invert sugar into sucrose or pure sugar cannot be
accomplished by any human means.
The harvesting then begins and continues until the end of July or August.
Usually the field is set on fire before cutting. On account of the great
amount of moisture or juice in the cane, the stalks do not burn, but the

leaves are thoroughly consumed. This operation eliminates a good deal of
leaf material that is not only useless, but which, if sent to the mill, would
increase the cost of crushing, besides absorbing a certain quantity of the
juice expressed from the cane.
Formerly men stripped the leaves from the cane in the fields, but it was a
difficult matter to accomplish such work, and the cost was heavy. An
accident changed the method of doing this work. A field took fire and it was
found that while all the leaves were consumed, little or no damage was
done to the stalks provided they were cut promptly and sent to the mill to be
crushed. The practice of burning has since become general, although the
advisability of continuing it is now being given very careful study.
Burning eliminates the arduous labor of stripping, and no doubt does
away with many harmful insects and fungi, but at the same time it destroys
the enemies and parasites of these insects and this loss is severely felt.
Another disadvantage of burning is that the nitrogen contained in the cane
leaves is liberated and not returned to the soil as would be the case if the
leaves were stripped and ploughed under. In the latter case the leaves rot
rapidly, add humus to the soil, help aeration, and improve the sanitary
condition, all of which tends to increase the yield of cane per acre. From
recent experience it is not improbable that burning will be discontinued in
the near future.
As soon as the field is ready, whether burned or not, the laborers go in to
cut the cane. A long, heavy knife is used. The cutter grasps the stalk and
drives the knife into it, severing it just at the ground. He then tops it, that is,
he cuts off the upper part that contains no sugar, and, to aid in subsequent
handling, the long stalks are cut into convenient lengths.
As the burning destroys the eyes or buds, certain fields are cut and
topped for seed before the burning takes place.
There are two general methods of transporting the cane to the mills. One
is by rail and the other by flumes. On the irrigated plantations where water
is never overplentiful, railroad tracks and locomotives are invariably
employed, while on the non-irrigated plantations, located in districts where
there are copious annual rains, V-shaped flumes are extensively used. In
some cases a combination of both systems is adopted to advantage. From
the upper lands where it is difficult to construct railroads, the cane is flumed

to a convenient point on the railroad system, at a lower elevation, and
delivered into cars, while the water is conducted into ditches and used for
irrigating the lower cane lands.

YOUNG SUGAR CANE

RIPE SUGAR CANE—SHOWING TASSELS

In the case of rail transportation, paths one hundred and fifty feet apart
are cut through the fields so that temporary railroad tracks may be laid and
cars run in and loaded on these tracks. The whole field is then cut in the
same way and the work continued until the entire crop is harvested.

The loaders follow up the cutters. These men lay a strap on the ground
and pile the stalks on the strap until they have a bundle of cane weighing
from seventy-five to one hundred pounds. With a dexterity born of long
practice, they sling a bundle upon their shoulders and carry it up an inclined
runway to a railroad car not over seventy-five feet away and dump it on the
car. The cutting and loading are usually done by contract, at so much per
ton, and it is remarkable how proficient the men become.
When flumes are used exclusively, much the same methods are adopted.
Paths are cut through the fields and in these paths are placed the flumes
which, like the temporary railroad tracks, are moved from time to time as
necessity demands. The mill is located at the lowest point on the plantation
and the flumes are placed so as to insure a good grade from the cane fields
on the uplands to the mill below. The flumes are either carried on low
trestles or run along the ground, but always at a height which enables the
laborers to throw the cane into them conveniently.
Water is turned into the upper end of the flume and, rushing rapidly
down, carries or floats the cane to the mill. Cane is flumed in this way for
distances up to seven miles at low cost and with satisfactory results.
The cars when loaded in the fields are made up into trains and hauled by
locomotives to the mill, which is generally located about the center of the
plantation, or at a point where most of the cane can be delivered on a
downward grade. Each car is carefully weighed on a track scale and the
exact quantity of its load of cane is ascertained and recorded.
For years past the planters have been offering large rewards for the
invention of a machine to cut and load the cane, but the old hand method is
still employed, although some experimental loading machines are meeting
with more or less success, but none are in common use.
The problems involved in cutting cane by machinery seem
insurmountable, and, while many devices have been tried, not one has
proved successful.
After the cane is cut the first time, ploughs are sent through the fields and
a furrow is ploughed along each side of the stubs of the cane which are left
in place. This ploughing opens up the ground, aerates the soil, and affords
the irrigating or rain water a means of easy access to the cane roots. The

water tenders follow up the ploughs and the furrows are filled with water,
which is gradually absorbed by the old cane roots left in the ground. In time
new sprouts spring up from buds on the old stalks of the cane and another
growth begins. The second crop is called “first ratoons” and, when
cultivated for a single year only, it is designated “short ratoons.” As a rule it
does not yield as much sugar as plant cane, but the saving in seed, in the
preparation of the fields and in other labor frequently makes up for the
reduced amount of sugar. If allowed to grow for two years, as is generally
the case, it is called “long ratoons” and produces proportionately more
sugar. In the past a very large percentage of the Hawaiian crop was planted
with fresh seed every year and but a small percentage ratooned. Nowadays,
however, the tendency is to ratoon the crop as long as the yield justifies,
which in many cases is from three to four times. In Cuba the cane when
once planted is ratooned for many years.
There have been specific instances in Hawaii where ratoons that have
been allowed to grow for two years (long ratoons) have shown a better yield
than the first planting. According to the best information, this is due to the
presence of poisonous matter in the ground, turned up for the first time at
the first planting.

CUTTING CANE

LOADING CANE

The object of all the ploughing, weeding, cultivating, fertilizing and
irrigating, is to produce a large number of strong, sturdy stalks of cane,
yielding a maximum amount of sugar. The sugar is contained in solution in
the sap or juice and the amount can be materially increased by due care and
attention.
As some of the elements which form the plant are absorbed from the air
through the leaves, favorable climatic conditions are essential to its full
growth and development. Proper fertilizers must be added to the soil, and
water applied regularly and in sufficient quantity.
Commercial fertilizers are used in Hawaii probably to a greater extent
than in any other country in the world. It is quite common for plantations to
use half a ton of fertilizer per acre per crop, and at times as much as two
thousand pounds per acre. The yearly fertilizer cost per acre will probably
average twenty-five dollars.

As it takes eighteen months for a crop to mature in Hawaii, it will readily
be seen that the plantation area must be at least double that used for any one
crop. While one crop is being harvested, another crop is in the ground
growing. As soon as the cane is cut, the lands are immediately prepared for
replanting or ratooning, as the case may be. During certain periods each
year, usually in June and July, a visitor on an Hawaiian plantation can see
one crop growing, one being harvested and one being planted.
From the foregoing it will be seen that the harvesting begins in December
and ends in July or August. The planting begins from March to June and
usually ends in September, according to plantation conditions and whether
or not the land is irrigated.

THE MANUFACTURE OF RAW SUGAR

The details of the manufacture of raw sugar from cane and of sugar from
beet roots differ, but there are several processes common to both. The
operations necessary for making raw cane sugar are as follows:

1. The extraction of the juice.
2. The purification of the juice.
3. The evaporation of the juice to syrup point.
4. The concentration and crystallization of the syrup.
5. The preparation of the crystals or grains for the market by separating
them from the molasses.

Every mill has an extensive laboratory where skilled chemists are
constantly engaged in sampling and analyzing cane, raw juices, syrups,
sugars and molasses. In fact the chemical work is a most important feature
in the raw-sugar house, beet-sugar factory or refinery. The superintendent
should be an expert chemist, as the proper recovery of the sugar from the
cane and beet juices is wholly dependent upon the technical control of
manufacturing processes.

EXTRACTION

After passing the scales, the cars containing the cane are switched
alongside the carrier which feeds the cane into the mills. Before the cane is
unloaded, however, samples are taken from each car and sent to the
laboratory, where they are carefully analyzed. The amount of sugar present
is ascertained, as well as the quantity and quality of the juice in the cane. It
is, however, impossible to get a fair average sample of the cane in this way,
and therefore the efficiency of the mill work is determined on the basis of
an analysis of the juice and the fiber after it has passed through the crushers.

TRAIN-LOAD OF CANE READY FOR THE MILL

A MODERN MILL

The carrier just referred to is a wide slat conveyor, running alongside the
railroad tracks in the yards to a point directly over the first set of crushers.
The cane is taken from the cars by a mechanical unloader, the arms of
which reach out and with distended fingers pull the cane stalks off and land
them on the slow-moving carrier, which takes them onward and upward to
the crusher.
The crusher consists of two large rolls, with immense interlocking,
corrugated teeth on the circumference of each. These rolls are set close
together, and the cane passing through is broken into short pieces and
matted to an even layer. The juice squeezed out by this preliminary crushing
runs through a metal trough into a large receptacle known as the juice tank.
From the crusher the mat of cane passes to the mills proper. These mills
consist of from nine to eighteen rolls, about thirty-four inches in diameter
and seventy-eight inches long, arranged in groups of three, set in the form
of an isosceles triangle, one above and two below, one set following the

other in a direct line. The lower rolls are parted enough to allow the
expressed juice to fall through them, while the half-crushed cane is carried
over by means of an iron bar called the returner. The faces of the rolls are
more or less roughened, or grooved, so as to draw the cane through and
give a better crushing action. They are turned slowly by powerful engines,
which transmit the power to each set of rolls through a system of gears. The
rolls are forced together by hydraulic rams exerting a pressure of from four
hundred to six hundred tons. It is this tremendous pressure that squeezes the
sugar-bearing juice out of the cane.
From the crusher the matted cane passes through the first set of rolls,
where a large percentage of the remaining juice is liberated. This is caught
in a metal trough and, after passing over a fine screen to remove the small
pieces of cane, runs to the juice tank. The cane passes through the second
set of rolls, thence to the third set, and so on to the end of the mill. In front
of the last set of rolls, hot water is sprayed on the cane to soften the fiber
and dilute the remaining juice, thus aiding the final extraction. The adding
of hot water is termed maceration. By the time the cane has passed through
the last set of rolls, all the economically recoverable juice is out of it and
delivered into the juice tank, with the exception of the juice and maceration
water from the last set of rolls, which is always returned to the preceding set
of rolls for maceration purposes. The juice or maceration water coming
from the last set of rolls contains very little sugar, and the object is to secure
greater concentration by using it for double maceration instead of adding
that much additional water which would have to be evaporated later on in
the process.
In well-designed, modern mills, with cane carrying not over twelve per
cent of fiber, more than ninety-eight per cent of the sugar in the cane is
extracted, the remainder being left in the fiber. This is almost perfection
today. What it will be tomorrow no one can say.
The fibrous, woody part of the cane, or bagasse as it is called, is
comparatively dry as it leaves the last rolls. It is conveyed from the mills to
the boiler house on a wide slat conveyor, and fed directly into the furnaces
under the boilers that generate the steam for power and boiling purposes. A
modern raw-sugar mill requires practically no other fuel than that obtained
as a by-product from the crushing of the cane.

The boiler plant is usually of large capacity, as a great deal of steam is
required to drive the engines that run the crusher, the rolls, the electric
lighting system, the pumps and other machinery. Besides, a large amount is
needed to evaporate the water in the juice and to boil and dry the sugar. The
ashes from the furnaces are returned to the fields as fertilizer, so that very
little is lost.

CANE CARRIER AND MECHANICAL UNLOADER

ANOTHER TYPE OF CANE UNLOADER

PURIFICATION

The juice as it comes from the mills contains impurities such as dirt from
the fields, small pieces of cane stalks and other foreign matter, besides salts,
gum, wax and albumen. It is necessary to remove as many of these
substances as possible, and this is where the chemist’s work begins.
So long as the juice is confined in the living cells of the cane it does not
quickly ferment, but when liberated it rapidly undergoes such change.
Therefore no time is lost in arresting this action. The juice is pumped to the
top floor of the mill and there a solution of milk of lime is added in
sufficient proportions to neutralize the acidity. The mixture is then heated in
closed tanks under pressure to 215 degrees Fahrenheit. The heat causes the
lime to combine rapidly with the gums and salts in the juice, and the
albumen to coagulate.

The hot juice is then run into large settling tanks, where the insoluble
solids and the albumen sink to the bottom, carrying with them vegetable
and other matter suspended in the juice. Certain foreign substances of light
specific gravity float to the surface in the form of scum.
After settling for a time the clear juice is drawn off and the scum, mud
and cloudy liquor left in the tank. As a vast amount of liquor must be
handled every hour, it is not practicable to have tank capacity great enough
to admit of the liquor standing a sufficient length of time for every particle
of foreign matter to settle, so as an adjunct to the settling tank, filters are
used. These are cylindrical iron tanks, packed tightly with ordinary wood
fiber, known as excelsior. The juice is conducted to these filters, and as it
percolates through the excelsior, practically all of the remaining foreign
matter is caught and retained in the fiber. The clear juice is then run to the
receiving tanks for the evaporators and the mud and scum that remain are
drawn off into mud tanks, where more lime is added and the mass stirred
up. Finally it is delivered to the filter presses, where the mud and other
impurities are taken out and the clear liquor containing sugar is sent to the
evaporators.
Another method for cleaning, called “precipitation in motion,” is to
carefully lime the juice and then heat it in closed vessels and under
sufficient pressure to carry it through a pipe to large insulated settling tanks.
These settling tanks, usually of sheet steel, are made in the form of
truncated cones with conical bottoms, the small diameter of the tank being
at the top. Suspended in the center is a vertical cylinder somewhat less in
diameter than the upper part of the tank. This cylinder extends downward
about eight feet to a point opposite the largest diameter, which makes the
area between the circumference of the suspended cylinder and the tank at
that point very much greater than the area of the cylinder itself. This
difference in area is necessary to retard the flow of the juice and allow the
sediment, mud and insoluble solids to be deposited at the bottom of the
tank.
The juice is delivered by a pipe into the top of the cylinder which
projects a few inches above the edge of the surrounding settling tank. It
passes slowly down the central passageway, turns at the bottom, where its

speed is materially slackened, and goes out through a pipe line connected to
the side of the tank just below the upper edge.
There are several other methods in general use, but in all of them the
principle of settling, upon which the separation or cleaning depends, is the
difference in specific gravity between the juice and the dirt. A high and even
temperature should be maintained by preventing radiation, as lowering the
temperature would increase the specific gravity and viscosity of the juice
without increasing that of the dirt in equal proportion.

TWELVE-ROLLER MILL

MODERN CRUSHING PLANT—TWO FIFTEEN-ROLLER MILLS AND CRUSHERS.
CAPACITY, ONE HUNDRED AND FIVE TONS PER HOUR

There are many different types of filter presses, but those at present in
general use are long, oblong machines, set horizontally on the floors, with
layers of corrugated iron plates, covered with canvas sheets, between which
are hollow frames so arranged that the juice will pass from the hollow
frames through the canvas to the corrugations in the plates.
In passing through the presses under pressure the sediment, scum and
other impurities are caught on the canvas sheets and the clear juice passes
through the canvas, down the corrugations and out through small holes in
the plates controlled by valves on the outside of the presses, from whence it
runs to the evaporator tanks. The sugar in the mud caught in the hollow
frames is washed out of the mud with water and is sent to the evaporator,
while the mud itself is finally returned to the field, to be used as a fertilizer.
The clarified juice from the settling tanks, filters or presses, is light
brown in color, but is thin and watery, and must now be reduced to syrup
point. All the suspended impurities have been removed, but some impurities

in solution and the original coloring matter still remain. Some of these
foreign substances are subsequently eliminated during the process of
crystallization in the vacuum pans described later on.
The object to be attained in a raw-sugar house is the production of a
sugar containing ninety-six per cent of sucrose, and there is little or nothing
to be gained by carrying the process of manufacture beyond the stage that
insures such result.
The final extraction of all the impurities and the conversion of the impure
raw into pure white granulated sugar is the work of the refiner, which is
dealt with in a subsequent chapter.
From the time the juice leaves the cane until it is crystallized it is kept at
a high temperature, as cold juices or syrups are viscous and run slowly.
High temperatures kill germs, prevent fermentation and expedite
manipulation.

EVAPORATION

Under ordinary atmospheric pressure at sea-level, water boils at a
temperature of 212 degrees Fahrenheit and sugar juice at a few degrees
higher, according to its density. This temperature if long applied to sugar
juice would tend to burn and destroy the sugar, but the juice can be heated
to 250 degrees for a short time without deterioration.
The clarified juice contains about eighty-five per cent of water and
fifteen per cent of solid matter. A large proportion of the water must be
removed by evaporation. To accomplish this under ordinary atmospheric
conditions would require heat increasing from 212 degrees Fahrenheit, as
the solution increased in specific gravity above the standard of pure water.
This would require a large amount of fuel, and the juice would also be more
or less adversely affected by long maintenance of comparatively high
temperature.
To obviate these conditions the juice is boiled in a multiple evaporator,
the invention of Norberto Rillieux, whose first construction in New Orleans
in 1840 was a double effect horizontal submerged tube apparatus which has
since undergone many changes and improvements. The theory of
evaporation in vacuo was extended to two or more cells or vacuum bodies,

using the steam or vapor from the first to heat the juice or syrup in the
second and so on. At the present time the quadruple effect, or four-cell
evaporator, is most commonly in use, although sextuple effects are not rare.
The ordinary practice is as follows:
The juice enters cell No. 1 and covers the heating tubes, to which is
admitted sufficient steam—generally exhaust from the engines—to cause
the liquid to boil. The steam or vapor liberated from this first boiling is
conducted through the vapor pipe directly into the heating tubes of cell No.
2, while the juice from cell No. 1 is passed into the second, or cell No. 2,
and surrounds the heating surfaces which contain the hot vapor given off
from the same juice in cell No. 1.

DELIVERING BAGASSE TO FIRE-ROOM

GENERAL INTERIOR VIEW OF MODERN RAW-SUGAR MILL

As there is little or no pressure above the liquid in the first cell, the juice
boils at from 215 degrees to 220 degrees Fahrenheit. By maintaining a
vacuum of five inches in the second cell, the temperature at which the
liquid will boil is reduced to 203 degrees, and the vapor from cell No. 1 is
hot enough to boil the juice in cell No. 2 without any addition of heat. The
vapor from cell No. 2 in the same way enters the heating tubes of cell No. 3,
while the juice entering this cell is exposed to a vacuum of fifteen inches,
which reduces the boiling temperature to 180 degrees, so that the difference
of 23 degrees between the conditions of cell No. 2 and cell No. 3 causes a
third boiling and evaporation without any additional steam being added.
A vacuum of twenty-six inches in the last cell, No. 4, brings the final
boiling temperature down to about 150 degrees. The vapor from this last
cell enters a condenser, where it is exposed to a spray of cold water, is
condensed and passes down a pipe not less than thirty-four feet long,
terminating in a water seal, and called the Torricellian tube, after Torricelli,

who discovered that mercury would rise thirty inches in a tube while water
would rise thirty-four feet with a perfect vacuum.
The juice in passing through these evaporating cells is boiled to a syrup
containing about thirty-five per cent of water and sixty-five per cent of solid
matter. It is pumped out of the fourth cell into the receiving tank for the
vacuum pan.
This quadruple system of boiling only requires about one-fourth the
amount of heat that would be necessary to do the same work in a single
vessel. As the evaporators operate continuously, a constant level of the
boiling liquid is maintained in each cell, the juice being drawn from one to
the other by increasing vacuum and controlled or regulated by means of
valves.
A powerful vacuum pump draws the air and other incondensable gases
from the condenser and maintains the vacuum, which is applied to the
necessary extent in each cell. The heating tubes are connected to drain
pipes, which remove the condensed vapors.
Vacuum, simply and concisely stated, is the absence of air or gas. It is
usually obtained by pumps which suck the air or gas out of closed
containers or pipes. No doubt many of the readers in their younger days
have sucked on the end of a bottle and were amused to find the bottle
hanging on the end of the tongue. It was the vacuum, or lack of air in the
bottle, which caused it to hang thus. The outside atmospheric pressure
(which at sea-level is fifteen pounds per square inch) was doing its best to
gain an entrance through the tongue into the bottle from which the air had
been extracted.
The pumps simply suck the air out of the containers or pipes and
discharge it through valves, in much the same way that the air was sucked
out of the bottle. It must be remembered, however, that in boiling water or
juice, the vacuum is being continually broken or reduced by the liberation
of air and gases from the juice, steam and condensing water. This action
must be overcome by the constant work of the vacuum pump.
To determine the amount of vacuum carried in any container, a small
mechanical contrivance, known as a vacuum gauge, is used. This, in its
simplest form, is a bowl of mercury with a long glass tube leading from it.

If the upper end of the glass tube is attached to the container from which the
air is to be drawn, the mercury in the tube will rise in proportion to the
amount of air extracted. When an absolute vacuum has been formed, the
mercury in the glass will stand at a height of thirty inches.

FILTER PRESSES

SET OF QUADRUPLE EVAPORATORS

In commercial operations a vacuum greater than twenty-eight inches is
seldom required, as this is sufficient for all practical purposes. The degree
of vacuum for any container can be varied easily by mechanical
manipulation, so that a vacuum anywhere from one to twenty-eight inches
may be maintained.

CONCENTRATION AND CRYSTALLIZATION

From the receiving tanks the syrup is drawn into the pans by a vacuum
ranging between twenty-five and twenty-seven inches. The pans are large
cast-iron or copper cylinders, standing in a vertical position, with dome-like
tops and conical bottoms, almost spherical in shape. Leading from the top is
a large pipe through which the vapors from the boiling are drawn off and
condensed. On the conical bottom is a large valve, which may be opened
when the boiling is finished to allow the massecuite (a French term
meaning cooked mass) to drop out.

At regular intervals in the height of the pan there is a series of copper
coils, connected with a steam line at one end and a drain line at the other.
The general principle involved in boiling sugar is the separation of the
sucrose contained in a solution from the impurities present in that solution,
and this is accomplished by evaporation and concentration through the
agency of heat. After the sugar is once formed in definite crystals these
crystals attract and appropriate the sucrose in solution in the process of
building up the crystal structure, while repelling or excluding the
impurities, so that, as a consequence, the latter remain in solution. The
crystals thus formed are subsequently removed from the solution by means
of centrifugal machines. Crystallization, whether in a pure or impure
solution, will proceed to only a certain extent, and will only partially
remove the sucrose from the solution in one boiling, the limit of
crystallization being governed by the amount and nature of impurities
present.
The process of boiling is begun by drawing some of the concentrated
juice into the pan and turning steam into the coils, which starts the boiling.
This is continued until the supersaturation is such that minute crystals of
sugar form or “grain out.” By properly timed admissions of fresh
concentrated juice, drawn into the pan by vacuum as before, the crystals
grow in size and at last the pan becomes filled with a mass of sugar crystals
of regular shape and size, immersed in a thick “mother liquor” containing
sugar and the impurities that were not removed by the filters or settling
tanks.
The size of the grain may be varied at will by the operator in charge, who
is known as the sugar boiler. After the grains are once formed, their number
(if the sugar boiler is an expert) does not increase, but the size does, as the
original grain continually builds up on itself from the outside.
The question may be asked, why is all the moisture not boiled out in the
pan and the sugar dropped in a dry, crystallized state? There are several
reasons why such a course is impracticable; first, because the impurities,
which must be eliminated by crystallization and which are carried off in the
mother-liquor, would be boiled into the sugar and make it unsalable;
second, because to aid crystallization and prevent scorching or burning on
the hot steam coils the mass must be kept in active circulation during the

boiling process, or, long before all the moisture could be driven off, a large
part of the contents of the pan would be burned on the coils; and third, even
if it were practicable to boil the contents down to a solid state, the grains
would stick to each other and become one solid mass, which would have to
be removed from the pan with bars, picks or chisels. Enough moisture, or
rather liquor, is left in the mass to enable it to flow from the pan by gravity.
This liquor, with the impurities it carries, is subsequently removed from the
sugar by a drying or separating process which will be explained later on.
Massecuite is a viscous, sticky, semi-fluid mass of the consistency of
half-formed ice.

VACUUM PANS

CENTRIFUGAL MACHINES

The reason sugar “grains” is because the water in the juice has the power
to hold in solution only so much sugar. As it goes into the pan, the juice is
almost a saturated solution, and as the water is driven off by evaporation,
the solids that up to this point have been in solution must of necessity
crystallize.
When the sugar boiler decides that the “strike,” that is, the massecuite
contained in the pan at one boiling, is satisfactorily grained, he breaks the
vacuum by opening a valve on the top of the pan, thus allowing the air to
enter. He then opens the valve at the bottom of the pan and the mass drops
into a long tank with a rounded bottom, called the mixer, in which a shaft,
equipped with paddles, is revolving. The paddles are for the purpose of
keeping the mass agitated and in an even condition. The agitation prevents
the grains from dropping to the bottom of the tank and forming a solid
block, called concrete.

PREPARATION OF CRYSTALS FOR THE MARKET

From the mixer the massecuite runs through spouts into the centrifugal
machines. Centrifugal machines are cylindrical-shaped, perforated brass
baskets, usually forty inches in diameter and twenty-four inches deep, hung
on a central shaft suspended from beams overhead, and surrounded by a
solid outside curb or casing.
On the shaft is a pulley, which is driven by a belt connected with an
engine or an electric motor. The inside of the basket is lined with a fine-
meshed brass screen, which retains the grains of sugar, but allows the liquor
to escape freely into the outer casing.
As soon as the centrifugal machine is filled with massecuite from the
mixer above, the power is turned on and the machine begins to spin around
at an increasing speed until a velocity of one thousand revolutions per
minute is reached. The centrifugal action forces practically all the liquor out
through the screen and leaves in the machine all the grains of sugar that
were formed in the pan. A little dry steam is sometimes turned in to assist in
reducing the moisture in the sugar.
The centrifugal is then stopped, a valve in the bottom is opened, and the
nearly dry crystallized raw sugar is dropped into bins. From the bins it is
drawn off through spouts and packed in sacks containing about one hundred
and twenty-five pounds each.
It has been demonstrated that raw sugar containing a large amount of
moisture inverts or deteriorates more rapidly than that with a low-moisture
content. It is apparent that as moisture adds to the weight, the transportation
charges, which are based on tonnage, are greater in the case of wet sugar
than in the case of dry. In many of the modern mills, therefore, a further
treatment is given the sugar to reduce loss by inversion and lessen freight
charges.
From the bins last mentioned the sugar is dropped into revolving drums
six feet in diameter and twenty-six feet long, set at an incline so that as the
drum revolves the sugar is carried round to the highest point on the
circumference of the drum and dropped to the lower side, at the same time
traveling from the receiving to the discharging end. The shape, motion and
inclined position of the drum cause a perfect shower of sugar in the drum
for its entire length and breadth. While it is revolving a current of hot, dry
air is drawn through the drum by means of suction fans, and as a result the

moisture in the sugar is absorbed by the air and carried out of the building.
At this stage the product has a good hard grain of a yellowish-brown color;
contains from ninety-six to ninety-seven per cent of pure sugar and about
one-half of one per cent of moisture.

FILLING, WEIGHING AND SEWING SACKS

TRAIN-LOAD OF RAW SUGAR LEAVING MILL

From the end of the revolving drum the sugar is drawn off into sacks
holding about one hundred and twenty-five pounds each. These sacks are
sewed by machinery and put into railroad cars to be hauled to the docks at
the shipping port, where the cars are switched under huge hoisting cranes or
alongside speedy conveyors which carry the sugar into large seagoing
steamers especially built for the trade. Some of these ships have a cargo
capacity of two hundred and twenty thousand sacks, and they transport the
sugar to the buyers on the mainland in San Francisco, New York or
Philadelphia, as the planter directs.
The liquor thrown off by the centrifugals is not lost; it is taken back to
the pans and reboiled. After this has been done several times and most of
the sugar extracted, the purity is so low and the sugar content so small that
it does not pay commercially to reboil further, and the residue is sold as
molasses. It contains about thirty-five per cent of sugar and from twelve to
fourteen per cent of invert sugar, or glucose, as it is generally called.

Some of the waste molasses is mixed with fodder and tender cane tops
and fed to cattle and plantation stock, the sugar content proving of great
value as a fattening agent and energy builder. Part of the molasses is
sprayed on the bagasse as it leaves the crushers and serves, first, as a fuel
under the boilers, and, second, as a fertilizing agent in the form of ashes
after it has been burned. During the past few years much of it has been
shipped in tank steamers to the mainland, where it is used for the
manufacture of spirits and vinegar, and also as the principal ingredient in
prepared stock foods which are much in demand today.
Every bag of sugar shipped from the plantation is marked to indicate the
plantation from which it came. The net weight of the sugar in each bag is
recorded, a sample of the sugar taken and its sucrose content ascertained,
for it is on the basis of weight and sucrose content that raw sugar is bought
and sold.
From the beginning to the end of the process of manufacture, chemists
are vigilantly alert sampling, testing, analyzing and supervising the
operations. Records are made of all analyses, temperatures, purities,
densities, extractions, etc., and the results tabulated for future reference.
The average cost in Hawaii of preparing the fields, planting, irrigating,
fertilizing, cultivating and cutting the cane, manufacturing the sugar and
delivering it in the New York market, is about $56.00 per ton of two
thousand pounds.

TRANSPORTATION AND DELIVERY OF RAW SUGAR

It has been explained that in Hawaii sugar is packed in one-hundred-and-
twenty-five-pound sacks. Methods and customs vary in different countries.
For instance, in Cuba it is put up in large gunny bags, each holding an
average of three hundred and twenty-five pounds. The same custom
prevails in Porto Rico. In Peru, and to a limited extent in Java, sacks
containing two hundred and twenty-four pounds are used. A large part of
the sugar in Java, however, is put up in bamboo baskets of native make,
containing from five hundred to eight hundred pounds. They are about
thirty inches in diameter, from thirty-six to forty-eight inches high, and are
lined with coarse leaves to prevent the sugar from sifting out between the
weavings of the bamboo. Philippine sugar is packed in leaf-lined mats of
tough vegetable fiber, each holding about seventy pounds.
These various styles of containers necessitate different methods of
handling to and from the ships and by the buyers, but Hawaii will again
serve as an example of efficient, modern practice. Outside of what is
consumed locally, all Hawaiian sugars are shipped to the mainland of the
United States by steamers or sailing vessels to San Francisco, or by
steamers to New York or Philadelphia, via the Panama canal.
As sailing vessels are rapidly disappearing from the seas so far as the
sugar trade is concerned, reference will be made to steamer traffic only. The
steamers are specially built for carrying sugar, having a cargo capacity of
from five thousand to thirteen thousand tons, and the best loading and
discharging facilities.
When loading in Honolulu, the steamers usually lie alongside wharves
covered with immense warehouses, where rapid-speed conveyors carry the
sacks of sugar to a point above the ship’s hatches and drop them into chutes
which guide them down into the hold of the ship, where they are compactly
stowed. On the off-shore side of the vessel small steamers from other island
ports lie alongside and hoist the sacks by means of steam winches to a point
over the hatch and deposit them in similar chutes. When steamers are
loaded from both sides in this manner, as much as three thousand tons, or
forty-eight thousand sacks, can be loaded in nine hours.

After a vessel is completely loaded and gets her clearance from the
custom house, she departs for San Francisco, twenty-one hundred miles
away, or for the Atlantic seaboard, via Panama, as the planter may direct.
The voyage ended, and the quarantine and health regulations complied
with, she proceeds to the dock of the buyer, usually a sugar refiner. The
Hawaiian planter invariably sells his sugar under contract prior to arrival of
the vessel at destination.
Planters in other countries operate differently. Occasionally sugar is sold
on the plantation at an agreed price, and the buyer arranges his own
transportation. The planter sometimes ships his sugar unsold and negotiates
its sale while it is en route. If so sold, it is delivered directly to the buyer on
arrival; if not, it must be stored in a warehouse at the planter’s expense
pending sale.
The practice of the Hawaiian planter is to sell his sugar to refineries in
San Francisco, New York or Philadelphia, under contracts extending over a
term of years. It is agreed that the sugar shall be shipped as soon as made
and that the refiner will receive it immediately on arrival, the price for each
cargo being that quoted in the open New York market for ninety-six-degree
centrifugal sugar on the day preceding its arrival.

STEAMER LOADING SUGAR ALONGSIDE DOCK

LOADING SUGAR AT AN OUTPORT IN HAWAII

The value of raw sugar, like that of other staples, is based on supply and
demand, and the price fluctuates from day to day according to the
requirements of the refiners or the necessities of the sellers.
There are certain rules or trade conditions governing all sales, so that
when one man buys and another sells at an agreed price, each knows what
he is bargaining for. For instance, raw sugar is bought on the ninety-six-
degree centrifugal basis, that is, the price agreed to be paid is for centrifugal
sugar containing ninety-six per cent of sucrose. If it contains more sucrose,
a higher price is paid; if it contains less, a lower price is paid; all according
to an established scale of additions and deductions. Then again, the time of
payment for the sugar is well understood. It is usually ten days after the
sugar has been finally discharged from the ship, as this allows a sufficient
period in which to determine the exact weight of the sugar and the
percentage of sucrose it contains. An instrument called a polariscope is
invariably employed to determine the amount of sucrose present and the

results obtained from its use are absolutely accurate. A description of the
operation will undoubtedly prove interesting.

POLARIZATION

The practical working of the polariscope is based upon the property of
sucrose to rotate a ray of polarized light to the right.
Ordinary light is the effect on the eye of vibrations of the ether. These
vibrations occur in all directions, but by certain optical devices they may be
confined to a single plane, and light thus confined is called polarized. If
rays of polarized light pass through a layer of certain bodies, e. g., quartz,
sugar and many others, the plane in which the vibrations occur is rotated,
and the polariscope has been devised for the purpose of measuring the
rotation of the plane of polarization.
Polarized light, as used in the polariscope, is obtained from the Nicol
prism or some development of it. Ordinary light passing through crystals of
certain bodies, of which Iceland spar is an example, is split into two rays,
one of which is known as the ordinary and the other as the extraordinary
ray. A Nicol prism is made of two wedge-shaped pieces of Iceland spar,
cemented together with a film of Canada balsam.
The accompanying sketch gives a good idea of the arrangement of an
ordinary polariscope.

POLARISCOPE

A strong white light, e, enters the instrument through a lens at f, to the
Nicol prism b, by which it is polarized. The ordinary ray is dispersed, while
the extraordinary or polarized ray passes straight through and enters the
sugar solution contained in the tube c, which has glass ends. In passing
through this solution it is given a rotary motion to the right or to the left,
according as the sugar in the solution is sucrose or levulose. When it
emerges from the tube containing the sugar solution, the now rotated
polarized ray encounters a second Nicol prism, of which one of the wedges
is fixed and the other movable. This prism is called the analyzer. A pointer,
controlled by a thumb screw, is attached to it, and when the correction of
the polarized ray’s rotation has been made with precision by adjustment of
the wedges, the pointer will indicate directly and accurately on a scale the
amount of sucrose in the solution under test, because the polarized ray was

rotated in exact proportion to the amount of sucrose contained in the
solution through which it passed.
The polariscope is made and set so that a standard weight of pure sugar
(C₁₂H₂₂O₁₁), dissolved in a standard quantity of pure water, and placed in a
tube of given length, will rotate the ray of polarized light in passing
through, to a point on the scale marked one hundred degrees, the equivalent
of per cent. Also, that by using the same quantity of water, but twenty-five
per cent, fifty per cent, or seventy-five per cent less weight of sugar, the
rotation will show seventy-five degrees, fifty degrees or twenty-five
degrees of pure sugar, as the case may be.
A sample is drawn from each bag of sugar and all of these go to make up
a general average sample. The standard quantity is carefully weighed,
dissolved with the standard amount of water, clarified, filtered and poured
into a tube with glass ends, which is then inserted in the polariscope
between the eye of the operator and a strong artificial light. When the
operator making the test applies his eye to the instrument, he sees a distinct
shadow on a lens in the line of vision, one side being light and the other
dark. He then turns the thumb screw which adjusts the analyzer until the
whole field of vision is neutral, which indicates that the rotation of the
polarized ray has been corrected. The pointer on the scale now shows the
exact percentage of sucrose present in the raw sugar, ninety-four, ninety-
five, ninety-six degrees, or whatever it may be. This test determines the real
value of the sugar, based on the market quotation for ninety-six-degree
sugar. If the polarization should show exactly ninety-six degrees, the price
to be paid for the sugar and the market quotation will be identical.
In most sugar-producing countries the government imposes an import tax
on all foreign sugars, in order to obtain revenue to defray governmental
expenses and to protect the domestic industry, if any, against competition
with other countries in which cost of materials and labor may be lower.
Commodities produced in a country naturally add to its development and
wealth, and this explains the fostering of the sugar industry by various
governments.
The United States duty on foreign sugar is at present $1.256 per one
hundred pounds of ninety-six-degree raw sugar. On account of our treaties
with Cuba, the Cuban planter is allowed a deduction of twenty per cent,

and, therefore, pays a duty of $1.0048 per hundred pounds, which, owing to
trade conditions, is the duty effective today in the United States.
Sugars produced in the insular possessions, Porto Rico and the Philippine
islands, are admitted free of duty.
In 1898, the Hawaiian islands, through annexation, became a part of the
United States, consequently no duty is assessed on sugar or any other
Hawaiian product.
Every vessel coming into a port of the United States must be entered at
the custom house, where a record is kept of the port whence she came and
of what her cargo consists. If from a domestic port, she is permitted to
discharge her cargo without delay; if from a foreign one, customs officials
are immediately sent on board to watch the cargo as it is discharged and
supervise the tallying, checking or weighing, according to the class of
merchandise. Besides being weighed, sugar is carefully sampled and the
percentage of sucrose ascertained by the polariscope, for the customs duty
is based upon the purity of the sugar, all raws testing not above seventy-five
degrees polarization paying .71 cent per pound and .026 cent per pound for
each additional degree. This is equivalent to 1.256 cents per pound for
ninety-six-degree sugar.
The people of the United States used 4,257,714 short tons of sugar in the
year 1915. It was nearly all produced within the United States or in
countries enjoying tariff concessions, as follows:

SHORT TONS
Hawaiian islands (Cane) 570,375, U. S. territory.
Louisiana (Cane) 251,740, U. S. territory.
Domestic production (Beet) 861,568, U. S. territory.
” ” (Maple) 17,248, U. S. territory.
Porto Rico (Cane) 336,347, insular possession.
Philippine islands (Cane) 134,626, insular possession.
Cuba (Cane) 2,062,594, reciprocity treaty.
Foreign sugar (Cane) 23,216, full duty-paying.
4,257,714

Aside from the small amount of full-duty-paying foreign sugar imported,
the only sugar in the above list that paid duty came from Cuba. It is evident,
therefore, that under ordinary conditions an increase in the crops of any of
the places mentioned would result in a surplus of sugar in the American
market. In 1916, with the beet production of Continental Europe locked up
by the war, Cuba’s increased output has been absorbed by Great Britain,
France, Italy and Greece.
Steamers from Hawaiian ports, after arriving and entering at the custom
house and passing quarantine and health officers, proceed immediately to
refinery docks to discharge cargo.

REFINING OF RAW SUGAR

Cane-sugar refineries are always located in great seaport towns for the
reason that, as practically all cane sugar is grown in the tropics, it must be
transported by water to the world’s markets.
The refining operation is by no means as simple as may at first appear. It
is essential that the finished product be almost chemically pure (99.8 per
cent), and the greatest care must be exercised to obtain a perfectly white
color, as well as a hard, lustrous grain.
The question naturally arises, why do not the planters of Hawaii, Cuba,
Java and other raw-sugar-producing countries carry their process a few
steps further and make a pure white sugar as the refiners do? This has been
attempted many times, but has almost always been found impracticable,
notwithstanding the fact that there is no mechanical or chemical reason
why.
Among the arguments in favor of a mainland seaport site, the following
may be mentioned:
1. The producing centers are generally far distant from consuming
markets. Refineries located in the tropics would be under unusual expense
for transporting and selling the refined article.
2. A refinery in the tropics would be out of direct and prompt touch with
the individual requirements of the buyers.
3. Refined sugar should be moved and sold as soon as possible after its
manufacture, so there follows the necessity for adequate dock and rail
facilities as means of quick communication with the market.
4. An abundant supply of pure, soft water for refining purposes, and salt
or fresh water for condensing, as well as fuel for the generating of steam,
must be readily available. Another most important requisite is skilled labor,
which is more easily obtained in populous seaport cities than in the small,
isolated towns of the tropics.
5. There are many commodities used in the refining of sugar and in
packing it for shipment that can be purchased more advantageously, both as

regards price and promptness of delivery, in the great commercial ports than
in the sugar-growing districts. Among these are bone-char, lime, acids,
cotton filter-bags, burlap, cotton cloth, boxes, barrels, cartons, iron, steel
and machinery of all kinds.
6. A sugar refinery is operated the entire twelve months of the year, while
a raw-sugar mill must of necessity take care of the crop of cane in about
eight months. To refine sugar where it is grown would require refining
machinery capable of handling the entire output in the eight-month period,
and during the remaining four months the plant would remain idle. This
would mean a larger investment proportionately than that made in a refinery
in a consuming center, running steadily the year round.
7. Refined sugar very rapidly absorbs moisture, and while in transit from
the tropic to the temperate zone it is very apt to become lumpy or caked,
which would involve reprocessing at great expense at the point of
consumption. The unavoidable damage to the packages in loading and
discharging results in heavy expense, as all packages must be delivered to
the buyer in first-class condition. To avoid hardening, refined sugar should
never be piled very high, and it is an unsolved problem whether refined
sugar will stand long ocean transportation in cargo lots without caking and
damage by breaking of the inside cotton sacks. If shipped in barrels, the
freight rate is proportionately higher.
8. Larger capital would also be required, as refined sugar must be carried
on hand and must await the consumer’s demand, while raw sugar generally
has a prompt and ready market and can be quickly converted into cash.
With these difficulties presenting themselves to a prospective sugar
refiner in a raw-sugar-producing country, the shipping of raw sugar to
refineries at great distances does not seem at all unreasonable.
Raw sugars show considerable variance in their component parts, and so
it follows that some are less easily refined than others. Such differences are
generally due to diverse methods of culture, amount of fertilizer used, the
processes of manufacture and the efficiency of extraction. If the extraction
be high, a large percentage of the salts in the cane is taken up, and these
salts prevent or retard the complete crystallization of the pure sugar in
refining. One part of ash prevents several times its own weight of sugar

from crystallizing, hence it is readily seen that raw sugars with a low ash
content are preferred by refiners.

A MODERN REFINERY—SHOWING WATER AND RAIL TRANSPORTATION FACILITIES

PLAN ELEVATION OF A MODERN REFINERY

Sugar refining is the production of pure white sugar in granular form,
after the removal of the impurities from the raw product. Nine operations
are necessary to bring about this result:

1. Washing:
Removal of superfluous impurities.
2. Melting:
Changing the solid raw sugar into liquid form by melting with
water.
3. Defecation:
Precipitation of suspended and insoluble impurities.
4. Bag and Bone-char Filtration:
Removal of suspended impurities, color and soluble impurities.

5. Crystallization:
Production of crystals by concentration.
6. Partial Drying:
Purging crystals from syrup in centrifugals.
7. Final Drying:
The driving off of all remaining moisture.
8. Sorting of Crystals:
Sorting of grains according to size to meet market demands.
9. Packing:
Putting in various forms of containers.

A refinery consists of a group of buildings, each of which has been
constructed for a special purpose and for convenience and economy in
operation. They are as follows:

1. The melt or wash house.
2. The char house.
3. The pan house.
4. The packing house.
5. The boiler house.
6. The pump and power house.

In addition there are offices, shops, laboratories, and last, but by no
means least, very extensive warehouses.
To begin at the beginning it will be necessary to start with the steamer
laden with raw sugar and made fast to the wharf in front of the warehouse
that forms part of the refining plant.
The sugar is hoisted out of the ships in sling-loads by powerful winches,
and landed on a platform on the dock alongside the ship. Each sling-load
consists of from twelve to twenty sacks, or the equivalent weight in baskets
or mats, as the case may be. As soon as the sacks are landed, they are sorted

according to mark, put on trucks to be run over a scale set in the floor, and
their gross weight recorded.
As the truck leaves the scale, the samplers take a sample from each sack.
This is done with a tryer, a long, hollow steel tube, open on one side and
sharp at one end, with a handle on the other for the sampler to grasp when
forcing the tryer into the sack. The individual sample from each sack of
each different mark is deposited in large closed cans until the cargo is
completely discharged, when an average sample of all the individual
samples of each mark is made up and used in the laboratory to determine
the polarization or sucrose content of the various lots comprising the entire
cargo. The value of the sugar is fixed by this polarization.
The weights of the various truck-loads of sugar passing over the scales
are totaled and the weight of the sacks, baskets or mats deducted, giving the
net weight of the sugar.
Hawaiian sacks weigh exactly one pound; Cuban, Javan and Peruvian
sacks about three and one-half pounds. Javan baskets weigh from twelve to
fifteen pounds, and Philippine mats about four pounds.
In order to facilitate the weighing and simplify the calculations, in cases
where the exact weight of the sacks is known, every truck is made to weigh
the same by ascertaining the weight of the heaviest and then putting small
iron nuts or washers on the rods of the other trucks until each of them
exactly counterbalances the heaviest. One truck is then placed on the scale
and the scale is brought to a perfect balance, just as though there were no
truck on it. In this way the weight of the truck is never recorded, which
greatly simplifies the entire weighing operation.
One crew of men will discharge from 1300 to 1500 sacks of sugar per
hour from each hatch of a steamer, or a minimum of 731 tons per day of
nine hours. As three hatches are usually worked at the same time, it will be
seen that from 2200 to 2500 short tons are taken out every day.

STEAMER DISCHARGING RAW SUGAR AT REFINERY DOCK

SUGAR STORED IN WAREHOUSE—TWENTY-FIVE THOUSAND TONS SHOWN IN THIS
PICTURE

From the scales the sugar is deposited on a depressed conveyor in the
floor and carried directly into the melt house of the refinery, except the
sugar that must of necessity be stored in the warehouse for future use, in
which case it is dumped from the trucks on piling machines that elevate it to
any height desired, and it is arranged neatly and compactly by the piling
crew.
The wharves and docks of a sugar refinery are, as a rule, scenes of
unusual activity and interest. Besides the large number of men engaged in
hoisting, trucking, weighing, sampling and piling the sugar, there are the
sailors, whose calling always possesses a certain fascination for the
landsman. A motley crew they are, bronzed by wind and sun, gathered from
all countries and climes. There is the simple, kindly native of Hawaii,
gentle-eyed, soft of speech and born with a love for the sea; he prides
himself upon his skill in swimming and diving, and when the day’s work is
done, entertains his shipmates by singing the plaintive melodies of his

native land, accompanying himself on the ukulele, the stringed instrument
of the South Seas. Should there be a number of his fellow islanders among
the crew, the evening’s program is almost certain to be varied by the native
hula hula dance, which generally brings marked applause from the
onlookers. Presiding over the galley, or ship’s kitchen, is the almond-eyed
Chinaman, now shorn of his queue; an excellent cook who loves to gamble
after his pots and pans are washed and put away in place; a shrewd
gamester, but scrupulously honest. Beside him stands a fierce-looking
Malay, sullen, morose and taciturn, whose sharp, white teeth carry a sinister
suggestion of the good old days of cannibalism. His neighbor is a Filipino,
short in stature, keen-eyed and alert, while in the background are one or two
individuals who from their appearance might be direct descendants of the
buccaneers who ravaged the Spanish Main in Sir Henry Morgan’s time.
The average sailor is fond of pets, and here there is no lack of them,
parrots and monkeys for the most part, and the sayings of the former clearly
indicate a total absence of Sunday-school training.
Sugar ships bring rare fruits and vegetables from the tropics, and the
employés of the refinery have plenty of opportunities to enjoy such luxuries
as fresh pineapples, bananas, guavas, papaias, alligator pears, breadfruit and
mangoes.
A visit to the docks of a sugar refinery during the time vessels from
foreign ports are lying there is well worth while, although in these days of
steam, the picturesque features are not so pronounced as they were before
the passing of the sailing vessel.

WASHING

removal of superficial impurities

As a starting point in the refining process the melt house will be first
considered. It is so called because it is there that the raw sugar enters the
refining process by being melted or dissolved in water.
The conveyor, upon which the bags were deposited in the warehouse,
delivers them on a platform on the top floor of the building. As they come
to this platform from the conveyor, workmen with keen-edged knives seize
them and, with a deft, swift slash, cut the twine sewing at the top of the bag

without injuring the burlap fabric. The bag is then pulled off the platform,
mouth downward, so that the sugar falls out and passes through an iron
grating into a large bin beneath. If the sugar should happen to be caked or
lumpy, it is sent through crushers and broken up.

CUT-IN STATION—SHOWING SUGAR FIRST ENTERING THE REFINING PROCESS

CENTRIFUGAL MACHINE—MOTOR DRIVEN

As a certain amount of sugar adheres to the inside of the bags, they are
washed in large revolving machines and in this operation the sugar
dissolves in the water (called sweet water), from which it is extracted later.
They are then partially dried in centrifugal machines and hung on hooks on
a traveling chain conveyor that passes through the upper part of the boiler
house, where the waste heat thoroughly dries them. In returning, the
conveyor passes through the bag room and, by means of an automatic
device, the bags are dropped alongside the printing presses. Here the name
of the refinery, the kind of sugar and the net weight they are to contain are
printed upon them. These burlap bags are then lined with a white cotton
bag, after which they are made into bundles and sent to the packing room to
be filled with sugar. It will be seen, therefore, that the bags from Hawaii in
which the raw sugar is received are put to good use. This, however, does not
apply to those that come from Cuba or Java; they are too large to serve as
containers for the refined product, and after being washed and dried are sold
for what they will bring.

The white cotton bags are made at the refinery, and a plant turning out
one thousand tons of sugar each twenty-four hours will use twenty-five
thousand yards of cotton sheeting per day if all the output is packed in one-
hundred-pound bags.
The bin into which the raw sugar is dumped holds enough sugar to keep
the refinery supplied during the twenty-four hours run, but the entire
quantity is “cut in” during the day. The advantages of this arrangement are
that it avoids any delay in operation due to mechanical troubles with
conveyors and because more efficient work is accomplished during the
daylight hours. The employés prefer to work on the day shift and, wherever
possible, night work is avoided.
From the bottom of the bin the sugar falls into a mixing machine, called
the mingler. This is an oblong tank with a semi-cylindrical bottom, near
which is a revolving horizontal shaft, with arms or paddles attached which
thoroughly stir and mix the sugar with syrup that is added at this point. The
reason for using syrup instead of water is that the former, being a saturated
sugar solution, does not melt the sugar as water would.
The resultant mixture, called magma, looks a good deal like a soft, brown
mortar. It is, in fact, raw-sugar crystals swimming in syrup. This
consistency is needed to allow the magma to work freely in the centrifugals,
the next operation. Most of the impurities contained in raw sugar are
superficial, that is, adhering to the outside of the grain. They may be more
or less readily removed by washing the surfaces of the crystals with water.
From the mingler the magma drops to the floor below into centrifugal
machines running at the rate of 1100 revolutions per minute. A “charge”
consists of about nine hundred pounds of magma. As the machine fills, the
centrifugal force causes the magma to rise in a vertical wall around the
inside circumference of the basket, at the same time throwing off the syrup
that was added on the floor above, and leaving in the machine about five
hundred pounds of the raw sugar as it came from the plantation. Water is
then sprayed into the machine under high pressure, through a nozzle which
divides it into very fine particles and throws it against the wall of sugar in
the machine. The water, passing through the sugar by the centrifugal force,
washes each face of each crystal and carries off the impurities, together
with a certain amount of sugar. The quantity of water used per machine in

each filling is from one to two and a half gallons, depending upon the
quality of the sugar.
This water, now a syrup, with the impurities and sugar it contains, is
drawn from the machine, part of it being pumped to the floor above to mix
with new raw sugar coming in. The remainder is treated, filtered, boiled and
made into raw sugar, which, in turn, goes direct to the melt or through the
washing process again. The result of this washing is that the purity of
Hawaiian raw sugar is raised from about 97.2 to 99.2 per cent, and there
now remains but 0.8 per cent of impurities to be removed.
The washed sugar is dropped from the centrifugal basket through a large
opening in the bottom of the machine with the aid of a mechanical device
called a discharger, which greatly reduces the manual labor.
Until very recently the sugar was discharged from the centrifugals by
hand, the men digging it out with wooden paddles in a difficult, laborious
way. One day, a few years ago, a clear-brained, observant American lad
working in a beet-sugar factory, conceived the idea that a centrifugal could
be emptied by mechanical means. He worked long and assiduously upon
the problem, and after much experimenting and many trials and
disappointments was granted a patent by the United States government. Full
of hope and confidence, he had several machines constructed and took them
to a sugar refiner, sure of being favorably received. He met with rebuff and
ridicule. The refinery engineer was too busy with other matters to examine
or give any attention to the appliance. The next man to whom he presented
it was even more indifferent than the first; he coldly informed the patentee
that he had been in the sugar business for thirty years, that no such machine
would work, and that the only way to take sugar out of a centrifugal was by
hand.
After months of effort and repeated failures, he induced the
superintendent of a beet-sugar factory to allow him to install and test the
device at his own expense. It was thrown out after a few days’ trial, and the
inventor became well-nigh desperate, although still positive as to the merits
of his discharger.
Finally he succeeded in gaining the ear of the manager of a large refinery,
who, after listening attentively to his earnest argument, at length became
convinced by it. As a result of the interview, it was arranged between them

that the machines rejected by the beet-sugar factory should be installed in
the refinery and operated for a period of thirty days, under the direct
supervision of the inventor. The test was successful in every particular and
conclusively proved the efficiency of the discharger.
The refiner was gratified because on account of the saving in time the
capacity of the centrifugals was materially increased; the men operating the
centrifugals were hugely pleased, as the arduous work of emptying by hand
was entirely eliminated, and the inventor was happy, for he had vindicated
himself.
An order for a large number of the machines was placed at once and
every centrifugal in the refinery was equipped with one. Today they are
installed in nearly every refinery and factory in the United States, and in
many raw-sugar plantation mills as well.

MELTING

changing the solid raw sugar into liquid form

From the centrifugals the washed sugar drops to the melter pan on the
floor below. This is a cylindrical tank in the center of which is a revolving
vertical shaft, to which are attached horizontal paddles that serve to
facilitate the dissolving of the sugar with the hot water that is now added.
Only enough water is added to bring the resultant liquor to a density of 58.6
per cent of solid matter.
The raw sugar having been washed and, to use a technical term, melted,
leaves the melt house at this point.

DEFECATION

precipitation of suspended and insoluble impurities

From the “melt” the liquor is pumped to the top floor of the char house,
which is usually a structure of from twelve to fourteen stories high. The
reason for building to such a height is the advantage gained by utilizing the
force of gravity and by this means handling the liquors and bone-char from
floor to floor without mechanical aid.

The liquor is delivered into a number of cylindrical tanks equipped with a
coil of pipe through which steam is passed for heating the liquor, each tank
being capable of holding 25,000 pounds of liquor. Around the bottoms of
the tanks are perforated pipes through which compressed air is forced to
agitate and thoroughly mix the solution. On account of this air being blown
in, these tanks are called blow-ups. By means of the steam coil the
temperature of the liquor is kept at 190 degrees, which makes it less viscous
than cold liquor, thus facilitating subsequent filtration and hastening the
reaction of the lime and acid added at this point.
As the liquor comes into the blow-ups it varies in color from a straw
yellow to a dark brown, and contains a considerable amount of suspended
and insoluble impurities which must be removed. Some of these impurities
are present in the raw sugar, and others, such as pieces of twine, lint from
the bags, fine particles of leaves from the Java baskets and Philippine mats,
are traceable to the opening of the containers in the melt house.
The process of removal is called defecation. In former years this was
accomplished by adding bullocks’ blood to the raw-sugar liquor in the
blow-ups and heating the mixture until the scum which rose to the surface
cracked, when the solution below was found perfectly clear, or, in the
language of the refinery man, bright. Today, however, chemicals are the
defecating agents, those most commonly used being phosphoric acid and
lime. Phosphoric acid, neutralized with lime, throws down a heavy,
flocculent precipitate which, as it settles, sweeps the solution and drags
down all the suspended matter, gums, etc., leaving the liquor above clear
and transparent.
The precipitate must now be removed, and this is accomplished by
running the liquor through the bag filters on the floor below. These filters
are tight iron boxes, about sixteen feet long, six feet wide and seven feet
high. The top of the box is depressed about eight inches below the sides and
ends, thus forming a tank. This top is perforated with five hundred holes,
one and one-half inches in diameter. From the bottom of the iron box is an
outlet pipe leading into tanks below.
In each of the holes on the inside top of the box is screwed a so-called
“brass bottle,” conical in shape, to which is securely attached a closely-
woven cotton filter bag, about twenty-four inches wide and seventy inches

long. This filter bag is encased in a heavier and stronger cotton sheath, or
sleeve, about eight inches wide, which adds strength and keeps the twenty-
four-inch bag in folds so as to give an effect similar to that of a folded paper
filter, frequently seen in drug stores. Each bag filter contains five hundred
of these bags, suspended vertically from the top.
Before any liquor is run on the filters, the bags and the iron box are
heated by means of steam to bring the apparatus to a temperature of about
190 degrees Fahrenheit. This prevents the chilling of the sugar liquor by
cold bags, which would cause the bags to become “blocked,” as it is
technically called. The liquor from the blow-ups, at 190 degrees
temperature, is now turned into the depressed tank on the top of the filter
and flows through the perforations into the bags attached on the inside,
down through the bags, and finds an exit through the bottom of the filter
into the tanks below.
As the first liquor comes through the bags, it is a little cloudy, but in a
few minutes, as the pores of the bags fill with the insoluble substances, it
becomes perfectly bright, all the suspended and insoluble impurities
remaining in the bags, together with the precipitates drawn over from the
blow-ups. The cloudy liquor is pumped to the top of the filter and clarified
by being run through a second time. It is interesting to know that it is not
really the bag that does the filtering, but the thin layer of sediment that is
deposited from the liquor itself on the inner surface of the bag. The cotton
bags are made in a particular manner, and from a fabric especially adapted
to catch the sediment and to form, in conjunction with it, an excellent
filtering medium.

BAG FILTERS—SHOWING BAGS IN PLACE

FILTER PRESSES

The liquor, as it runs into the tanks, must be carefully watched, for
sometimes a bag inside the filter breaks, which causes cloudy liquor by
allowing the precipitates to gain entrance into the clear liquor. As soon as
this is noticed, samples are taken from the outlet of each filter and the
defective one found and investigated.
When a bag is torn, or develops a hole, the liquor runs through the
opening on the top of the filter so fast that it forms a little whirlpool, which
shows the bag that is broken. A wooden plug is immediately driven into the
opening and that particular bag cut out. The men on the bag filters soon
become so expert that they detect broken bags and plug them before the
cloudy liquor gets to the inspection station. It is essential that the liquor be
freed from all suspended impurities at this station before the next step is
taken, hence great care and watchfulness must be exercised.
In time the coating of sediment, gums and precipitates on the inside of
the bag becomes so thick that the liquor runs very slowly and finally stops.

The refinery term for this condition is “stuck-up.” Depending on the
impurities in the original liquor, the bag filters will continue to filter the
liquor for from twelve to twenty hours and sometimes longer.
After the bags are “stuck-up,” the liquor remaining in them is sucked out
by means of vacuum through a small pipe attached to a long rubber hose
and inserted in the bags through the holes in the top of the filter. The liquor
thus sucked out of the “stuck-up” bags is sent to the blow-ups and
reprocessed with new liquor, thus beginning its journey anew.
As soon as the liquor is sucked out, hot water is run through to reduce the
sugar contents of the filter. This water is saved and the sugar it takes up is
subsequently recovered. The filter is then opened by means of an electric
hoist traveling on an overhead track immediately above the filters. Chains
are attached to the top of the filter and the hoist elevates top, bags and all, to
a point sufficiently high for the bags attached to the top to clear the
adjoining filters. The top and bags are then moved along the track to the
washing station. Meanwhile another hoist has delivered a duplicate top,
with fresh bags attached, to the filter, where it is lowered into place. In this
way the filter is again in operation within five minutes. At the washing
station the bags just taken from the filter are detached from the top for
washing, and the top is sent to a point where clean bags are again attached.
It is then ready to go into another filter.
At the washing station the dirty bags are pulled out of the sheaths and
turned inside out in tanks containing water, thus releasing a large quantity
of the impurities. The bags and sheaths are then thrown into washing
machines, where all the remaining impurities and sugar are washed out of
them. From the washers the bags are put into centrifugal machines, or
through powerful wringers, and dried sufficiently to permit being
rehandled. They are then resheathed and made ready to be attached to
another top.
The water from the washers contains a large amount of sugar and is
conducted to a tank similar to one of the blow-ups, where it is treated with
lime and diluted with water at 190 degrees Fahrenheit until it contains only
from ten to twelve per cent of solid matter. This liquid is then pumped
through filter presses and the impurities removed. The “sweet water,” as it
is termed, which now contains practically all the sugar, is collected in tanks

and the sugar is ultimately extracted by evaporation, filtration and boiling to
grain.

MAKING NEW BAGS AND LINING THE WASHED BAGS

PRINTING THE EMPTY RAW-SUGAR BAGS

The impurities removed by the filter presses consist of sand, portions of
bags and baskets, phosphates, hair, lime, salts and gums, in fact every kind
of foreign matter that finds its way into raw sugar either in the process of
manufacture or in transportation. A small amount of sugar accompanies this
refuse, but as its recovery would cost more than it is worth, it is allowed to
run to waste. The filter-press cake, as it is called, contains valuable
fertilizing agents, and when conditions permit it is used for fertilizing
purposes, otherwise it is run to waste.

BONE-CHAR FILTRATION

removal of color

To resume the course of the bag-filtered liquor, from which the
superficial, the suspended and insoluble impurities have been removed and
which is now the color of clear amber, the next step is bone-char filtration.

Bone-char, bone-coal or bone-black, as it is variously called, is made
from the bones of animals. After the fat and glue are removed, the bones are
subjected to a dry distillation which carbonizes them. These charred bones
are then broken into very small pieces, or until they will pass through a ten-
mesh screen and remain on a thirty-mesh screen; in other words, the size of
the grains used in a sugar refinery vary from one-tenth to one-thirtieth of an
inch. If properly manufactured, the grains are hard, porous, and have a great
affinity for moisture.
Bone-char has the peculiar property of removing from the sugar liquor, in
some unknown mechanical way, not only the soluble salts but the coloring
matter as well. The elimination of the salts and coloring matter facilitates
the subsequent crystallization.
The char house is, therefore, by far the most important station in a
refinery, for failure in the char house means failure throughout.
Contrary to the general practice in Europe, beet-sugar factories in the
United States do not use bone-char, and consequently do not take all the
coloring matter and salts out of the liquor. They secure a white sugar by
other methods, which will be explained later on. In a cane-sugar refinery,
however, the coloring matter and impurities are entirely eliminated, and the
product is invariably pure and white.
The char filters are cast-iron cylinders, usually ten feet in diameter and
twenty feet high, with doors at the top for entrance of the char and openings
at the bottom through which it is removed. There are also many pipe
connections for the introduction and outlet of liquors, steam, hot water and
compressed air. The filters are insulated on the outside with asbestos or
some other non-conductor of heat to prevent the temperature of the liquor
from being lowered as it passes through. Each filter has a capacity of from
sixty thousand to eighty thousand pounds of bone-char.
At the bottom of the filter is a perforated iron plate. Over this is placed a
coarsely woven cotton blanket, through which the liquor will pass, but
which prevents the char from escaping from the filter with the liquor or
wash water. After the blanket is set in place, the char is delivered by gravity
through an overhead pipe into the filter, until it is entirely full. The char, as
it goes in, has a temperature of from 170 to 180 degrees Fahrenheit, and the
bag-filtered liquor which is then run on has a slightly higher temperature.

CHAR FILTERS

CHAR FILTERS—SHOWING OUTLET PIPES

When the liquor in the filter reaches the top and the char has settled in a
compact mass, the cover is put on and fastened securely to prevent leakage.
The liquor is again allowed to run into the filter by gravity, from the tanks
about fifteen feet overhead. The valve on the bottom of the filter is then
opened and the liquor, as it filters slowly through the char, is led through a

copper pipe to the liquor gallery, to which station all the char-filtered liquor
is delivered. This pipe, instead of leading downward from the filter, leads
upward and nearly to the top, so that the flow of liquor through the char will
be slow and uniform and the filter will always remain full of liquor. The
diameter of the filter is ten feet, while that of the outlet pipe is two inches,
so that the flow of liquor through the char is necessarily very slow. The
reason for this is that the liquor must remain in contact with char a certain
time to enable the char to absorb the coloring matter and soluble salts.
The first liquor from the filter appears cloudy and is sent back for
refiltration, but it soon becomes bright, perfectly colorless and transparent
as plate glass. This white liquor is pumped from the liquor gallery into the
tanks on the top floor in the pan house, ready for the next process, which
will be dealt with presently.
After a filter has been running for from twenty-four to thirty-six hours,
depending on the character of the sugar in the liquor, the char becomes
“tired” or spent. In other words, it has absorbed so much of the impurities
and coloring matter from the liquor passing through it that its capacity to
absorb more is gone and the liquor begins to show a slight straw or canary
color. The inspector in the liquor gallery immediately notices this and
orders the liquor stopped. Immediately afterwards a lower-grade liquor is
turned into the filter, which forces the first liquor out before it. In due time
the man at the liquor gallery notices the number two liquor coming from the
filter and turns it into separate tanks. In time a still lower grade of liquor is
turned on and the filter run until the bone-char is absolutely exhausted,
when it is ordered “sweetened off.”
Hot water is then turned in at the top of the filter to wash out the
remaining sugar liquor which gradually becomes more and more dilute.
When its density has been lowered to about thirty-five per cent of solid
matter, it is diverted to other tanks, and this is continued until only three-
tenths of one per cent of sugar remains in the sweet water, as it is now
called. The washing of the char in the filter in this manner, by hot water, is
kept up for twelve hours, but as soon as the sugar content falls below three-
tenths of one per cent the solution is allowed to run to waste, as the
recovery of this small percentage of sugar would cost more than its value.

The sweet water is sent to the evaporators, concentrated to 58.6 per cent
of solid matter, and it then begins its refining journey over again.
This long and continued washing of the filters is for the purpose of
removing as much as possible of the organic and mineral impurities
absorbed by the char.
The washing completed, compressed air is applied to the filter to force
out the remaining water. The bottom doors of the filter are then opened and
the char, containing about twenty per cent of water, drops to the floor
below. Here it passes through mechanical driers and is delivered
comparatively free from moisture to the kilns. There it is revivified, that is,
the organic matter in the char which could not be removed by washing is
converted into carbon by being heated to a cherry red in the absence of air.
This is accomplished by allowing the char to pass by gravity through the
red-hot retorts of the kilns.
As the wet char leaves the filter, it drops on a moving belt which carries
it to large cast-iron hoppers leading to the driers immediately beneath,
where the greater part of the moisture is expelled from the char prior to its
being treated in the revivifying kilns. The driers are made up of a number of
thin, hollow, cast-iron, triangular pipes, enclosed in a large, rectangular,
outside casing. The wet bone-char passes over these hollow pipes as it falls
slowly through the drier. The hot gases from the furnaces of the kilns below
pass through these cast-iron pipes, giving off heat as they ascend, thus
driving off the moisture in the char as it falls down over the outer surface of
the pipes. At the same time, hot air obtained from cooling the char in the
cooling pipes below the retorts is drawn through the drier, coming in direct
contact with the char. The moisture given off by the char is absorbed by this
hot air and carried out of the drier and building by fans or smokestacks. By
this means the water in the char is reduced to ten per cent, and in this
comparatively dry, hot state it runs freely by gravity from the bottom of the
drier into a second set of hoppers, through which it drops into the retorts of
the kiln. The hot gases, after drying the char, pass out at the top of the drier
through a flue leading to a stack outside the building.

TOP OF CHAR FILTERS—SHOWING PIPE CONNECTIONS

EXTERIOR VIEW OF CHAR DRIER

The kilns are large square boxes of brick, built around a strong
supporting iron structure. On each side of these boxes are a number of large
flat pipes of cast iron, nine feet long and twelve inches by three inches in
section, the iron being three-quarters of an inch thick. These pipes are called
retorts and are arranged vertically in the kilns, forty on each side. The space
in the center between the retorts is known as the furnace and extends the
entire length of the kiln, a distance of about sixteen feet. Intense fires are
maintained in this central space and the flames playing around the retorts
keep them red-hot. The upper ends of the retorts lead into the hoppers above
and the lower ends to the cooling pipes below. As the char passes gradually
through the red-hot retorts, it becomes heated to 900 degrees Fahrenheit and
the organic matter it absorbed from the sugar liquor is changed into carbon.
In this way the char becomes almost as good as new, or, as the term goes,
revivified. Each kiln has a capacity of revivifying sixty thousand pounds of
bone-char per day.

If the char in this red-hot state were suddenly exposed to the air, the
contact with oxygen would bring about combustion and the char would be
quickly reduced to ashes, so a cooling process is necessary. It is, therefore,
drawn from the cast-iron retorts into cooling pipes located directly beneath.
These pipes are of thin sheet-iron and are about three by four and a half
inches in section. There are three under each retort, and a mechanical device
at the bottom allows only a small amount of char to escape at a time. This
amount can be regulated at will by the operator, and in this way the char is
held in the retorts the exact time necessary for its revivification.
A current of cold air circulates continually around the cooling pipes,
taking up the heat from the char and delivering it through pipes to the drier
overhead, so that when the char leaves the bottom of the pipes its
temperature is about 180 degrees Fahrenheit. From the cooling pipes, it
drops on a belt conveyor from which it is carried by endless belt or chain
bucket elevators to the top of the char filters to be used again.
The manipulation of the char filters varies in different refineries, some
running the liquor over the char for a longer period than others, but a fair
average of the time required for filling, settling running liquors and syrups,
sweetening off, washing, applying air and emptying, is eighty-six hours, the
shortest time being seventy-two hours. Taking eighty-six hours as a basis, it
will be seen that the char is handled and revivified eighty-one times each
year after making due allowance for Sundays, holidays and annual clean-up
periods.
Each time the char is handled, a certain amount of it is broken into dust,
and this is taken out by passing it over fine screens, and also by exhaust
fans. Obviously, the amount of dust taken out each day must be replaced by
its equivalent in new char. It is estimated that the original char put into the
filters will last from five to six years before it finally becomes disintegrated
and is taken out as dust.

INTERIOR ARRANGEMENT OF CHAR DRIER

EXTERIOR VIEW OF CHAR KILNS—SHOWING OIL-BURNING APPARATUS

As approximately one pound of char is required for every pound of sugar
melted, it will be seen that as the liquor is in contact with the char for only
twenty-four hours out of seventy-two, a refinery turning out two million
pounds of sugar per day should have filter capacity for six million pounds
of char. The amount of the latter that is handled each year is, therefore, very
great and requires a large and costly plant to take care of it properly.

CRYSTALLIZATION

production of crystals by concentration

The refining process has been described up to and including the
purification and decolorizing of the sugar liquor, the last step being the
delivery of the pure white liquor into the receiving tanks in the pan house.
After the white liquor leaves the char filters, the greatest care must be
exercised to keep all the machinery, piping and apparatus scrupulously

clean, for if any foreign matter becomes mixed with the liquor or sugar it
can only be removed by refiltering or remelting.
By means of vacuum, the liquor is drawn from the tanks into the vacuum
pans, this being the last operation in which the sugar is handled in a liquid
state. From this point on it drops by gravity from floor to floor in a solid or
semi-solid form, until it reaches the packing room as a finished product. In
a first-class refinery, the vacuum pans, as well as all the piping through
which the liquor passes, are made of copper instead of iron and steel, which
eliminates the possibility of rust or scale getting into the sugar.
Refinery vacuum pans are usually from fourteen to sixteen feet in
diameter and from sixteen to seventeen feet high, while in shape they
appear almost spherical. The boiling takes from one hour and twenty-five
minutes to one hour and forty-five minutes, and about forty-five tons of
granulated sugar can be made at each boiling in a fourteen-foot pan. Before
the liquor is drawn in, the pan is thoroughly cleansed with hot water and
steam. All openings are then closed and the vacuum pump started. The air is
quickly exhausted, a valve in the pipe line leading from the receiving tank
is opened and the pan is given a charge of liquor. Steam is turned into the
coils of the pan and the boiling process begins. Soon sufficient moisture is
driven off to cause the sugar to “grain.” Shortly after the grain forms,
another charge of liquor is drawn into the pan and the operation is repeated
until the pan is full of a thick, white, mushy substance called massecuite,
that looks very much like half-formed ice. The vapor driven off in the
boiling passes out through a large pipe at the top of the pan and is
condensed by being sprayed with cold water. On account of the high
vacuum, the liquor boils violently at temperatures ranging from 140 degrees
to 195 degrees Fahrenheit; thus the risk of scorching, discoloration or
caramelization of the sugar is minimized.
On the front of the pan is a vertical row of windows made of heavy plate-
glass, and through these the liquor is watched during the boiling. The
massecuite in the pan is sampled at intervals by the sugar boiler, by means
of a “proof stick,” a brass rod about three feet long and one and one-quarter
inches in diameter, in the pan end of which there is a hollow space. This
stick is pushed through an opening in the side of the pan into which it fits
tightly, and then partly withdrawn. A small quantity of the contents of the
pan remains in the hollow space, and this the sugar boiler removes and

places on a piece of clear glass. On holding it up to the light, he sees exactly
how the crystallization of the sugar is progressing, and by observing and
feeling the crystals, he is enabled to control the boiling perfectly. When he
concludes that the evaporation is complete and the massecuite of the proper
consistency, the pump is stopped and the vacuum broken by opening a
valve near the top of the pan, admitting the outside air. The foot valve is
then opened and the massecuite drops from the pan into a mixer directly
underneath. There it is kept constantly in motion by a revolving shaft with
paddles, to prevent the crystals from sinking to the bottom. From the mixer
it is drawn into the centrifugals and purged of the mother liquor, the pure
crystals being left in the machine. The liquor thus drawn off contains
whatever impurities may have remained in the original liquor. It is now
pumped back and run through the char filters again, after which it is boiled
in the vacuum pan and the granulated sugar taken out in the centrifugals.
This completes the process of producing crystallized sugar by
concentration.

A REFINERY VACUUM PAN AND PUMP

ARRANGEMENT OF STEAM COILS IN A VACUUM PAN

There are many interesting and intricate problems in connection with the
extraction of the sugar from the wash waters, sweet waters and low-grade
syrups that are constantly accumulating in a sugar refinery, but space will
not admit of their being dealt with here. Suffice it to say that the process of
extraction is carried to a point where the sugar recovered barely pays for the
labor and fuel expended in the operation. The ultimate result is white sugar,
table syrup and molasses.
This molasses is used largely in the manufacture of vinegar and alcohol.
Mixed with grain and alfalfa meal, it makes an excellent stock food that
cattle take to readily and that possesses high value as a fattening agent. The
sucrose and glucose content of molasses as it leaves the refinery is about
fifty per cent.
Naturally, in a process involving so much handling, filtering and boiling,
there must be some loss, and the efficiency of a refinery is based upon the
percentage of granulated sugar recovered from the raw article delivered to

the melt. It may be stated for general guidance that, taking an average of the
refineries of the United States, one hundred pounds of refined white sugar is
made from each one hundred and seven pounds of ninety-six-degree raw
sugar melted. Some of the sugar lost is accounted for in the molasses, in the
sediment from the filter presses, and in the wash waters from the char
filters. The remainder is the undetermined loss in handling, in sugar
destroyed by heating, and in sugar dust escaping during the manufacturing
operation. As has been said, the component parts of raw sugars vary more
or less, and the recovery in white sugar from two lots of raws, each
polarizing ninety-six degrees, might differ considerably according to the
refractory matter in the original raw sugar.
The following figures give a fairly accurate idea of the disposition of one
hundred pounds of ninety-six-degree raw sugar in refining:

Water, which is eliminated .70 per cent
Non-sugar, which is eliminated 3.30 ”
Sucrose loss, undetermined .75 ”
Sucrose left in molasses 1.75 ”
Sucrose extracted in granulated form 93.50 ”
Raw sugar melted 100.00 ”

The undetermined loss includes every loss from the time the raw sugar is
weighed into the warehouse until the granulated article is sold to the buyer.
It is evident, therefore, that one of the principal items of refining cost is the
actual loss of weight in converting raw into refined sugar. Assuming that the
raw sugar costs four cents per pound, the refiner has lost on each one
hundred pounds melted, four cents × 6½ pounds, or twenty-six cents, less
the small value of the resulting molasses. If the raw sugar cost six cents, the
loss would be thirty-nine cents. At four cents, the loss is equivalent to $5.20
per ton, or, in the case of a refinery melting two million pounds of raw
sugar daily, $5,200.00 for each working day. This does not include any of
the operating expenses, such as labor, fuel, bone-char, containers, selling
expense or administration—just the actual value of the raw sugar lost in the
process of refining.

REFINERY CENTRIFUGAL MACHINES

EXTERIOR VIEW OF SWEATER

PARTIAL DRYING

purging crystals from the syrup

Returning to the sugar left in the centrifugals, the force developed in a
machine forty inches in diameter, spinning at the rate of eleven hundred
revolutions per minute, is so great that it quickly dispels all the liquor
surrounding the crystals, leaving them nearly dry, in a solid, vertical wall.
Water, filtered to insure its purity and cleanliness, is then sprayed on this
spinning wall of sugar, only to be immediately thrown off through the sugar
by the centrifugal motion. In passing through the sugar it washes the last of
the syrup from the grains and leaves them perfectly white. Cold water,
rather than hot, is used for this purpose, as it dissolves less sugar.
In former years a small quantity of bluing was added to the spraying
water in order to enhance the whiteness of the sugar, just as bluing is
employed in washing fine linen fabrics. Since the pure-food laws became

effective, however, the practice has been discontinued in all cane-sugar
refineries.
After the sugar is thoroughly washed, the centrifugal machine is stopped,
a large valve in the bottom opened and the mechanical discharger rapidly
ejects the sugar (now containing only about 1.2 per cent moisture) from the
machine into a storage bin beneath.

FINAL DRYING OF CRYSTALS

For some reason not well understood, the next step in refining is called
“granulation.” Actual granulation, or crystallization, takes place in the pans,
and the process about to be described should properly be called drying. The
manufacturing term, however, is as given.
Drying is effected in an apparatus consisting of two large cylindrical
drums of wrought iron. These drums are about six feet in diameter, thirty
feet long and have a slight downward pitch from the receiving to the
discharging end. The first drum rests on the floor, directly below the storage
bin, and is called the sweater. It turns slowly on revolving wheels, by means
of circular tracks bolted to it. The power that moves it is delivered from an
electric motor, through a pulley, shaft and pinion, the latter working in a
gear bolted to the outside circumference of the drum. Fastened to the inner
surface of this drum is a series of short, narrow shelves with saw-tooth
edges that serve to carry the sugar to the top of the revolving cylinder,
whence it falls to the lower side, causing a continual shower of sugar
throughout the entire length and breadth of the drum. The sugar is delivered
through a pipe at the upper end of the sweater, and the revolving motion
together with the incline of the cylinder gradually works it down to the
lower end. Here it drops through a chute to the granulator on the floor
below, where the process of drying is completed.
A strong current of hot air is drawn through the sweater by a powerful
fan connected to the upper end by a very large pipe. The air introduced in
this way is brought to a high temperature by passing around a number of
coils of pipe charged with steam, which are placed directly in front of the
sweater. The hot air sweeping through the drum absorbs nearly all of the

moisture in the sugar, which carries 1.2 per cent of water when it enters the
drum and about 0.1 per cent as it leaves it.
The granulator, or lower drum, is the same size as the sweater and is
constructed in very much the same manner, having shelves for carrying the
sugar to the top and dropping it at the proper point, and being equipped with
a large fan to draw off the hot, moist air. Instead of having steam coils in
front, however, it has in its center a steam-heated drum about twenty-four
inches in diameter that revolves with it. The sugar crystals, as they fall in a
shower from the shelves, come in contact with the hot inner drum on their
way through the granulator, and in this manner become thoroughly dried.
The moisture in the sugar, as it emerges from the granulator, is less than
four-hundredths of one per cent, an amount too slight to determine except
with the most delicate apparatus.

FRONT VIEW OF SWEATER—SHOWING STEAM COILS FOR HEATING THE AIR

INTERIOR VIEW OF SWEATER

To insure perfect drying, the damp sugar must be fed to the upper drum
or sweater with unfailing regularity. This is accomplished by the use of
revolving screws located under the storage bins. By turning a certain
number of revolutions per minute, they deliver an even and steady supply of
sugar.
From the granulators the sugar is dropped on thin cotton belts that,
passing around highly magnetized pulleys, carry it to the dry storage bins.
The sugar is cooled to normal temperature before being packed in
containers, thus preventing subsequent absorption of moisture and
consequent caking.
Magnetic pulleys are used to extract any particles of iron scale or rust
that may drop into the sugar after the liquor leaves the char filters. Rust
sometimes forms in the pans, mixers, conveyors, elevators, sweaters or
granulators, and should it get into the sugar the magnetic pulleys will surely
remove it.

Storage bins and storage tanks are prominent accessories of all sugar
refineries, for if a breakdown should occur at any point, there must always
be a supply of material on hand to keep the refining operations going while
the trouble is being remedied.

SCREENING

separating crystals into various sizes

The now thoroughly cold, dry and free-running granulated sugar is drawn
from the storage bins through galvanized metal pipes and taken to the
separators by screw conveyors, which deliver it at an even, steady feed—a
most essential feature. The sugar as it comes from the pans is made up of
crystals of various sizes. It also contains a number of small lumps formed in
the centrifugal machines, or in some part of the process after it leaves the
pans. It is necessary to separate the crystals according to size and to screen
out the lumps, for the following reason:
In some parts of the country, people have been educated to use a coarse-
grained sugar; in other sections, they are accustomed to sugar of a fine
grain. For example, on the Pacific coast, the demand is for the fine-grained
article; the consumers of the Mississippi river valley like a fairly large
grain; while the Atlantic coast trade calls for a still coarser product. There is
a difference, too, as to containers. In the East the preference is for the barrel
package, while the Western buyer wants his sugar put up in bags.
There are many different types of separators commonly in use, but in all
of them the governing principle is the same. It is the elimination of lumps
and dust from the final product and the separation of the sugar crystals
according to size. The separator here specifically referred to will explain the
principle as well as any other type, and a glance at the accompanying
illustration will give the reader a good idea of its construction. It is made up
of a number of wire screens of various sizes, fixed at a sharp incline, one
above the other, and all enclosed in a tight, dust-proof steel case. At the top
of the case is a steel screw conveyor by which the sugar is fed evenly and
steadily across the entire width of the top screen.
On the outside face of the case are a number of shafts to which hammers
are attached. As the shafts revolve, the hammers tap the various screens

below, lightly and at rapid intervals, thus causing them to vibrate.

SEPARATOR—CLOSED, READY FOR OPERATION

SEPARATORS, ONE OF WHICH IS OPEN—SHOWING THREE SCREENS FOR SEPARATING
THE SUGAR GRAINS

The upper screen, called the scalper, is quite coarse and allows all the
sugar to fall through except the lumps, which run down the face of the
screen into a pipe that carries them to the melt, where they begin the
refining process over again. These lumps, however, represent a very small
proportion of the whole.
The second screen is finer than the scalper. It permits part of the sugar to
pass through, but retains a certain amount which falls down on the face of
the screen, whence it is led through a pipe to a special bin. Sugar of this size
is known as coarse granulated.
The next screen lets the finer grains drop through, but catches the
standard granulated, which in turn is drawn off to its special bin. The last
screen, an extremely fine one, retains the extra fine granulated, and this in
turn is delivered to its appointed bin. The sugar passing through the last
screen is so fine as to be classed as “dust,” which, not being marketable, is
usually remelted.

The amount of any one grade of sugar obtained from the separator may
be changed, within certain limits, by the boiling in the vacuum pans. If a
large proportion of fine-grained sugar is required, the sugar boilers are
instructed accordingly. It is impossible, however, to boil all the grains in
each strike a uniform size, or to boil any two strikes exactly alike, so the
separators are necessary, especially for removing the lumps and dust. The
dust is caused by the constant falling of the dry sugar crystals against each
other in the driers and granulators, and by the grinding action upon the
sugar crystals in the screw conveyors.

PACKING

filling various kinds and sizes of containers

When putting up his goods, a sugar refiner—like every other
manufacturer—must needs cater to the wishes and tastes of the consuming
buyer. The modern tendency in containers is in favor of sealed air-tight and
dust-proof packages. Some refiners spend great sums of money every year
in advertising the merits of special sugars packed in dust-proof cartons.
Their rivals generally follow suit, as competition in the marketing of sugar
is probably far keener than in any other line of business.
The plain truth is that all refined granulated cane sugar offered for sale in
the markets of this country today is almost identical, irrespective of the
manner in which it may be packed. The poorest quality of refined sugar
made has, in all likelihood, a purity not lower than 99.5 per cent, while the
highest grade cannot possibly exceed 99.9 per cent, a difference of only
four-tenths of one per cent, hence it is evident that all refined sugars are
practically pure, the fancy package simply meaning a fancy price.
The methods of transporting and handling the sugar after it leaves the
refinery may justify the additional expense, but this is subject to argument.
However, it makes but little difference to the manufacturer, as the cost of
the package as well as the extra handling is always included in the selling
price.
A few years ago all sugar went out in barrels or bags, while today a
modern refinery turns out about twenty different styles of container, and
twenty-four kinds of sugar. It is obvious, therefore, that the packing room of

a refinery is an interesting place, covering as it does a large area and
including a great amount of special, intricate machinery for filling,
weighing and sewing or sealing packages.
In the bottom of the bins into which the sugar is delivered from the
separators is a series of galvanized iron pipes, through which the sugar runs
to the various filling devices, the latter being usually arranged in long rows.
Under the end of each pipe is an automatic weighing machine. In packing
bags, a workman hangs a bag on the weighing machine and presses a lever,
thus allowing the sugar to run into the bag. As soon as the exact amount
required is reached, the flow is automatically cut off. These weighing
machines are so accurate that they gauge the amount to within a fraction of
an ounce. The operative removes the full bag, places it on a conveyor that
runs in and level with the floor and quickly adjusts an empty one on the
weighing machine. These men become so expert that a single operative will
fill two hundred and fifty one-hundred-pound bags per hour. The weighing
machines are designed to fill and weigh four hundred and eighty one-
hundred-pound bags per hour, but the operative cannot handle them at this
rate.

FILLING, WEIGHING AND SEWING 100-POUND SACKS

FILLING, WEIGHING AND SEWING 25-POUND SACKS

Four sewing machines, specially designed for sewing the filled bags, are
located immediately over the conveyor and in direct line with it. As the bag
passes along on the conveyor, the operative at the first machine picks up the
end of the inner cotton sack and passes it through his machine, stitching it
securely. The bag then passes along to the third machine, where the
operative takes hold of the outer burlap bag and sews it in the same manner.
Each operative has a spare machine ready for instant use in case the one he
is running gets out of order. Continuing its journey to the end of the
conveyor, the bag is deposited on the main belt conveyor, which takes it
without manual aid to the shipping floor or the storage warehouse. A
sewing-machine operative will sew as many as seventeen bags per minute,
but it is trying work and the men relieve each other at intervals during the
day. Both the one-hundred- and the forty-eight-pound sacks are handled in
this manner. Formerly the half sacks weighed fifty pounds, but since the
Parcel Post law went into effect they have been changed to forty-eight
pounds to permit of their shipment by mail. Those containing twenty-five,

ten, five and two pounds are weighed and sewed in much the same way, by
the aid of specially designed, rapid-handling machinery. The small package
machines will accurately weigh and fill five-pound bags at the rate of
twenty-five packages per minute, the others in proportion.
The paper boxes, or cartons as they are called, are weighed and filled by
special machinery. This machinery seems to possess an intelligence almost
human. One girl feeds the cartons (the tops and bottoms of which are open)
into the machine at the rate of thirty-two per minute. The machine glues the
bottom, weighs the sugar to within one thirty-second of an ounce, fills the
carton, glues the top, seals it and passes it on to a conveyor which delivers
the finished package to a table, from which it is packed into a box for
shipment. Women are usually employed in putting up the lighter packages.
A short distance from the bag-weighing machines, and running parallel
with them, is a line of pipes or spouts for filling barrels. On the floor under
each spout is a barrel shaker. This is a heavy cast-iron plate that is lifted
about one inch, first on one side, then on the other, by the action of two
cams or arms attached to a revolving shaft underneath. The shaker drops
back violently on the supporting frame after each lift, causing the sugar to
settle compactly in the barrel as it is filled to an average weight of three
hundred and fifty pounds. Naturally, the greater the amount of sugar packed
in a barrel, the less the container costs per unit of output, and as the average
cost of a sugar barrel in the United States is fifty cents, the container cost
per one hundred pounds of sugar is 14.3 cents.
Without the shaker, not more than three hundred and thirty pounds of
sugar could be put in a barrel, which would increase the cost per one
hundred pounds to 15.1 cents. This difference on a single day’s output of
two million pounds represents one hundred and sixty dollars, an eloquent
argument in favor of the shaker.

FILLING BARRELS

METHOD OF HANDLING BARRELS

In packing barrels, the operative first lines the barrel with heavy paper to
prevent the sugar from coming in contact with the rough wooden sides and
to keep it from sifting out between the staves. The barrel, thus lined, is
placed on the shaker, a valve on the spout opened and the shaking barrel
filled to the top. The barrel is then removed and turned over to the cooper,
who heads it up and rolls it on the scale for weighing.
Before an empty barrel reaches the packing room, it is weighed and the
weight (generally from nineteen to twenty-five pounds) is stamped on its
side. The gross weight of the filled barrel is determined by the packing-
room scales. The weight of the empty barrel is deducted and the net weight
of the sugar stenciled on the head. The full barrel is then sent down a chute
to the waiting freight car or to the dock for steamer shipment, or to a
conveyor that automatically delivers it to the storage warehouse.
In addition to the bags, barrels, half barrels, cartons and boxes, tins of
various sizes are used for the different sugars. All of these are filled and

weighed automatically, and taken from the packing room by conveyors.
Some of the boxes are lined with paper and some with cotton cloth; some
are nailed up in the ordinary way, and others are strapped with iron at each
end. As a rule, the individual tins are cased with wood, but sometimes there
are a number of tins in a case. Cartons contain two pounds, three pounds or
five pounds of sugar. They are packed in fiber cases holding thirty twos,
twenty threes or twelve fives and also in wooden cases which hold sixty
twos, forty threes or twenty-four fives each. The style of package depends
upon the demand of the trade catered to.
At this point a word or two about some of the specialties, such as cube,
powdered and bar sugars, as well as yellow or soft sugars, may be of
interest.

CUBE SUGAR

The sugar from which the cubes are made is of a rather fine grain, boiled
in special pans from liquor that has been filtered over the char at least twice.
From the centrifugals under the pan it falls into a hopper in which there is a
revolving screw. Directly over the screw is a tank containing a warm, white
sugar liquor, very sticky and viscous by reason of its density. A pipe leads
from the bottom of this tank to a point over the screw, and the liquor, which
is controlled by a valve, is allowed to drip upon the sugar. The action of the
screw causes the sugar and the liquor to become thoroughly mixed and
feeds the damp mass thus formed into a spout leading to the cube press, the
machine in which cube sugar is made.
At the top of this machine is another hopper, into which the damp sugar
drops from the spout overhead, and revolving in the last-mentioned hopper
are a number of small shafts with brass pegs inserted at certain intervals
along the length of the shafts, like spokes in the hub of a wheel. These pegs
are like human fingers in their action and they press the sugar down into the
pockets of a large revolving drum placed directly under the hopper. Each
pocket is the size of a cube or half cube. Working in these pockets are
plungers, which fall back as the revolving drum reaches the highest point
directly under the mechanical fingers in the hopper. The fingers fill the open
pockets and, as the drum turns, the plungers, at a certain point in its

circumference where a heavy bronze bar is placed across its face, slowly
enter the pockets and in so doing compress the sugar into cube form.
Two belts run through the machine under the cylinder, carrying
galvanized iron plates about twenty-four inches wide, or the same width as
the cylinder, and thirty inches long. As the line of pockets into which the
sugar has been pressed reaches the lowest point on the circumference of the
drum, the plungers drop down, forcing the pressed cubes out of the pockets
onto the galvanized iron plates which the moving belt carries along out of
the way of the next lot coming from the cylinder. Each plate, as it leaves the
cube press, contains five hundred and four cubes and one hundred and
sixty-eight half cubes, and the time required to fill a plate is between six
and seven seconds.

CUBE-SUGAR MACHINE

CARTON MACHINE

The belts carry the plates to a series of ovens, or driers, so placed that a
large number of plates with their contents may be inserted through a door
on the belt side. When the ovens are filled with plates holding the soft,
moist cubes, a current of hot air is turned on at the top of the ovens, passing
out at the bottom. The hot air circulating in this manner dries the cubes and
carries off the moisture. Eight hours in the ovens suffice to render the cubes
thoroughly dry and hard. They are then removed through doors opposite to
those through which they were put in. This arrangement prevents the men
who are putting the cubes into the ovens from interfering with those taking
them out, for the process is a continuous one and cubes are placed in and
removed from the ovens at the same time. As the cubes are taken out of the
ovens, they are deposited on a belt conveyor which delivers them into bins
in the packing room, ready to be put into boxes, bags, barrels and other
containers.

POWDERED AND BAR SUGAR

Powdered and bar sugars are made by grinding coarse granulated sugar
into fine particles and then separating these particles by screening them
through fine silk cloth. The bolting of flour is a similar process. Powdered
sugar has a decided tendency to cake and become hard, and the coarse sugar
from which it is ground should be particularly free from moisture. After
being crushed or ground between corrugated rolls turning at high speed, the
ground sugar passes into a screening or sifting device, of which there are
many kinds in use, the most common being the horizontal, revolving
centrifugal screen. The crushed sugar goes in at the head end, and, as it
enters, a number of revolving arms throw it against a silk screen on a
circular frame, revolving in an opposite direction, that permits the finest, or
powdered, sugar to pass through a silk cloth having over sixteen thousand
openings per square inch.
The powdered sugar extracted, the remainder drops into another screen
where a similar sifting action takes place, the silk of the second screen
being coarser than that of the first, and bar sugar is the result. Such grains as
are too large to pass through the bar screen are carried back to the rolls and
reground. The bar screen has about five thousand openings per square inch.
Bar sugar, as the name implies, is generally used in preparing beverages.
It dissolves almost instantly when dropped in water. Singularly enough, the
average housewife is not aware of the advantages attending the use of this
grade of sugar. It does not become caked as readily as powdered sugar does,
and is the ideal sweetening for berries and cereals served at the breakfast
meal. It is far more desirable than powdered sugar for most of the purposes
for which the latter is commonly used.
It is believed by many that all powdered sugar is adulterated with chalk,
starch, white corn meal or similar substances. Such is not the case, and it is
safe to assume that no mixing whatever is done by any refiner in America.
Powdered sugar has a strong tendency to cake or become hard, and some
manufacturers who buy coarse granulated sugar from the refiners for
grinding purposes use starch to the extent of from two to three per cent.
Chalk is never used, nor are other non-edible or deleterious substances.
Starch is not introduced for the purpose of making a greater profit, but to
prevent the powdered sugar from caking. The adding of starch, in all
probability, increases the cost of making powdered sugar, as starch costs

almost as much as sugar, and the expense of handling it and feeding it into
the grinding machinery is quite an item.

FILLING, WEIGHING AND SEWING 2-POUND, 5-POUND AND 10-POUND BAGS

YELLOW SUGARS

Yellow sugars, or “softs” as they are usually called, comprise fifteen
grades, ranging in color from a creamy white to a dark brown. These sugars
are used chiefly by bakers in making gingerbread, pies and cakes, although
a small quantity finds its way directly into households for ordinary domestic
consumption.
The characteristics of yellow sugars are that they have a small grain and
contain a sufficient amount of molasses to make them moist to the touch,
properties brought about by a radically different method of boiling from
that applied to white sugars. They also contain a certain amount of invert
sugar which preserves the softness of grain and prevents subsequent caking
or hardening.
To properly explain how yellow sugars are boiled, reference must be
made to the method of boiling white sugars, which may be briefly
summarized as follows:
The object to be attained in boiling white sugars is the separation of the
crystallizable sucrose contained in a given solution from the impurities,
moisture and non-crystallizable content of that solution. The formation of
sugar crystals is a natural result of the evaporation of the moisture from the
liquor or solution. In order to obtain pure white crystals, it is vitally
essential that, as far as possible, all impurities and non-sugars, except water,
be removed from the liquor before the boiling takes place, for if the
coloring matter is not thoroughly taken out, obviously the crystals will be
colored. The purifying and decolorizing operation is accomplished in the
char filters. After the grain is once formed in definite crystals, these crystals
attract and appropriate the sucrose in solution in the process of building up
their structure, while repelling or excluding the impurities, so that in
consequence the latter remain in solution. Irrespective, however, of whether
crystallization of sucrose takes place in solutions of high or low purity, it
will only partially remove the sucrose from the solution in one operation,
the limit being fixed by the amount and nature of impurities present. In
order to bring about further crystallization of sucrose the solution or mother
liquor surrounding the crystals must be separated from them and be again
diluted, filtered and concentrated.
Briefly, the procedure in boiling white sugar in a vacuum pan is to take
liquors of the highest purity for the first boiling. After the first crystals have

been removed from the mother liquor in the centrifugal machines, the liquor
is again diluted, decolorized by bone-char and boiled to grain. This
operation is continued a number of times, the purity of the liquor decreasing
each time. Finally, when the purity of the liquor falls to a certain point, the
boiling is discontinued, for at this point conditions do not admit of further
formation of pure sucrose crystals, and, if the process were pursued further,
the resulting sugar would not be white. Therefore, when this state is
reached, these low-grade liquors are boiled into a semi-refined sugar,
commonly called “refinery raw,” which corresponds fairly closely in test
with the original raw sugar, or they are used for making soft yellow sugars
as explained later on. This refinery raw is then washed, melted and put
through the whole process all over again. The liquor, from which the
crystals formed in repeated boilings have been removed as made, at length
becomes so charged with impurities that further crystallization of sucrose is
impossible and this residue, or final waste, is known as blackstrap molasses.
This manner of boiling white sugar has been called the “out and out”
method, in contradistinction to the “in and in” method employed in boiling
soft yellow sugars, of which a few words of explanation now follow.
In boiling soft yellow sugars, the aim is to produce a large number of
small sucrose crystals having the property of attracting and combining with
the molasses content of the liquor and that will retain some of the molasses
after they are purged of mother liquor in the centrifugal machines. This
process gives a sugar that may be described as a mechanical mixture of
sucrose, invert sugar and the non-sugars in the molasses.
In the case of yellow sugars, the lighter the color the better price they
bring. The greatest profit, therefore, is derived from the manufacture of
sugars of the lightest color and carrying a reduced percentage of sucrose. In
boiling such sugars, low-purity liquors from which the coloring matter has
been removed as far as practicable by bone-char filtration are required. For
the purpose, it is generally found most advantageous to use the liquors
taken from white sugar massecuite at the point when, owing to repeated
boilings, its purity has fallen so low that further extraction of pure white
sucrose crystals is impossible.
As a result of the numerous filtrations through bone-char preparatory to
reboiling in the manufacture of white sugar, these liquors are usually lighter

in color than any of corresponding purity obtained in the refining process.
Nevertheless, they are not necessarily the only liquors suitable for the
purpose, and this particularly applies to the making of the lower grades of
yellow sugars. It is, however, beyond the scope of this book to elaborate
upon that phase of sugar refining. The object sought here is to give a
general idea of how yellow sugars are boiled, without going into all the
details.
As is the case with white sugars, yellow sugars are made by a succession
of boilings in vacuum pans, the liquor used for each boiling or strike being
that obtained from the massecuite of the previous strike. The operation is
continued until the liquor becomes too low in purity and dark in color. Each
successive strike boiled is lower in test than the preceding one, due to the
fact that the sucrose crystals represent the purest part of the massecuite,
and, consequently, each time they are removed the quality of the liquor is
lowered. This accounts for the various grades of yellow sugar that are made,
fifteen in all, starting with a creamy white and ending with a dark brown.
The sucrose content of the best is about 92 per cent and that of the poorest
about 80 per cent.
In making white sugars, the aim is to produce from liquors of high purity
sucrose crystals that are pure white, hard and absolutely free from molasses.
In making yellow sugars, the object is to boil from low-purity liquors soft
sucrose crystals that possess the property of attracting and retaining the
molasses and to make this combination of crystals and molasses as
complete as possible.
The essential difference between the two methods, as well as the
appropriateness of the descriptive terms “out and out” and “in and in,” will
be readily apparent.
The impurities in yellow sugars are natural and consist of invert sugar,
glucose, organic non-sugars and salts, all of which were originally present
in the raws or were formed in the process of refining.
It is not unusual to hear it said that yellow sugars are sweeter than
granulated. To the average palate this is apparently so, but, as has been
shown, granulated sugar contains 99.8 per cent of sucrose or sweetening
matter, while the highest grade of yellow carries only 92 per cent. Soft

sugars dissolve more readily on the tongue than granulated, and the syrup or
molasses in them accentuates their sweet taste.
There are several other grades of sugar prepared for the consuming
market, but lack of space precludes a description of them or the methods by
which they are produced.

MECHANICAL DEPARTMENT

It is needless to say that the conveying, melting, filtering, boiling, drying,
screening, weighing and packing of one thousand tons of sugar in twenty-
four hours necessitates a great amount of steam and a multiplicity of
machinery.
The boilers generate steam to drive huge pumps that deliver cold salt
water to the condensers throughout the refinery, to drive vacuum pumps
that make boiling and evaporation in vacuo possible, and to drive large
turbine or reciprocating engines that supply the electric power. The exhaust
steam as it leaves the cylinders has a pressure of about fifteen pounds per
square inch. It is conducted through pipes to the evaporators, pans, driers
and tanks, where it is again used for concentrating the liquors, boiling in the
pans, drying the sugar and keeping the liquors hot throughout the process. It
leaves the various heating coils and tubes as hot water and is returned to the
boilers for the generation of more steam.
Live steam, that is to say, steam just as it comes from the boilers, is used
extensively in the vacuum pans for boiling the liquor to grain.
A refinery melting one thousand tons of raw sugar each day requires
about 5500 boiler horse power. On the Atlantic coast coal is the fuel used,
while on the Pacific coast oil is burned. The amount of fuel consumed in
different refineries varies to some extent, but a fair average per ton of raw
sugar melted is one and one-third barrels of oil, or one-third of a ton of coal.
In modern plants all the moving machinery, except the pumps and main
engines, is usually driven by electric motors. This does away with many
dangerous belts, as well as expensive transmission machinery. The motor
drive is simple and efficient and therefore used extensively.

The mechanical department is under the general supervision of the
superintendent, but in direct charge of a mechanical-electrical engineer.
This man is known as the chief engineer, and he is directly responsible, not
only for the operation of all the machinery in the plant together with its
upkeep and repair, but he has also to cope with engineering problems that
are constantly arising. Under his direction, a corps of draughtsmen is
always busily engaged in planning and designing improvements and
additions. He also maintains a force of mechanics, watching, operating and
repairing the machinery. These men represent almost every trade, including
machinists, blacksmiths, coppersmiths, tinsmiths, millwrights,
boilermakers, riggers, masons, painters and many others.
The diversity of the mechanical work around a refinery is remarkable,
and the engineer in charge must be a man of exceptional mechanical ability,
as his duties include not only steam, electrical and civil engineering, but
construction engineering of an advanced character. As refineries are always
built on sites bordering on deep water, harbor engineering problems are also
constantly before him.
In connection with every refinery there are many shops, where
mechanical work incidental to repairs and construction is carried on. These
shops are equipped with the necessary tools and implements for quick
repairs and are under the supervision of the chief engineer. In addition,
there is the cooper shop where many thousands of barrels are turned out
daily, and the bag factory where twenty cotton bags and twenty burlap bags
must be made for each and every ton of output packed in that manner.
The mechanical department of a modern refinery is as important as it is
extensive, for failure in any one of its branches means costly delays. The
machinery is run twenty-four hours each day, except Sundays, during about
eleven months in the year. The plant is closed down the remaining thirty
days for annual cleaning and repairs.
Intelligence and ability, tempered with good judgment, bring about the
esprit de corps that gives the necessary results. The mechanical is almost as
important as the chemical department and, as before stated, it is subject to
the general supervision of the chemical engineer.

LABORATORY

OIL-BURNING BOILER PLANT

LABORATORY

The chemical laboratory is really the heart of the institution, for upon it
depends the success of every manufacturing operation. The superintendent
of a refinery must possess a thorough knowledge of chemical engineering,
for the process of sugar refining is largely chemical from beginning to end.
Competent chemical engineers, as distinguished from chemists, are rare,
and yet their calling offers more promising prospects to young men than
most other professions do today. It is clear to the intelligent observer that in
these times of intensely keen competition, the manufacturer will, sooner or
later, inevitably be driven to seek a considerable percentage of his profits in
the utilization of by-products that now go to waste or bring but little return.
The men to solve the manufacturing problems of the future will be chemical
engineers. Broadly speaking, comparatively little has been done in this field
in the United States, and its possibilities are incalculable.

In the laboratory, day and night, a corps of chemists is constantly
engaged in the study of questions that arise in connection with the operation
of the various departments. Polarizations for account of buyers and sellers
of all raw sugars purchased, are made and checked there; hundreds of
samples of liquors and syrups are tested daily for control work, as the purity
of both must be known at all times and a record kept of their temperatures
and densities. Samples of all the sugars entering the refining process, as
well as of the finished product, are carefully analyzed, and upon these
analyses are based elaborate calculations regarding yield and efficiency.
The wash waters from the char filters are examined and tested frequently,
the bone-char is tested every twenty-four hours as a check upon the process
of revivification in the kilns, and once a month the bone-char is completely
analyzed to determine the deterioration that has taken place in it.
Tests are made of materials used in the refining process, such as lime,
soda, acids and lubricating oils; of the feed water for the steam boilers; of
the fresh water used throughout the plant; and of the fuel, whether coal or
oil. Even the gases from the fires under the boilers are tested as they pass
through the smokestack, in order to determine whether or not the firemen
perform their duties properly.
Taking all this in conjunction with frequent tests and experimental work
on driers, condensers, evaporators and other apparatus, it will be seen that
there is plenty to keep a large staff of chemists fully occupied.
In refinery work, what is to be feared more than anything is the house
becoming “sour.” Raw sugars and sugar liquors, and particularly the sweet
waters, have a tendency to ferment, and fermentation, like fire, if not
checked and brought under control before it gains much headway, soon
pervades the entire establishment, affecting all the liquors and syrups, thus
turning the sucrose or sugar into glucose, which cannot be recrystallized. In
a refinery of two million pounds daily capacity, there is double this quantity
of sugar in the house in the form of liquors, syrups, sweet water, massecuite
and raws. If all of this four million pounds turned “sour,” the money loss,
with raw sugar worth four cents a pound, would be about one hundred and
sixty thousand dollars. Such a contingency, while remote, clearly
demonstrates that chemical control is an absolute necessity.

COST OF REFINING

In concluding that part of the story that deals with refining, some
reference may be made to the refining cost and to the price at which refined
sugar is sold.
The cost of refining sugar varies in different parts of the United States on
account of the difference in the cost of commodities entering into the
refining process, such as labor, fuel, cotton, burlap, containers, bone-char,
etc. On the Pacific coast nearly all these items are higher than in New York,
and consequently the cost of refining is probably greater.
In 1911 nearly all the sugar refiners of the United States appeared before
the Hardwick Congressional committee at Washington and the testimony
given by them before that body showed that the cost of refining ranged
from 60 cents to 65 cents per 100 pounds.
On the day the Congressional committee began its investigation, raw
sugar was selling in New York for 3.86 cents per pound, and the testimony
regarding the cost of refining was no doubt based on this price for the raw
sugar entering the refining operations.
It is therefore fair to assume that under normal conditions, with raw sugar
at about 3¾ cents, the average cost of refining in the United States is 62½
cents per 100 pounds. This includes every item from the time the raw sugar
is landed on the dock until the refined is loaded on the cars or boats for
shipment. It includes the selling and overhead expenses, but not the
transportation charges after the sugar leaves the refinery.
During the last six years (1909-14 inclusive) the actual differential in the
United States between the purchase price of raw sugar and the selling price
of refined has been 82½ cents per 100 pounds. The difference between this
figure and the cost of refining represents the refiner’s gross profit; in other
words, about 20 cents per 100 pounds, out of which he must pay for all
additions and improvements to his plant. The remainder is available for
returns on capital invested. This difference varies with the time of year and
in different localities, but the average will probably hold good.
A refiner of cane sugar buys his raw product in the open market and must
pay for all his operating and administration expenses and obtain his profit
from the margin between the buying price of raw and the selling price of
refined sugar. The cost of refining is not constant, as it varies with the

fluctuating values of fuel, containers, labor, and particularly the cost of raw
sugar. If it costs 62½ cents per 100 pounds to refine sugar with raws at 3.86
cents per pound, it will cost about 82½ cents per 100 pounds with raw
sugars at 6 cents, assuming that such items as fuel, containers, labor, etc.,
remain constant. This is due to the greater value of the raw sugar lost in
refining, to the heavier insurance premiums and higher interest charges.
With high-priced raws, the margin between raws and refined must be
proportionately greater to offset the increased cost of refining.
The refiner, like the consumer, would prefer to see sugar selling on a low
basis, while the producer always hopes for the opposite.

SHIPPING DEPARTMENT

Here will be found every modern convenience for the rapid loading of
cars and steamers. Adequate railway trackage is provided for the handling
of shipments moving by rail, and on the waterfront side of the warehouses
there is ample berth room for steamers that carry the sugar to cities and
towns on the inland waterways and the seacoast, together with points
tributary thereto. Facilities are also at hand for local delivery by drays.
Railroad cars are sometimes sent to refineries by water, on car barges, to
be loaded with sugar and then towed to what are known as railroad
terminals, where the cars are taken from the barges and started on their
journey to destination. The capacity of a car varies from twenty-four
thousand to one hundred thousand pounds. If an amount of sugar equal to
that consumed in the United States in 1915 were loaded into cars containing
1000 sacks of 100 pounds each, it would require 81,087 cars, which would
make up a train 768 miles long.
A large part of the product is delivered direct from the packing-room
conveyors into the waiting cars and steamers, thus avoiding unnecessary
handling. A single shipment frequently includes a number of different styles
of package, and great care must be exercised to insure accuracy in count
and description.
As dry granulated sugar readily absorbs moisture, every precaution must
be taken to make the storage rooms thoroughly damp-proof, so that the
sugar may always be in good condition when shipped from the refinery.
Shipments are made only on written orders from the sales department to
the head of the shipping department. These orders set forth the name of the
buyer, the kinds and quantity of sugar desired, the point to which the sugar
is to go, the route by which it is to travel, the date on which it is to be
shipped, and the terms of sale. At the proper time the sugar is loaded,
shipped, and in due course delivered to the buyer.

INLAND-WATERWAY STEAMER LOADING SUGAR AT REFINERY DOCK

CAR-FLOAT ARRIVING AT REFINERY DOCK

MARKETING

The amount of sugar used in the United States in 1915 was 4,257,714
short tons. Of this, 3,389,175 tons were raw cane, the remainder consisting
of 861,568 tons of domestic beet and 6,971 tons of foreign refined cane and
beet. Of the 3,389,175 tons of raw cane, 150,000 tons were consumed in the
raw state, and from the remainder, 3,239,175 tons, about 3,044,825 tons of
refined sugar were produced. The per capita consumption was 83.83
pounds, and was made up of:

SHORT TONS PER CENT
Refined made from raw cane 3,044,825 74.94
Domestic and foreign beet 862,694 21.23
Foreign refined cane 5,845 .14
Consumed in the raw state 150,000 3.69
4,063,364 100.00

Among articles of food that contain a large percentage of sugar are jams,
jellies, chocolate, canned fruits, condensed milk, confectionery, chewing
gum and cordials. It is estimated by Willett & Gray that in 1915 the direct
per capita consumption was 31.43 pounds, and that the remaining 52.40
pounds were used in various prepared or manufactured foodstuffs. Over
ninety-nine per cent of all the cane sugar consumed in the United States is
refined in New York, Boston, Philadelphia, New Orleans and San
Francisco. The beet comes chiefly from California, Colorado, Michigan,
Utah and Idaho; the maple from the New England states, Ohio and Canada;
and the small amount of full duty-paying foreign cane from Java, Peru,
Mexico, Central America and Santo Domingo.
During the past eleven years the consumption in the United States has
grown at an average rate of 3.57 per cent per annum. In 1911, on account of
the abnormally high prices, the increase was practically nil.
The annual per capita consumption of sugar in some of the other
countries of the world is as follows:

1914

Servia 4.60 lbs.
Greece 8.99 ”
Bulgaria 9.94 ”
Italy 10.45 ”
Portugal 13.60 ”
Spain 15.91 ”
Roumania 17.12 ”
Turkey 20.33 ”
Russia 29.26 ”
Finland 32.54 ”
Austria-Hungary 37.38 ”
France 39.01 ”
Belgium 42.79 ”
Holland 53.44 ”
Norway 60.37 ”
Sweden 60.48 ”
Switzerland 74.87 ”
Germany 74.95 ”
England 89.69 ”
Denmark 93.48 ”

The sale and distribution of large quantities of refined sugar is a serious
problem and just as important as the production and the refining of the raw
product. Competition is so keen, and the questions involved so complex,
that the sale of the product really results in commercial warfare.
To dispose of the output of a large plant successfully requires great
intelligence, a broad grasp of business principles, strict honor and integrity,
and prompt, decisive action in times of fluctuating markets.
Sales managers of the sugar-refining companies of the United States
command high salaries, for the success of the business depends to no small
extent upon their ability and judgment. Their knowledge of human nature
must be broad and sound and it is tested to the utmost in their selection of
assistants and brokers, for representatives always reflect the ideals,
principles and methods of the parent authority.

The selling of sugar by the refiner direct to the consumer has not been
found practicable, as an organization complete enough to keep in touch with
consumers in every city, town and village of the country would be so top-
heavy and costly to maintain that the price of the commodity to the
consumer would be needlessly increased.
As matters stand, people living in the frozen valleys of Alaska, in the
scarcely accessible regions of the Rocky mountains and in the lumber and
mining settlements of the West, many miles from railroads, can obtain their
supply of sugar with almost the same facility as the residents of New York
or San Francisco. A system of distribution that makes this possible leaves
little to be desired, and a word or two concerning it will be timely at this
point.
Sugar is sold by the refiner to the wholesale grocer through the medium
of the refinery’s broker. From the wholesaler it goes to the retailer, who in
turn delivers it to the consumer.
Brokers are important factors in distribution. In every large city and
consuming center, each refinery is represented by its own brokers, who
keep in constant touch with all the wholesale grocers and manufacturers of
their district.
A thorough knowledge of men and methods, sound business principles,
diplomatic talents of no mean order and the capacity to act rapidly, but
coolly, in business crises are found combined in the successful broker. He
occupies a position between the seller and buyer, and it is just as much his
prime duty to see that in all transactions full justice is accorded to both as it
is to sell the sugar.
Every refinery having its own broker in each consuming center, it follows
that the competition for business among the brokers is very keen. When a
broker obtains an order from a jobber or manufacturer, he telegraphs it to
his principal. The order is usually confirmed and the goods shipped
promptly. For his services the broker receives three cents for every one
hundred pounds of sugar sold. This compensates him for the services of his
salesmen and himself, his office expenses and cost of telegrams, which is
heavy.

Manufacturers of foodstuffs of which sugar is an ingredient, buy their
supplies through brokers. They do not resell the sugar as such, but use it
only in the manufacture of their own special products.
Wholesale grocery jobbers, of whom there are about twenty-five hundred
in the United States, are also very important factors in the distribution of
sugar. As a rule, they are located in the large centers of population, and have
efficient organizations for the purchase and resale of all kinds of foodstuffs.
They deal in as many as three thousand different commodities, and their
expense of doing business is apportioned over all of these items, thus
reducing to a minimum the expense of handling any one of them. Generally
speaking, they have large establishments where stocks of all kinds of goods
are carried ready for immediate distribution. The aggregate capital tied up
in these stocks throughout the country is enormous, but necessary, as the
jobber must at all times be ready to deliver to the retailer whatever is
wanted in any of his lines. Wholesale jobbers occupy a unique position in
the scheme of things. They are to the commerce of the country what the
bankers are to its finances. In other words, they are the bankers of
commodities. Their operating staff consists, first, of the buyers, and,
second, of the salesmen.
The buyers are men possessing special knowledge concerning the various
articles handled by the house. For instance, in the grocery line one will buy
nothing but teas and coffees, another canned goods, another sugar, and so
on. These men as a rule have devoted years of study to the particular
commodity which they are delegated to buy. They are shrewd, keenly alert
and always ready to take advantage of market fluctuations in their favor.
The margin of profit between the buying and selling price of any
commodity is usually so small that the acumen of the buyer is an important
factor in the final results.
The salesmen are trained, tactful, tireless and efficient. They travel from
town to town and place to place, visiting every nook and corner where
human beings congregate, in order to sell the goods carried by the firm.
While his calling is a most useful one, the life of a “knight of the grip” is
not always pleasant, as he meets with many deprivations and discomforts.
To compensate him for capital invested, for the expense of doing
business and for the losses he incurs in bad debts and declining markets, the

jobber probably obtains a gross return of fifteen cents on each one hundred
pounds of sugar he sells.
The next important link in the chain is the retailer. It is roughly estimated
that there are three hundred thousand retail grocers in the United States,
many of whom handle and distribute almost as many articles as the jobber.
Their lot on the whole is not cast in pleasant places, because of the severe
competition they meet in selling their goods.
Competition is a word regarded almost with affection by the buyer, but
for the seller of goods it is probably the most unpleasant one in the English
language. There is an old axiom which reads: “Competition is the life of
trade.” It may be so, but the expression was no doubt coined by a buyer.
Among sellers, competition is in direct proportion to the number engaged
in any particular business. It therefore follows that as there are three
hundred thousand retailers in the United States, and hundreds in each of all
the large cities, the struggle to keep on their feet and continue their various
enterprises must be severe. The number of failures occurring every year
amply substantiates this assertion. Reckless and unscrupulous men engage
in every business, and the competition thus forced on all others in their line
is not only unfair, but positively dishonest. Any individual can break a price
or introduce new and expensive experiments in selling terms, which must
be followed with equally attractive terms by the other sellers, thus resulting
in great loss to all. It is no satisfaction that such men finally fail and go out
of business, for the losses sustained in the interim can never be recovered.
Another grave difficulty with which the retailer has to contend is the fact
that the average individual to whom he delivers his wares is apt to be rather
callous when pay-day comes around. It is sad, but true, that those best able
to pay are sometimes the most unsatisfactory customers of the retail grocer.
A retailer’s expense of doing business is proportionately much greater
than that of the wholesaler, and his losses, due to bad or uncollectible
accounts, are much heavier. The cost of delivering goods to the consumer’s
door is high, and a fact that should be remembered, but which is frequently
overlooked, is that it costs the grocer just as much to deliver a five-pound
package of sugar as a wagon-load. Householders are proverbially careless,
and telephone calls for late and urgent deliveries are a source of great
annoyance and expense.

To create a pleasing impression, the grocer must keep a clean, sanitary
store, and the expense incident to attractive window and shelf displays to
invite attention is an important item. Department and other stores in his
town or neighborhood often advertise “leaders” to attract the buying public,
in the hope of selling with these leaders other goods at a profit, or because
they are overstocked with a particular commodity. Every retailer must, as a
rule, meet this unfair competition or lose his trade.
Sugar more than any other staple article is used as a leader, and, as a
result, the retail grocer’s profit on it is very small. What remains to him out
of the selling price of one hundred pounds of sugar does not exceed thirty-
five cents, and more than likely it has cost him twenty-five cents to sell it. It
is the retail grocer’s employé who delivers sugar in the quantity desired to
the housewife at her door, and through her hands the pure, glistening
crystals reach the family table.

BEET SUGAR

SHORT REVIEW OF THE HISTORY OF BEET SUGAR

The extraction of sugar from beets dates back to 1747, when Andreas
Marggraf, professor of physics in the Academy of Science of Berlin,
discovered the existence of a sugar in beets similar in its properties to that
obtained from cane.
The discovery was little utilized at first, however, and the manufacture of
sugar from beets did not attain commercial importance for over half a
century, when Franz Karl Achard, a pupil of Marggraf, made discoveries
which led to the construction of the first beet-sugar factory in the world, in
Silesia, in the year 1799.
The work of Achard soon attracted the attention of Napoleon Bonaparte,
who appointed a commission of scientists to go to Silesia to investigate
Achard’s factory. Upon their return, two small factories were constructed
near Paris. Although these two factories were not altogether a success, the
results attained greatly interested Napoleon, and in 1811 he issued a decree
appropriating one million francs ($200,000) for the establishment of sugar
schools, and compelling the farmers to plant a large acreage to sugar beets
the following year. He also prohibited the further importation of sugar from
the Indies after January 1, 1813.
As a result of these and other drastic decrees, three hundred and thirty-
four factories were erected in France during the years 1812 and 1813, and
their production was seven million seven hundred thousand pounds of
sugar, or an average of eleven and one-half tons to the factory.

By permission of Truman G. Palmer, Esq.
SUGAR BEET

By permission of Truman G. Palmer, Esq.
ANOTHER TYPE OF SUGAR BEET

With the fall of Napoleon Bonaparte, disaster came upon this, one of his
greatest achievements, and but one factory survived. The industry was
destined to flourish again, however, under the reign of Louis Philippe. In
1836-37 there were five hundred and forty-two factories in France,

producing thirty-five thousand tons of sugar, as compared with fourteen
hundred and eight tons in Germany, which country had only recently begun
the culture of beets.
When Napoleon III became emperor, he so stimulated the industry that in
1853 the French output had doubled. Meanwhile the Germans were making
rapid strides, and in 1880 the German output of sugar exceeded that of
France. As a result of legislative encouragement, Germany today is the
largest beet-sugar producer in the world.
The first successful beet-sugar factory in the United States was
constructed by E. H. Dyer, at Alvarado, California, in 1879. The next
successful factory was erected at Watsonville, California, in 1888, by Claus
Spreckels. The Oxnard brothers followed with the construction in 1890 of a
factory at Grand Island, Nebraska, one at Norfolk, Nebraska, and a third at
Chino, California, the last built in 1891.
From this it will be seen that the commercial production of beet sugar in
the United States really dates back to about 1890, since only three factories
of small capacity had been established prior to that date. The development
of the industry since the year 1892 has been rapid, and the general results of
the beet industry in the United States in 1915 showed the following:

Factories in operation 67
Acres of beets harvested 611,301
Average yield of beets per acre 10.10 short tons
Beets worked 6,150,293 ”
Sugar manufactured 874,220 ”

The season of 1916 promises a notable increase in tonnage.

THE SUGAR BEET

The botanical name of the sugar beet is Beta vulgaris. It grows
exclusively in the temperate zone, and with satisfactory soil and climatic
conditions a yield of thirty tons per acre has resulted. The average yield in
the United States, however, is slightly over ten tons per acre. There are

many varieties of beets, some of which do better in one locality than
another, so that great care must be used in the selection of the seed.
The beet, unlike sugar cane, grows below the ground, is white in color
and shaped like the ordinary carrot, but larger. The beets vary greatly in
size, depending upon variety, soil and climatic conditions, the average
weight ranging between one and two pounds.
The foliage has a rich, brilliant green color and grows to a height of about
fourteen inches. The leaves are numerous and broad and grow in a tuft from
the center or crown of the beet, which is usually level with or just above the
ground surface.
The average composition of a sugar beet is about as follows:

Sugar 17.3 per cent
Marc or pulp 4.4 ”
Ash and organic non-sugar .7 ”
Water 77.6 ”

The value of the beet to a factory depends on the amount and purity of
the sugar content. Factories as a rule decline to purchase beets containing
less than twelve per cent of sucrose, as it is unprofitable to handle them. In
order to induce the farmer to devote particular care and attention to the
culture of his fields and thus increase the sugar content, the factories pay a
premium for beets containing over fifteen per cent of sugar. The premium is
usually twenty-five cents per ton of beets for each additional one per cent of
sugar. Encouraged by this bonus, the California grower has improved the
quality of his beets, until today they contain on an average about eighteen
per cent of sugar of a purity from eighty to eighty-four.

By permission of Truman G. Palmer, Esq.
PLOUGHING WITH CATERPILLAR ENGINE

By permission of Truman G. Palmer, Esq.
PLANTING BEET SEED

SELECTION OF THE SOIL

The sugar beet, like sugar cane, needs a peculiar soil and climate for its
successful cultivation. The most important requirement is that the soil shall
contain a large supply of plant food, be rich in humus and have the property
of retaining a great deal of moisture. A certain amount of alkali is not
necessarily detrimental, as sugar beets are not especially susceptible to
injury from this salt. The ground should be fairly level and well drained,
especially where irrigation is practiced.
While the physical character is of secondary importance, as generous
crops are grown in sandy soil as well as in heavy loams, still the ideal soil is
a sandy loam, i. e., a mixture of organic matter, clay and sand. A subsoil of
gravel, or the presence of hard-pan, is not desirable, as cultivation to a

depth of from twelve to fifteen inches is necessary to produce the best
results.
Climatic conditions, temperature, sunshine, rainfall and winds have an
important bearing upon the success of beet culture. A temperature ranging
from 60 degrees to 70 degrees Fahrenheit during the growing months is
most favorable. Sixteen inches of rainfall are necessary to raise an average
crop of beets without irrigation. High winds are very harmful, as they
generally crust the land and prevent the young beets from coming through
the ground. The best results are obtained along the coast of southern
California, where warm, sunny days succeeded by cool, foggy nights seem
to meet every requirement. Sunshine of long duration but not of great
intensity is the most important factor in the successful cultivation of sugar
beets. The nearer the equator is approached, the poorer the beets become in
sucrose because of the shorter days and the greater heat of the sun. Beets
have never been raised with success in the hot interior valleys, as the hot
days followed by warm, dry nights sap the vitality of the plant. In the
elevated Rocky mountain region of Colorado and Utah, where the
temperature is high during the daytime but where the nights are cool, the
quality of the beet is excellent.
In Michigan the long summer days and the influence of the great lakes
result in satisfactory climatic conditions for sugar-beet culture, and the
crops raised in that state are large.
In order to cultivate beets successfully the land must be properly
prepared. Deep ploughing is the first principle of beet culture. It allows the
roots to penetrate the subsoil without much obstruction, thereby preventing
the beet from growing out of the ground, besides enabling it to extract
considerable nourishment and moisture from the lower soil. If the latter is
too hard, the roots will not penetrate it readily and, as a result, the plant will
be pushed up and out of the earth during the process of growth. A hard
subsoil is impervious to water and prevents proper drainage. It should not
be too loose, however, as this allows the water to pass through more freely
than is desirable.
The character of the surface soil is equally important. Careful preparation
by harrowing should be done to afford a finely pulverized and clean bed for
the seed.

To sum up, the soil should be deep, fairly fine and easily penetrable by
the roots. It should also be capable of retaining moisture and at the same
time admit of a free circulation of air and good drainage.

PLANTING

The preliminary preparation of the ground finished, the seed should be
put in as soon as the soil is firm enough to allow it to germinate readily and
the young plants to grow normally. The time of planting varies according to
climatic conditions. In California planting begins as a rule in December and
ends in March, while in Utah, Colorado and Michigan it ranges from March
until May.

By permission of Truman G. Palmer, Esq.
THINNING

By permission of Truman G. Palmer, Esq.
CULTIVATING

About twenty pounds of seed to the acre are required to produce a
satisfactory stand. The seed is planted in rows, about eighteen inches apart,
and is drilled in solidly to a depth of from three-quarters to one and a half
inches. The latter is the maximum, as any greater depth than this weakens
the plant and should, therefore, be avoided. The soil around the seed is well
packed by the planter in order to draw the moisture necessary for
germination.
The production of beet seed presents many problems; the chief one is to
obtain the particular kind of seed that will bring forth a hardy beet
containing a large percentage of sugar of a high purity. The beets from
which the seed is produced are selected with the greatest care, and for
nearly a century the Luther Burbanks of Europe have devoted their time and
skill to improving the quality. Until recently, practically all of the beet seed
used in the United States was imported from Europe. Since the outbreak of
the great war in 1914, however, the difficulties attendant upon securing a

supply have caused the beet growers to turn their attention to raising seed in
this country. Their efforts have been rewarded with a fair measure of
success, and while the cost is greater than that of European seed, the
germinating properties have proven to be excellent. The best results have
been obtained in Idaho. Owing to the fact that the culture of the beets and
the picking and sorting of the seed are done chiefly by hand, labor enters
largely into the cost of production, and consequently, under normal
conditions, the growers in the densely populated countries of Europe have a
great advantage over those in the United States, where the main difficulty is
securing labor for the field work.
Like sugar cane, beets are subject to plant diseases of various kinds, as
well as to injury by insect pests, and great care has to be exercised to ward
off these dangers.
Probably no other crop exhausts the soil so rapidly as beets, and, if they
are planted for many years in succession, they deteriorate year by year. On
the other hand, if crops are rotated so that beets are grown in the same
ground every third year, peas, beans or grain being raised the other two
years, it is a remarkable fact that all of these crops will improve each year.
This is due to the intensive cultivation of the beets and to the humus left in
the ground in the form of rootlets. Experience has taught the farmer that no
other crop is so beneficial to the soil as beets grown in the right rotation and
with proper care.

THINNING

As soon as the beets are up and the rows clearly defined, thinning
becomes necessary. This is one of the most important features of beet
culture and is a tedious and expensive operation. It consists of cutting out
the plants so that individual roots remain, spaced about eight inches apart.
The work is done by hand, a hoe being used to block out the spaces, and the
roots surrounding the one which it is desired to retain are pulled up. Due
partly to faulty germination, but principally to defective thinning of the
beets, in which operation a great many of the small, tender beet plants are
injured or killed, very much less than the theoretical number of mature
beets are secured per acre. With rows eighteen inches apart and a plant
every eight inches in the row, 43,000 beets per acre should be obtained,

which, at an average weight of one and one-half pounds per beet, would
mean 32.25 tons. Owing, however, to the facts just mentioned and to other
causes, the actual yield is always much less. The average in California for a
number of years past has been only 10.68 tons per acre.

By permission of Truman G. Palmer, Esq.
FIELD OF RIPE BEETS

By permission of Truman G. Palmer, Esq.
TOPPING BEETS

CULTIVATION

The purpose of cultivation is two-fold; first, to retain the moisture in the
soil, and, second, to destroy the weeds and grass, as in the early stages of
the growth of the beets weeds might spoil the stand by choking the plants.
Cultivation should be continued until the plants have attained such a size
that the leaves cover the ground. It increases the fertility of the soil by
opening the land to the atmosphere, thus facilitating the penetration of
oxygen and absorption of air moisture and the resulting decomposition and
assimilation of nutritious elements.

HARVESTING AND TOPPING

The time when harvesting takes place depends on the many factors that
influence the growth and maturing of the beet. In the colder countries the
harvesting lasts from September until the ground becomes frozen, while in
warmer climates like that of California, where the seed is planted early,
harvesting begins about July first and lasts for a period of from seventy-five
to ninety days.
The beets are first loosened by means of a specially shaped plough,
called the “puller,” which lifts them from the ground. They are then picked
up by hand and the crown of each beet, together with the leaves, is cut off
with a large knife. The leaves contain no sugar, and are, therefore, not taken
into the factory, but are utilized for stock feeding, being quite valuable for
this purpose. The sugar contained in the crown is accompanied by so many
organic salts that it does not pay to extract it.
The topped beets are then loaded into wagons or railroad cars and
transported to the factory, at which point they are carefully weighed. In this
country most of the beets are raised by farmers and sold under contract to
the factories, at so much per ton, so that the determination of the exact
weight and sucrose content is important. For the season of 1915 the average
price paid to the farmers for beets was $5.67 per ton.
On arrival at the factory a certain number of beets are taken from every
wagon- or car-load, and these represent a fair average of all the beets of that
particular delivery. They are sent to the laboratory and their exact weight
ascertained, after which they are trimmed of all adhering roots, leaves and
parts of the crown, if not properly topped in the field. Any remaining soil is
carefully brushed off and the beets thoroughly cleaned. They are then
reweighed and the difference between this and the first weight is the tare.
This difference represents a certain percentage of the total of the sample
beets weighed, and that small percentage is deducted from the gross weight
of the total load. In this way the exact net weight of beets delivered by the
farmer is determined and he is paid according to this net weight.
The sugar content of the beet and the purity of the juice must now be
ascertained, for the price paid the farmer varies according to the amount of
sugar the beet contains. As in the case of weighing, sampling and polarizing
raw cane sugar, representatives of both parties—the farmer and the factory
—are present when all weights are taken and tests made. There are several

different methods for determining the percentage of sugar in the beet and
the purity of the juice, but the following gives a fair idea of the general
practice.
The sample beets having been cleaned, are cut into quarters, one-quarter
of each beet being taken for the general sample. This general sample is
placed in a grinding or shredding machine, the beets are disintegrated to a
fine pulp and thoroughly mixed. A specific amount of this fine pulp is then
accurately weighed and placed in a copper pan or dish called a capsule. A
small quantity of dilute lead solution is introduced to assist in clarifying,
and sufficient water added to bring the volume up to 200 cubic centimeters.
It is then heated for about twenty minutes and vigorously agitated, so that
the sugar-bearing juice of the beet will mix evenly with the water that was
added. The mixture, after being allowed to stand for several minutes, is
filtered through paper and a certain amount placed in the observation tube
of a polariscope. The instrument will show the amount of sugar in the
solution, and by multiplying the reading by two the per cent of sugar in the
beets will be found. If in preparing the sample only sufficient water had
been added to bring it to a volume of 100 cubic centimeters, the polariscope
would give a direct reading of the percentage of sugar in the beets. Practice
has demonstrated, however, that the method described is the more accurate.

By permission of Truman G. Palmer, Esq.
HAULING BEETS

By permission of Truman G. Palmer, Esq.
DELIVERING BEETS TO THE FACTORY BY WAGON

To ascertain the purity of the juice, the procedure is as follows: A part of
the shredded sample is taken and the juice is squeezed out of it. The amount
of sugar in this juice is determined by aid of the polariscope, and a Brix
spindle shows the amount of solids it contains. By dividing the polarization
by the Brix and multiplying by 100 the purity is obtained, which means the
percentage of pure sugar in the total amount of solids contained in the
solution.
The purity of the juice has an important bearing on the subsequent
manufacture of the sugar. It is difficult and costly to extract sugar from low-
purity juices, and the loss of sugar in the process is very high. The reverse is
naturally true if the juices have a high purity. The purity of the juice in the
beet is materially affected during the growing period by climatic conditions,
rainfall, irrigation, fertilization, state of soil and cultivation. Great care and
attention must be given the beet to insure high purity and heavy content of
sugar.

From the above it will be seen how the net weight and the percentage of
sugar in any particular wagon- or car-load of beets are ascertained, as well
as the purity of all the beets that enter a factory. The efficiency of the work
in a factory is based on the figures thus obtained.

MANUFACTURE OF BEET SUGAR

The process of making sugar from the beet is highly technical in its
details and cannot be fully discussed within the scope of this work. A brief
description, however, will give an idea of the general methods followed.
The process of manufacture may be classified under seven headings:

1. Transportation and cleaning of beets.
2. Extraction of juice, slicing and diffusion.
3. Purification, carbonation, filtration, concentration and sulfitation.
4. Formation of grain.
5. Partial drying, purging crystals from syrup in centrifugals.
6. Final drying.
7. Packing.

TRANSPORTATION AND CLEANING

The beets, after delivery to the factory, are stored in V-shaped bins, in the
bottom of which is a flume covered by removable boards. By removing the
boards, one at a time, the beets are fed into the flume, where a swift current
of water floats them into the factory. From this flume the beets are lifted by
means of a large wheel, a helical screw or any other suitable device, and
discharged into a washer.
The common form of washer consists of a horizontal, semi-cylindrical
tank provided with rotating, kicking or stirring arms for keeping the beets in
motion. In this tank the beet is completely cleaned and separated from
adhering earth, weeds and pebbles.

By permission of Truman G. Palmer, Esq.
DELIVERING BEETS TO THE FACTORY BY TRAIN

By permission of Truman G. Palmer, Esq.
GENERAL INTERIOR VIEW OF BEET-SUGAR FACTORY—SHOWING FILTER PRESSES IN
FOREGROUND; PANS AND EVAPORATORS IN REAR

The beets are delivered from the washer into an elevator, which takes
them to a point near the top of the factory and discharges them into
automatic weighing and recording scales. From the scales the beets fall by
gravity into the slicing machines.

EXTRACTION OF JUICE, SLICING AND DIFFUSION

The slices are made in various shapes and forms. The slicing machines
consist of revolving, corrugated knives which cut the beets into long, thin
slices or “cossettes.” The object is to produce slices which expose the
greatest amount of surface, and yet sufficiently firm to lie not too closely
together when placed in the diffusion battery, thereby preventing the
circulation of the diffusion liquors. The cossettes are conveyed on an
endless belt, or through a hopper, to the cells of the diffusion battery.
As the term implies, the juice in the beet is extracted by diffusion, and
not by crushing, as in the case of cane. When two liquids, separated by a
membrane, are brought in direct contact with each other and allowed to
stand for a time, they mix uniformly without the assistance of mechanical or
other force.
Beets are made up of a great number of plant cells, the walls of which are
porous membranes. These cells are placed in contact with water or juice of
lesser sugar content than the juice in the plant cell, in consequence of which
the juice is gradually diffused from the beet and carried away in the
circulating water which is added. When this water, or rather juice, has
reached a certain stage of concentration, it is drawn out of the cells and sent
to the next stage in the process of manufacture.
A diffusion battery, or the apparatus in which the process of diffusion is
carried on, consists of a number of tanks or cells, usually from ten to
fourteen, cylindrical in shape and terminating in truncated cones provided
with covers. There are two ways of arranging the cells of a diffusion
battery; in the one case the cells are placed in a straight line; in the other
they are grouped in a circle. These cells are filled with cossettes in rotation,
and water is introduced into the one in which the cossettes were first placed.
Thus the water enters the tank in which the cossettes are nearly exhausted
of their sugar, and it flows successively through the other cells that contain

cossettes of greater sugar content until the last cell, or the one containing
fresh cossettes, is reached. The juice passing through this cell is alternately
sent to the measuring tank or to the next cell, which has just been filled with
fresh cossettes. The process is continuous, one cell being emptied of
exhausted cossettes while another is being filled with fresh ones, and the
juice flowing either to the measuring tank or to the freshly filled cell.
The exhausted cossettes, now called pulp, are dropped from the bottom
of the diffusion tanks into a large bin, from which they are conveyed or
pumped to pulp separators and presses for the separation of the surplus
water. This pressed pulp is usually stored in large bins or silos, where it is
allowed to ferment before being fed to cattle.
Recently the practice of drying the pulp has been carried on to a large
extent. In this process the moisture in the pulp is reduced to ten per cent, the
same proportion as in cured hay. Dried to this point, it is packed in bags and
may be stored for an indefinite period without deteriorating. After being
treated thus it forms an excellent stock food, particularly if waste molasses
is sprayed on it before drying.

PURIFICATION OF JUICE, CARBONATION AND FILTRATION

The diffusion juice obtained as above described is quite dark in color, and
after passing through the measuring tanks it is conveyed to carbonation
tanks where it is treated with from three to four per cent of caustic lime in
the form of a thick milk.

By permission of Truman G. Palmer, Esq.
DIFFUSION BATTERY—SHOWING DIFFUSION CELLS IN CIRCULAR ARRANGEMENT

By permission of Truman G. Palmer, Esq.
DIFFUSION BATTERY—SHOWING DIFFUSION CELLS IN STRAIGHT LINES

After being thoroughly agitated, the mixture is treated with carbonic acid
gas obtained from the lime-kilns, as the result of the decomposition of
limestone and the combustion of the fuel used for burning it.
By this process some of the impurities in the juice are removed and the
color reduced to a brilliant amber. As is the case in the cane mills and
refineries, it is essential to keep the juice hot throughout the process. The
carbonation is continued until the juice is only slightly alkaline, when it is
passed through filter presses for the removal of the precipitated lime
carbonate and other solid matter. The solid matter in suspension is retained
in the frame of the press, and, as soon as the frame is full, the cake is
washed by passing water through it. When the sugar content of the cake has
been sufficiently reduced, the press is opened and the cake discharged and
sent to the fields to be used as a fertilizer.

As a rule, the filtration is repeated for the elimination of any solids that
may have passed through the first filtration. This double filtration is usually
practiced in all the filtrations in the course of the juice through the factory.
The juice after being filtered a second time is again treated with carbonic
acid gas for the further reduction of the caustic lime and then undergoes a
third filtration, following which it is sent to the evaporators for
concentration.

CONCENTRATION OF JUICE

When the juice reaches the evaporators it contains about eighty-two per
cent of water, which, by concentration, must be reduced to about forty per
cent. As already explained, the removal of water is generally accomplished
in multiple-effects. The apparatus consists of a number of boiling bodies
connected in such a manner as to secure a progressive decrease in
atmospheric pressure.
The thin juice enters the first body where evaporation takes place under a
slight pressure. The steam for this evaporation is usually the waste or
exhaust from the engines and pumps. The vapors generated by the
evaporation of water from the juice in the first body enter the heating tubes
of the second body and are used in further concentrating the somewhat
concentrated juice from the first body. The evaporation in this second body
is conducted at a higher vacuum and corresponding lower temperature than
in the first body. This proceeding is continued until five or even six bodies
are used in the series. The last body is usually under a vacuum of about
twenty-six inches of mercury.
It is obvious that by this arrangement the concentration of the thin juice is
effected with the maximum of economy, direct steam being admitted into
the first body only and the rest of the operation accomplished by the steam
generated in the boiling of the juice.

SULFITATION

The thickened liquor leaving the last body of the evaporators is sent to
the sulphur station and treated with sulphur fumes, in order to further

precipitate the soluble impurities and reduce the color of the liquor. It is
then heated to boiling point in closed tanks and passed through a double set
of cloth filters. This is the final process in the purification of the beet juice,
and it is then ready for graining.
In a cane-sugar refinery no sulfitation of the liquor takes place, and in a
beet factory there is no char filtration for removal of color and impurities in
the liquor. These two points constitute the main difference in the methods of
making white sugar from the cane and the beet in the United States. In
Europe, however, many factories make a raw beet sugar, which is
subsequently refined with the aid of bone-char.

By permission of Truman G. Palmer, Esq.
WEIGHING, FILLING AND SEWING BAGS IN A BEET FACTORY

By permission of Truman G. Palmer, Esq.
CATTLE FEEDING ON BEET PULP

FORMATION OF GRAIN

The formation of the crystallized grain and its progress through the
vacuum pans, centrifugals, driers, granulators and screens, and into the bags
in the packing room, is identical with the process in a cane refinery, which
has already been described.

STEFFEN PROCESS

In some of the beet factories the sugar left in the final molasses is
extracted by what is known as the Steffen process. The final low-purity
molasses is diluted with water and cooled to a very low temperature, after
which finely powdered lime is constantly added to the solution at a uniform
and slow rate. The sugar combines with the lime and a saccharate of lime is
formed which is insoluble in the liquid. The suspended matter or saccharate
is then separated and washed in filter presses.
The cake from these filter presses, which is the saccharate of lime, is
mixed with sweet water to a consistency of cream and takes the place of
milk of lime in the carbonation process. When the Steffen process is
employed, about ninety per cent of the sugar originally in the beet is

extracted. The loss of sugar that does take place is accounted for in the
exhausted cossettes or pulp, in the pulp water which surrounds them when
they are dumped from the diffusion cells, in the cake and wash waters from
the carbonation presses and in the waste and wash waters from the Steffen
process. As the water used in washing the saccharate press cake is rich in
fertilizing qualities, it is used for irrigating the lands adjoining the factory.
The 6,511,274 tons of beets harvested in the United States during the
season of 1915 contained an average of 16.49 per cent of sucrose, of which
14.21 per cent found its way into the sacks as white sugar. The difference,
2.28 per cent, represented the loss in working up the beets. As only a few
factories, however, were using the Steffen process, a considerable amount
of sugar was left in the waste molasses. For the same period, the beets
produced in California contained 17.82 per cent of sugar, of which 15.64
per cent found its way into the sacks, showing a loss of only 2.18 per cent.
This may be accounted for by the fact that probably more of the California
factories were equipped with the Steffen process than the average for the
United States, and that the purity of the juices of California beets was
higher than the average for the United States.
A factory equipped with the Steffen process and running on beets
containing 17.82 per cent sugar, with a purity of 82, should lose not over
1.9 per cent of the sugar in the beet. The same factory without the Steffen
process would probably lose 5.04 per cent of the sugar.
It is interesting to know that, according to the testimony given before the
Hardwick committee, the average cost of producing and selling one
hundred pounds of white beet sugar in the United States today is about three
dollars and fifty cents. The selling price, which is from ten to twenty cents
per one hundred pounds less than the selling price of refined cane sugar,
fluctuates with the value of raw cane sugar. For instance, if raw cane sugar
is selling in New York at four dollars per one hundred pounds, the selling
price of refined cane will probably be four dollars and eighty cents. Beet
sugar, therefore, would be four dollars and seventy cents or four dollars and
sixty cents. On the other hand, if raw cane were selling for three dollars per
one hundred pounds, refined would probably be three dollars and eighty
cents and beet sugar three dollars and seventy or three dollars and sixty
cents. In the one case the beet factory makes a large profit; in the other a
very small profit.

As the value of raw sugar is determined absolutely by the law of supply
and demand in the world’s markets, it is clear that the fortune or misfortune
of the beet-sugar producer is beyond his control.

By permission of Truman G. Palmer, Esq.
THE FIRST SUCCESSFUL BEET-SUGAR FACTORY IN AMERICA—ALVARADO,
CALIFORNIA

By permission of Truman G. Palmer, Esq.
A MODERN BEET-SUGAR FACTORY

Part II
History of the Industry

EARLY HISTORY

India, the land that Kipling has called “the grim stepmother of mankind,”
is, according to the best authorities, the original habitat of the sugar cane;
and there is but little doubt that the properties of the plant were known to
the Hindustani many centuries before the Christian era. Nothing concerning
it is found in the Old Testament, the Talmud or in the oldest Hindu
literature; and even in Buddha’s time (500 B. C.) it was little known.
The legend runs that sugar cane was created by the famous hermit Vishva
Mitra to serve as heavenly food in the temporary paradise arranged by him
for the sake of Raja Trishanku. It was the desire of this prince to be
translated to heaven during his lifetime, but Indra, the ruler of the celestial
realms, had refused to admit him. In order to gratify Trishanku’s wish,
Vishva Mitra prepared a temporary paradise for him. When a reconciliation
between Indra and Trishanku was brought about, the paradise was
demolished and all its luxuries destroyed save a few, among which was
sugar cane. This subsequently spread over the land of mortals as a lasting
token of Vishva Mitra’s miraculous deeds.
Among the Chinese the first historical mention occurs in writings of the
eighth century B. C., where the fact is recorded that their knowledge of
sugar cane was derived from India. That it was considered of great value by
the Chinese is shown by manuscripts of 200 B. C., wherein it is stated that
the kingdom of Funan paid its tribute to China in sugar cane. From this it
may be inferred that the secret of extracting crystals from the sugar-cane
juice had not been discovered.
More than three centuries before Christ, the triumphant progress of
Alexander the Great was halted upon the banks of the river Indus by the
refusal of his troops to venture farther eastward. On their return journey, the
Macedonian soldiers carried the “honey-bearing reed” to Europe.
A number of classical writers of the first century allude to the sweet sap
of the Indian reed and to the granulated, salt-like product imported from
India under the name of saccharum, or σάκχαρι, from the Sanskrit çarkarā,
gravel, sugar. The names of sugar in modern European languages are
derived through the Arabic from the Persian shakar.

The people dwelling in the valleys of the Ganges possessed a knowledge
of boiling sugar juice, and this spread from there to China in the first half of
the seventh century. Sugar refining, however, could not then have been
known, for Marco Polo[5] states that the Chinese learned this from Egyptian
travelers only during the Mongol period, some five hundred years later. Von
Lippmann says that solid sugar began to be known in India somewhere
between 300 and 600 A. D., probably nearer the latter date.[6] In the Middle
Ages, the best sugar came from Egypt[7]; and in India today, coarse sugar is
still called “Chinese” and fine sugar “Cairene” or “Egyptian.”
The Nestorians, a Christian religious sect in Gondisāpūr, India, planted
sugar cane in Persia about 500 A.D. When Heraclius,[8] the Byzantine
emperor, pillaged the palace of Dastargerd, Persia, in 627 A. D., solid sugar
was taken among the other loot.[9] This is the first authentic evidence of
crystallization. At the time of the Arabian conquest in the year 639, sugar
was “prepared with art” in Gondisāpūr; and its manufacture on a large scale
was carried on at Shuster, Sūs[10] and Askar-Makram[11] through the Middle
Ages. Thaálibí, a writer of the eleventh century, says that Askar-Makram
had no equal for the quality and quantity of its sugar, “notwithstanding the
great production in Irāk, Jarjān and India.” It used to pay fifty thousand
pounds of sugar to the Sultan in annual tribute.[12] Persian physicians of the
time attributed extraordinary healing powers to sugar, and used it freely in
the practice of their art.
Mohammed’s[13] religious wars carried the knowledge of sugar
throughout the cities of the then civilized world. The Arabs first learned of
it when they overran Persia. They took to it eagerly, and under their rule a
great number of plantations were started. Artificial irrigation was employed
in the growing of the cane, and the juice was expressed by means of
millstones. At this period, however, sugar was looked upon as a rare and
costly luxury, to be indulged in only by the wealthy, and sparingly even by
them.
Arabian doctors who were well advanced in learning gave sugar an
important place in their pharmacopœia. The Moslem armies took it
westward with them; and when Amru[14] conquered Egypt (640-646 A. D.),
it was introduced in that country. Careful methods of cultivation, coupled
with the Egyptians’ intimate knowledge of chemistry, brought about

excellent results. This cultured people had a simple process for purifying
and recrystallizing saltpeter, and they soon found that sugar could be
similarly treated.
The first crystals were remelted; and to the liquor so obtained albumen
and lime were added. The precipitated impurities were removed by
filtration, and the clear syrup boiled down to a grain once more. The syrup,
or mother-liquor in which these grains remained after boiling, was
eliminated by washing, leaving the white sugar crystals, which in point of
quality far surpassed any product then known.
From this time forward, the traffic in sugar began to gain in importance
and volume. Nasiri Khosrau, in his account of his travels in Egypt in the
eleventh century, narrates that at the celebration of the great Ramazán feast,
the Sultan’s table was decorated with sweetmeats consisting entirely of
marzipan[15] modeled into shapes of orange trees and statues.
The continuation of the movement of the Arabs toward the west carried
the cultivation of sugar over the entire northern coast of Africa and thence
into Spain in the year of the conquest of Granada by the Moors (715 A. D.).
It made its way to Sicily in 703; it was found growing at Assuan, on the
Nile, in 766, and the Crusaders discovered important sugar plantations in
Tripoli, Mesopotamia, Syria, Palestine, Antioch and other places in the
Levant. Commercial relations between these points and the principal Italian
cities were established during the Crusades, and a considerable trade in
sugar followed.
Sugar-cane cultivation seems to have appealed to the Crusaders as a
profitable venture—so much so that they actively interested themselves in
it, making Tyre an important center of the traffic. King Baldwin and various
orders of knighthood established large cane plantations in Antioch, Syria
and Cyprus and did much to advance sugar production in those countries.
The Crusaders who had acquired a taste for sugar when in the Far east
naturally wished to continue its use after their return home; thus, a trade
sprung up between northern Europe and Venice, Genoa and Pisa.
After the fall of Acre in 1291, the Crusaders lost their foothold in Asia
Minor; but Tyre, Beirut, Antioch and the valley of the Jordan continued to
produce good crops of sugar, while Damascus and Tripoli became refining

centers. Cyprus, still under Venetian rule, extended its trade in sugar, and
sent considerable quantities annually to the mother city. All this time the
production in Egypt went steadily forward.
This prosperity was rudely interrupted by the aggression of the Turks.
Constantinople was captured in 1453 and Trebizond fell in 1461. The other
commercial towns of Asia Minor and all of Genoa’s Black Sea colonies
followed in quick succession. Trade between Europe and Asia Minor
decreased as a matter of course and the manufacture of sugar languished
under Turkish rule.
In 1517 Cairo was taken by the Turks, and Egypt became a province of
the Ottoman empire, with disastrous results to the sugar industry there. In
1522 Rhodes, and in 1571 Cyprus, passed under the sway of the Turk; but
by that time sugar cultivation in these islands had fallen off greatly, while in
Sicily it had completely died out.
Other causes militated to bring about the decline of the sugar trade in
these countries. The Portuguese took sugar cane to Madeira in 1419. In
1432 they captured and colonized the Azores; and between 1456 and 1462
they acquired the Cape Verde islands. São Thomé, Principe and Annobon
were annexed in 1496; and in that same year the Spaniards colonized the
Canaries. Sugar cane grew luxuriantly in the mild, moist climate of these
islands, and the cost of production by slave labor was so low that neither
Cyprus nor Sicily could compete; consequently, the once large and
prosperous sugar trade of the Mediterranean became a thing of the past.
During the Middle Ages, Venice was the chief sugar-distributing center in
Europe. One of the earliest references to sugar in Great Britain is that
concerning one hundred thousand pounds shipped to London in 1319 by
Tomasso Loredano, a Venetian merchant. Wool, which at that time
constituted the most important staple of English products, was exchanged
for sugar. In the same year, an entry appears in the accounts of the
Chamberlain of Scotland, showing a payment for sugar at the rate of one
shilling and nine pence halfpenny per pound. It is said that at the end of the
fifteenth century a citizen of Venice received a reward of 100,000 crowns
($111,940) for having invented the process of making loaf sugar. Vasco da
Gama’s exploit in finding the way to Calicut by sea in 1498 deprived
Venice of her position as a dominant commercial center; and new routes for

the world’s trade were opened up. The discovery of America exercised a
still greater influence upon the production and distribution of sugar.
Christopher Columbus’ first attempt to establish sugar growing in Santo
Domingo in 1493[16] was not a success; but when negro slaves were
brought to the West Indies by the Portuguese and the Spaniards, the industry
took a new lease of life, and with slave labor, ideal climate and fertile soil,
it increased abundantly. As illustrative of the extensive development in
Santo Domingo, it is interesting to note that Charles V of Spain obtained
from import taxes on Santo Domingan sugar the vast sums of money
expended in the building of the royal palaces at Madrid and Toledo.[17]
Brazil was discovered by Pinzon in 1499[18] and sugar cane was taken
there from Madeira. About thirty-three years later plantations had been laid
out and the first sugar factory built. The year 1590 saw one hundred and
two mills in operation in the provinces of Bahia and Pernambuco; and in
1600 the quantity of sugar exported from Brazil was 15,000 tons. At that
time Brazil belonged to Spain, which had annexed Portugal and her
colonies in 1580. It was conquered by the Dutch in 1629, and a great many
sugar plantations and factories were destroyed; but these were subsequently
restored by the new rulers. The Dutch, in turn, were expelled in 1655; and
in 1661 Brazil was acknowledged to be a Portuguese possession. The sugar
trade suffered, however, on account of the banishment of twenty thousand
Dutch in 1655, and also through the discovery of gold in 1725, which drew
the laborers from the sugar fields and mills; and the production fell off to a
large extent.

Christopher Columbus

Fra Sebastiano Del Piombo
Copyright, 1906. Braun, Clément et Cie., Braun et Cie., Successeurs

The island of St. Christopher (now St. Kitts) was occupied in 1625 by
both the English and the French. Ten years later the French took

Guadeloupe and Martinique; Barbados became a British possession in
1627, and Jamaica was annexed in 1656. Sugar cane was planted in all
these colonies, but through lack of knowledge and experience the product
obtained was of indifferent quality. A decided improvement was brought
about when the Dutch, who were expelled from Brazil, came to the islands
in 1655.
Santo Domingo was taken over permanently by the French in 1697 after
it had previously been occupied and abandoned by them. From this date the
industry throve there and for upward of one hundred years Santo Domingo
ranked among the foremost of the sugar-producing islands of the West
Indies. Tyranny and cruel treatment caused the slaves to revolt in 1791; the
whites who failed to escape were exterminated and the sugar plantations
and mills were destroyed.
Santo Domingo has never recovered the prestige in the sugar world that
she lost in this way. Her misfortune gave a great opportunity to Jamaica,
whose production increased so rapidly that at the close of the eighteenth
century she outstripped all the other West Indian islands. The falling off in
Santo Domingo stimulated the industry in Cuba as well. As a dependency of
Spain, Cuba was hampered by a number of restrictions; these were repealed
in 1772, after which the sugar tonnage grew apace.
St. Eustatius and Curaçao belonging to the Dutch, and St. Croix, St. John
and St. Thomas to Denmark, also came in for their share of the benefit
growing out of the impetus given to the sugar trade at this time. It must be
borne in mind, however, that they were conveniently situated for sugar
smuggling, of which there was not a little during the American
Revolutionary war.
In the countries of South America, Brazil excepted, the sugar trade had
become well established. French planters settled in Cayenne in 1634 and in
Surinam six years later, but production was handicapped by the difficulty
attendant upon securing labor, and this condition continued to exist even
after the taking of Surinam, Essequibo, Demerara and Berbice by the
Dutch. Finally the trouble was overcome by bringing in slaves, and with the
end of the French war the sugar industry began to prosper, especially in
Surinam. During subsequent hostilities these colonies were taken by France,

afterwards by England, and later still they reverted to the Dutch. Today they
are all British with the exception of Surinam and Cayenne.
Sugar cane was not known in Peru at the time of Pizarro’s first expedition
to that country (1527), but it was brought there shortly afterward. In Chile
and the Argentine its introduction was comparatively recent. The Jesuits
took it from Santo Domingo to Louisiana in 1751, and in Mexico it dates
back to the time of Cortés.
The rapidity of the increase in the production of the Americas threatened
the plantations of Madeira, the Cape Verde islands and the Canaries with
extinction and drove them from the world’s markets.
Sugar cane was planted by the French in the Ile de France (Mauritius) in
1747, and some years later in Bourbon (Réunion) and sugar made in these
islands was sent to Europe about the end of the eighteenth century.
In Java sugar cane has been grown since a very remote period. It was
probably brought there by Chinese traders and there is evidence that the
Chinese introduced it in the Philippine islands, as the names of the
implements and methods used there distinctly point to Chinese origin.
The cultivation of sugar cane in Australia was begun only fifty years ago;
it was started in the Fiji islands in 1880, while Captain Cook found cane
growing luxuriantly in the Hawaiian islands when he discovered them in
1778.
The wars between Great Britain and France during the latter part of the
eighteenth century and the beginning of the nineteenth had a very bad effect
on the cane-sugar trade and its development. There was constant fighting in
West Indian waters and many merchant vessels were taken as prizes; a
disastrous state of affairs for planters and merchants alike. After the battle
of Trafalgar had definitely established British supremacy on the seas,
Napoleon put into effect his “Continental System,” which dealt a severe
blow to cane sugar. This opens up a new and interesting chapter in the
history of the industry.

BEET SUGAR IN EUROPE

The destruction of the French fleet by Nelson in 1805 thwarted
Napoleon’s long-cherished plans for the invasion of England. Nothing
daunted, however, he immediately bent his efforts toward isolating Great
Britain and cutting commercial communications between her and the
continent of Europe. The Berlin edict of 1806 prohibited all trade relations
with England and made her goods and those of her colonies subject to
seizure. England’s reply was to forbid ships of all nationalities to enter
French ports under penalty of confiscation. Napoleon followed this with the
Milan decree which made any vessel that had submitted to English
examination or paid dues in English ports subject to confiscation. The one
government vied with the other in preying on commerce. The interference
with the importation of sugar due to this condition drove prices upward to a
point where only a few could afford its use.
Napoleon was fully cognizant of what a privation this was to his people,
but he felt confident that means would be found to bring sugar from the Far
east to western Europe by way of Constantinople and Vienna; besides, he
had strong hopes that a substitute for cane sugar could be produced in
Europe itself. He encouraged experimental and research work, keeping
thoroughly informed as to progress made, and on March 25, 1811, he issued
the famous decree that set in motion the beet industry of the world.

DAN SWEENEY
Olivier de Serres

DAN SWEENEY
Andreas Marggraf

The original home of the sugar beet (Beta vulgaris) is not definitely
known. The plant was found in a wild state in southern and middle Asia and
it is said to have been cultivated in southern Europe and northern Africa in
olden times. According to Professor Griffin,[19] Herodotus mentions the

sugar beet as one of the plants that served to nourish the builders of the
pyramids. Dr. von Lippmann cites the same instance and also quotes Voltz
as authority for the statement that the Romans first brought the beet into
Gaul.
When the beet was originally grown in southern latitudes it was an
annual, but when it was taken north it became a biennial, storing sugar the
first year and not developing its seed until the second.
Jules Hélot, an eminent French authority, in his “Histoire Centennale du
Sucre de Betterave,” says:
“A great French agronomist, called the father of agriculture, Olivier de
Serres (1539-1619), was able to find out that the beet-root contained sugar,
long before Marggraf set about to extract sugar from this root. Olivier de
Serres wrote: ‘The beet-root, when being boiled, yields a juice similar to
syrup of sugar, which is beautiful to look at on account of its vermilion
color’.”
Dr. von Lippmann, however, contends that Olivier de Serres never
claimed in his writings that he discovered the sugar content in the beet, and
that the statement “that the boiled juice of the red beet was similar in
appearance to sugar syrup” cannot be construed as evidence that de Serres
actually recognized the presence of sugar in the beet-root.
In the year 1747 Andreas Marggraf, a chemist and a member of the Royal
Academy of Science and Literature of Berlin, demonstrated that various
kinds of beet-root contained sugar and that the sugar could be extracted and
crystallized. This discovery, however, was regarded for many years as being
merely a laboratory determination and without practical value. In 1786
Franz Karl Achard, a pupil of Marggraf, attacked the problem of beet-root
cultivation and succeeded in extracting sugar from beets on a scale hitherto
unknown. He issued a report of the methods employed and the results
obtained and stated that a good muscavado sugar should be made from
beets for six cents per pound. His claims met with incredulity and no little
ridicule, but the French Institute made a careful investigation of what he
had done and found that the sugar content of the beets was over 6 per cent.
From a number of tests of Achard’s process, they estimated that the cost of
producing refined sugar from beet-roots on a commercial basis would be
eighteen cents per pound.

Frederick William III, king of Prussia, took a keen interest in the making
of sugar from beets, and, after having convinced himself that Achard was
on the right track, he bought the crown land at Cunern, Silesia, for
exploitation on a large scale. He provided Achard with funds for the
erection of the first real sugar factory built in Germany, at which operations
were begun in 1802. The king also supplied money for the construction of
other factories in Brandenburg, Silesia, and Pomerania, and lent his support
to the growers of beets as well as to the manufacturers of sugar. Despite the
reverses in war suffered by the Prussians, the progress in sugar making was
so manifest that in 1810 it was clear that the industry was bound to succeed
under intelligent management.

DAN SWEENEY
FRANZ CARL ACHARD

FIRST BEET-SUGAR FACTORY IN THE WORLD—BUILT AT CUNERN, SILESIA, 1802

Achard, who was of French extraction, had corresponded with a number
of scientific men in France and through them reports of his work reached
the French Institute. The verdict of this body was favorable and two sugar
factories were built, one at St. Ouen and the other at Chelles. Both of these
enterprises failed through lack of practical knowledge and the inferior
quality of the beet-roots. Although this setback brought the manufacture of
beet sugar to a standstill for a time, there is plenty of evidence to show that
hope of ultimate success was never abandoned. The effect of the closing
down of these two beet factories was to divert the attention of scientists to
making sugar from grapes. Proust and Parmentier, both chemists of note,
demonstrated that it could be obtained from this source and the French
government issued instructions for the preparation of sugar and syrup from
the vine. Parmentier published a bulletin advising against the attempt to
make beet sugar in France as the soil of the country would not produce
beet-roots containing sugar. In 1810 Napoleon ordered an appropriation of
200,000 francs to be divided as a premium among the factories recovering

the highest percentage of sugar from grapes. Meanwhile the friends of the
beet movement had not been idle, and early in March, 1811, the Society for
the Encouragement of National Industry submitted to the emperor a report
of what had been accomplished in the manipulation of beets, together with
samples of the sugar obtained, and on the 25th of that month Napoleon
issued the edict that established the manufacture of beet sugar in France.
The decree provided that 79,000 acres of land in various parts of the empire
should be devoted to the raising of beets and directed that all the acreage
named should be under cultivation the first year, or at latest the second. It
created six experimental stations for the instruction of the farmers and land
owners in cultivation and also for the furtherance of the interests of the
manufacturer.
Delessert had established a factory at Passy in 1801 and by dogged
perseverance, despite many failures, obtained excellent results by a new
method of clarification and the use of charcoal. Napoleon visited his plant
in 1812 and ordered the construction of ten new factories at once. On
January 1, 1813, all further imports of sugar from the East and West Indies
were prohibited.
In 1812 and 1813 the output of sugar in France was 2200 tons and the
factories of Germany and Austria gave promise of soon supplying the wants
of their respective countries. During the following two years there were
unusually heavy rains and the beet fields of France were occupied by
hostile troops. The defeat of Napoleon at Waterloo and the consequent
abolition of the blockade caused a decline in the price of sugar to a point
where the new beet industry was unable to compete and only one factory
succeeded in avoiding the general disaster.
From 1816 to 1821 the average yearly output of beet sugar was 1000
tons. The domestic product had a great advantage over the foreign article, as
all sugars coming into France from abroad were subject to a heavy duty,
while no tax was levied on home-grown sugar. In 1821, a duty of 49.5
francs was imposed upon every 100 kilograms (220.4622 lbs.) of raw sugar
coming from French colonies and 70 francs on white sugar. The tax on
sugar from foreign countries was 90 francs per 100 kilograms, and this was
increased to 125 francs in 1829.

Shortly afterward the surtax[20] on foreign sugar was increased and an
extra duty was exacted on sugar brought into France in foreign bottoms.
Even with this protection the domestic producers were not satisfied. French
colonial sugar, when exported, received the benefit of customs drawback of
120 francs per 100 kilograms, and the same privilege was accorded home-
grown sugar upon which no duty whatever had been paid. This was
tantamount to an export premium of 120 francs per 100 kilograms, and it
may well be imagined that under this paternal arrangement old factories
came back to life and new ones sprang into being. Under this régime by
1836 nearly one-third of the sugar refined in France was beet. The payment
of this premium was so great a drain on the government treasury that in
1840 the authorities seriously considered the buying up of all the beet-root
sugar factories then in operation for forty million francs and the equalizing
of the tax on foreign and domestic sugar. The scheme was not carried out,
but in 1843 beet-root sugar and cane sugar were placed on the same basis.
This hurt the domestic industry severely, and if it had not been for the
setback to the cane production by the abolition of slavery, the beet interests
might have met with ruin. Nevertheless, in spite of many adverse turns of
fortune, the general trend was forward.

NAPOLEON I

Beginning with the year 1836, the beet-sugar industry in Germany, which
had been paralyzed by the raising of the Continental blockade, went ahead
rapidly. The German manufacturers gradually succeeded in obtaining a
higher extraction of sugar from the beet and consequently their operations
showed an increased profit. Krause of Austria and Schubarth of Prussia,

both of whom had studied beet-sugar making in France, did much by their
efforts to rehabilitate the industry in Germany, where it has steadily grown
in importance ever since.
The manufacture of beet sugar was revived by Austria in 1831 and by
1840 there were many factories in operation. In 1854 the output of domestic
sugar equaled the tonnage brought in from foreign countries and beet sugar
had established itself throughout Europe as a strong competitor of the cane
sugar of the colonies.
The European consumption, however, had grown at such a rate that the
domestic beet-sugar production did not keep pace with it, hence the cane
manufacturer was scarcely sensible of the competition for some years; in
fact Europe took rather more than less cane from the tropics for a time.
During the nineteenth century Europe became less and less dependent
upon the cane countries of the New world for its supplies. The abolition of
slavery in most of the European possessions (1825-50), the development of
the cultivation of cane in India and Java, and the expansion of the bounty-
fed beet-sugar industry in Europe all contributed to bring this about and
many colonial cane growers found themselves on the brink of ruin.
Slavery, upon which cane sugar raising so greatly depended, was entirely
abolished in British possessions in 1834, in France in 1848 during the
Second Republic, in the Dutch West Indies in 1863, in Porto Rico in 1873,
in St. Thomas in 1876, and in Cuba in 1880. Great Britain appropriated the
sum of £20,000,000 sterling as an indemnity, and of this £16,500,000 went
to West Indian planters, the remainder going to Mauritius and the Cape, but
indemnification, while most welcome, did not restore the supply of labor.
Many of the freed slaves refused to work and great numbers of them left the
plantations. British colonists were at a serious disadvantage, too, as after
their slaves were liberated slavery still existed in other West Indian islands,
and to offset this a special import tax was imposed on sugar produced by
slave labor.
Strenuous efforts were made to secure an adequate labor supply. Chinese
coolies, free negroes and Hindus were tried, but the cost was great and the
number available was insufficient for the proper cultivation and upkeep of
the plantations. This condition obtained in the British West Indies, Cuba,
Louisiana, Peru, Brazil, the Guianas, Mauritius, Réunion and other places,

and the cane growers had hard work to keep from going under during the
adjustment period, when they were learning how to operate their plantations
with a limited number of hands. Importation of labor, subdivision of cane
lands into small tracts, to be rented or sold to farmers—many plans were
tried—but naturally under such circumstances development was impossible,
and beet sugar, which had been steadily increasing, finally outstripped cane
in 1883-84, while in 1899-1900 cane only furnished 34.7 per cent of the
world’s crop. In 1912-13 the cane tonnage exceeded that of beet by 211,082
tons of 2240 pounds. The great war in Europe has curtailed the production
of beet sugar in that country to such an extent that of the world’s output for
1915-16 the proportion of cane to beet was roughly as two-thirds to one-
third in favor of the former. The actual figures are:

Cane 10,533,039 tons
Beet 5,986,404 ”
Excess of cane over beet 4,546,635 tons

The following table giving the world’s production of cane and beet from
1852 to 1916 will be of interest, but it should be borne in mind that this
comparison between beet and cane is not a fair one, because the figures are
incomplete as far as cane is concerned.
In some instances in former years, only the quantity exported from a
country was included in the world’s statistics and the amount consumed at
home was left out of the calculations. This is particularly noticeable in the
case of India, whose production of over two million tons of sugar annually
was omitted from the older estimates as it all went into domestic
consumption—while the beet figures were invariably given in full.
The world’s crop figures as furnished by Willett & Gray for the period
from 1852 to 1916 include British India’s production for the last eleven
years only:

BEET-ROOT
CANE SUGAR TOTAL PER CENT
YEAR SUGAR
TONS TONS CANE SUGAR
TONS
1852-53 202,810 1,260,404 1,463,214 86.0
1859-60 451,584 1,340,980 1,792,564 74.3

1864-65 529,793 1,446,934 1,996,727 73.5
1869-70 846,422 1,740,793 2,586,915 67.3
1874-75 1,302,999 1,903,222 3,206,221 59.4
1880-81 1,820,734 2,027,052 3,847,786 52.7
1883-84 2,485,300 2,210,000 4,695,300 47.0
1884-85 2,679,400 2,225,000 4,904,400 45.4
1885-86 2,172,200 2,300,000 4,472,200 51.4
1886-87 2,686,700 2,400,000 5,086,700 47.1
1887-88 2,367,200 2,541,000 4,908,200 51.7
1888-89 3,555,900 2,359,000 5,914,900 40.0
1889-90 3,536,700 2,138,000 5,674,700 37.7
1890-91 3,679,800 2,597,000 6,276,800 41.2
1891-92 3,480,800 3,501,900 6,982,700 51.6
1892-93 3,380,700 3,040,500 6,421,200 47.3
1893-94 3,833,000 3,561,000 7,394,000 48.2
1894-95 4,725,800 3,531,400 8,257,200 42.7
1895-96 4,220,500 2,839,500 7,160,000 39.6
1896-97 4,801,500 2,841,900 7,643,400 37.2
1897-98 4,695,300 2,868,900 7,564,200 38.0
1898-99 4,689,600 2,995,400 7,785,000 38.5
1899-00 5,410,900 2,880,900 8,291,800 34.7
1900-01 5,943,700 3,646,000 9,589,700 38.0
1901-02 6,800,500 4,079,000 10,880,500 37.5
1902-03 5,208,700 4,163,900 9,372,600 44.4
1903-04 6,089,468 4,244,206 10,333,674 41.0
1904-05 4,918,480 4,613,540 9,532,020 48.4
1905-06 7,217,366 6,733,626 13,950,992 48.2
1906-07 7,143,818 7,334,207 14,478,025 50.6
1907-08 7,002,474 6,912,520 13,914,994 49.6
1908-09 6,927,875 7,634,125 14,562,000 52.4
1909-10 6,587,506 8,339,888 13,927,394 59.8
1910-11 8,560,346 8,421,534 16,981,880 49.5
1911-12 6,820,266 9,066,964 15,887,230 57.0
1912-13 8,976,271 9,232,543 18,208,814 50.7

1913-14 8,908,470 9,879,275 18,787,745 54.3
1914-15 8,241,974 10,165,565 18,407,539 55.2
1915-16 5,986,404 10,533,039 16,519,443 63.7

France held the first place in output of beet sugar until 1880, when
Germany took the lead and has maintained it ever since. The beet industry
assumed important proportions in Austria-Hungary, Russia, Holland and
Belgium shortly after 1850, but it was not established in Sweden, Spain and
Italy until comparatively recent times.
The laws that were passed by the various European countries for the
encouragement and protection of beet sugar were so beneficial in their
effect that these countries not only were able to supply their own domestic
demand, but found themselves able to export sugar. This stimulation finally
led to abuses, as a result of which the Brussels convention was brought
about and the bounties abolished.
Apart from certain details, the various regulations in European countries
for the purpose of building up the manufacture of beet sugar and making it
a revenue producer were very much alike. The essential features were a
prohibitive import duty and a slightly lower excise tax. The latter provided
revenue for the government, and the difference between the import duty and
the excise shut out foreign competition and fixed the amount of profit the
domestic beet-sugar producer could make. Still worse, it created pools or
combinations for the control of both output and price.
With increased production, which was more than sufficient to supply the
home demand, these countries were in a position to export sugar, and in
order to enable their manufacturers to compete in outside markets, a
drawback of the excise was allowed on all exported sugar. A peculiar
condition of the law affecting this drawback was that it really, though not
directly, provided for a bounty on export sugar, and while this was not the
original intent of the law, the improvements that it encouraged
accomplished the purpose.
In Germany the principle was that the excise was levied upon the
quantity of beet-root sliced, while the export drawback was allowed on the
actual sugar produced.[21] At the time of the passing of the law that was in
operation from September, 1869, to July, 1886, the assumption was that the

yield in sugar would be 8.51 per cent of the weight of the beets, allowing
11.75 tons of beets for one ton of sugar, and on all raw sugar exported the
manufacturer was given $2.03 per hundredweight drawback, the exact
equivalent of the excise tax, which was 17 cents per hundredweight of
beets.
For some years after this law became effective it took twelve tons of
beets to make a ton of sugar, consequently the drawback allowed the
exporter did not represent all of the excise. Thus it became the aim of the
manufacturers to raise the sugar content of the beets and to improve the
extraction. By 1882 they had succeeded so well that a ton of sugar was
produced from 10.46 tons of beet-roots instead of 11.75 tons, as predicated
when the law was drawn up. The drawback, however, was still allowed at
the rate of $2.03 per hundredweight, which netted the producer a clear gain
of 22 cents.[22]
In France from 1864 to 1875 the calculations were made from the
quantity and purity of the juice. In other words, a certain arbitrary
rendement[23] of sugar from the beet-root was the basis of taxation, while
any excess recovery was exempt. This was equivalent to an indirect bounty,
but the French government saw to it that the estimates and the actual
outturn did not get too far apart. No bounty whatever was paid on French
sugar from 1875 to 1884.
About 1880 the sugar production of Germany exceeded that of France, so
that in 1884 the French authorities revived the indirect bounty system to put
new life into the industry, and the effect of this action was soon apparent.
Sugar legislation in other sugar-producing countries of Europe was
similar in general principles and gave practically the same results.
Amendments were made from time to time with a view to bringing the basis
provided for in the law closer to what was actually attained in production,
but the manufacturers by constantly improving their processes managed to
keep the advantage and consequently to receive a secret indirect bounty or
rebate.
The payment of these drawbacks taxed the treasuries of the different
countries concerned and in the case of Austria-Hungary amounted to more
than the entire revenue from sugar. This brought new regulations and the

payment of direct bounties instead of hidden or indirect. Furthermore, a
limit was set upon the total that could be paid in any one year.
Nevertheless, the producers in all the sugar-raising countries used their
utmost efforts to send as much sugar as they possibly could to foreign
markets in order to secure the drawback. It naturally followed that the
production was stimulated to an abnormal degree, and toward the end of
1883 there was a slump in prices that affected all raisers of sugar, both beet
and cane, throughout the world.
The governments of Europe came to find these bounties a serious burden,
and when Lord Salisbury arranged for a convention to be held in London in
1886, the proposal to do away with all bounties met with a good deal of
favor. France, however, opposed the idea, as she wished to discontinue the
direct bounty only and to leave the indirect still in force, while the British
themselves, who used prodigious quantities of sugar and who, under the
bounty plan, got all they needed at a price below the actual cost of
production, did not wish to forfeit this advantage. So the interests of the
British colonists were sacrificed and the London conference accomplished
nothing.
In 1890 Germany resolved to divest sugar of all its privileges in order
that the treasury should receive the entire amount of the taxes. A measure
was proposed in 1891 providing for direct export bounty. This was to be
reduced in 1895 and entirely abolished by 1897.
Owing, however, to a severe agricultural crisis at this time, American
cereals were brought into Europe at such low prices that the home grower
could not compete. It therefore became necessary to find another crop for
the land that had been sown to corn and the beet-root was the logical
substitute. The increase in beet production from this cause was followed by
a crash in sugar prices. With such a condition confronting it, the German
government could not do away with, or even reduce, the bounty, especially
as none of its neighbors seemed to have any intention of doing anything in
this direction. In the interests of the beet growers, the output of beets in
1895, instead of being restricted as proposed, was doubled, and the export
bounty on raw sugar was raised from 1.25[24] marks to 2.50 marks per 100
kilograms and on refined from 2 marks to 3.55 marks per 100 kilograms.

This legislation was meant to foster the export trade and bring the sugar
business of foreign countries to German manufacturers, and the framers of
the law were confident that other countries would not venture to follow suit.
In this they were utterly mistaken. Germany’s competitors simply raised
their bounties to her figures, thus nullifying her plans for expansion of her
export sugar trade.
In 1897 the United States levied a countervailing duty on all bounty-
nourished sugar, in addition to the regular protective tariff, so that the
bounty paid by European countries on sugar exported to the United States
simply went to enrich the United States treasury.
The manufacturers of Germany and Austria enjoyed a profit over and
above the bounty by the adoption of what was termed a cartel, or pool, a
plan borrowed from Russia.
In Russia the government fixes the amount of sugar required each year
for domestic consumption and this quantity may be sold by the
manufacturer. Then it determines what quantity shall be kept in reserve, to
be sold when the price exceeds that named by the government commission
(4.30 rubles[25] per pood[26] in winter, or 4.45 rubles in summer). Should the
production exceed the amounts fixed for domestic consumption and
reserve, exportation is permitted and the exporter gets back the excise, 1.75
rubles per pood, or if he elects to sell this excess at home, he may do so by
paying double tax, or 3.50 rubles per pood. Of the alternatives, exporting
the surplus is the more advantageous to the owner of the sugar, as the fixed
price for domestic sugar is a profitable one. He therefore can afford to take
a loss on the sugar he sells for export and still make money on the total
operation. The stipulation that the contingent interest in the profitable home
market shall keep pace with the growth of the output of the factory is also a
substantial encouragement to manufacturers to increase their production.
Regulations like these naturally have the effect of supplying foreign
markets with cheap sugar. The manufacturer makes an excellent profit and
the domestic consumer pays the entire bill.
Primarily, the intent may have been to keep the price of domestic sugar at
one level and to enable the manufacturer to fill the home demand without
having to go outside the country for his raw-sugar supply. But the plan in its
actual working fosters exportation at the expense of the home consumer.

While in Russia the cartel was a government measure, the pooling of
interests by German and Austrian manufacturers in their respective
countries accomplished the same end. A cartel formed in Russia in 1890
came to grief after four years through the individual greed of its members.
In 1898 a new combination of raw-sugar producers and refiners was
formed, with the express proviso that the manufacturers of raws were to sell
their product only to refiners who were members of the cartel. The domestic
trade in white sugar was prorated among the refiners, in consideration of
which they had to allow the producer a fixed price of 30 kronen ($6.08) per
100 kilograms (220.4622 lbs.) for raw sugar, the market price of which was
paid by the buyer and the difference by the cartel, which got the money by
notching up the price of domestic refined sugar.
With the cartel the only seller of refined, and sugar from foreign
countries shut out by the high surtax (the difference between the impost on
imported and domestic sugars), the consumer had to pay the price
demanded by the cartel as long as the difference between the world’s price
and that established by the cartel was less than the surtax.
The profit thus obtained constituted a working fund to be used in forcing
into line such factory owners as remained outside the pool, either by
reducing the price when a factory was about to begin to make white sugar,
or by buying stock in the corporations that still held out. Out of the rest of
the fund was paid the difference between the market price (with 22 kronen
per 100 kilograms as a minimum) and the 30 kronen. Any amount
remaining was the cartel’s profit. To illustrate and estimating that no
kilograms of raw sugar produced 100 kilograms of refined:

Price of refined sugar for domestic use per 220.4 lbs. $17.25
Raw sugar 242.4 lbs. @ $4.46 per 220.4 lbs. $4.91
Refining cost and profit 1.53
Revenue tax 7.71 14.15
Net profit of cartel $3.10
With an open market price of $4.46 for raws, the difference
between that and the arbitrary figure of $6.08 is $1.62 per 1.78
220.4 lbs. on 242.4 lbs.
Net profit from cartel for refiners $1.32

Reference has been made to the abortive results of the London
conference of 1886, when a deaf ear was turned to the appeal of the planters
of the British West Indies on account of the advantage to the British
manufacturer and consumer of securing all the sugar they wanted at a figure
lower than it cost to produce.
In 1895, Joseph Chamberlain, then Colonial Secretary of Great Britain,
appointed a royal commission to investigate conditions in the West Indian
colonies. The facts brought out in its report came as a surprise to the
statesmen of the mother country and remedial measures were undertaken.
The anxiety of the Austrian and German governments to get rid of the
bounty incubus led them to sound France as to her views, and in 1898 the
Belgian government invited representatives of Great Britain, Germany,
Austria, the Netherlands, France, Russia, Spain and Sweden to meet in
conference in Brussels, but no definite agreement was arrived at, chiefly
because of France’s unwillingness to discontinue the giving of indirect
bounty. The meeting adjourned on June 1st with the understanding that it
would again convene at the call of Belgium, when the preliminary
negotiations through Belgium’s good offices had progressed sufficiently to
make unanimity possible.
Meanwhile, public opinion in England with regard to the West Indies had
undergone a change, partly on account of the report submitted by the
Chamberlain commission and partly owing to the fact that Britain, needing
the support of her colonies in her South African war, was anxious to shape
her policy to please them.
A third conference was held in Brussels in December, 1901.
In the discussion concerning the German and Austrian cartels, it had
developed that the heavy surtax permitted the Germans and Austrians to
realize such high prices in their home markets that, even with the bounty
repealed, their overproduction was very great and the large tonnage
exported by them depressed values in foreign markets. Great Britain and
Belgium, therefore, demanded that the surtax be reduced to a point where,
while giving protection against foreign sugar, it would afford no
inducement for the formation of cartels. Austria and Germany demurred to
this and it looked as if a deadlock would again be reached, when Great
Britain declared that if nothing came of the conference a measure would be

introduced in Parliament excluding bounty-fed sugars entirely, or that some
action equally drastic would be taken. It was further pointed out that an
extra duty of an amount equal to the cartel profit had already been under
consideration by the Indian government.
With a countervailing duty effective in the United States, the market of
Great Britain was the only important outlet left for bountied export sugars
from the Continent. Then again, the British colonies had to be reckoned
with, for if preferential privileges were accorded to their sugars Continental
beet would suffer. Great Britain’s ultimatum, therefore, carried the day, and
on March 5, 1902, the convention was signed by the plenipotentiaries of
Great Britain, France, Germany, Austria, Belgium, Spain, Italy, the
Netherlands, Norway and Sweden.
The most important provisions of the convention were:
1. The suppression of all bounties, direct or indirect.
2. The limitation of the surtax, i. e., the excess of import duty over
domestic revenue tax, to 53 cents per 100 pounds on refined and 48 cents
per 100 pounds on raw sugar.[27]
3. Prohibition of importation of bounty-fed sugar from other countries,
unless a countervailing duty is imposed.
4. Great Britain and the Netherlands pledge themselves that no
preferential treatment will be given sugar from their colonies during the life
of the agreement.
5. The agreement to come into force September 1, 1903, and to remain
effective for five years from that date, and in case none of the signatory
powers notifies the Belgian government of its intention to withdraw, it shall
continue to remain in force for one year and so on from year to year.
6. The appointment of a permanent commission charged with supervising
the execution of the provisions of the convention.
7. Spain, Italy and Sweden not to be bound by the principal restrictions,
so long as they do not export sugar.
Russia declined to come into the pact, stating as her reason that she paid
no bounty.

Great Britain’s action in joining the Brussels convention aroused a good
deal of feeling at home. The contention was made that it worked an injury
to the British consumer in causing an advance in prices; it was also argued
that the plea put forth in behalf of the West Indies was really instigated by
the selfishness of British investors in colonial sugar plantations. The rise in
price that followed the convention was stimulated by the shortage in the
European beet crop in 1904, and provoked much agitation and
dissatisfaction in England, so that it was not certain that Great Britain
would be a party to a renewal of the pact upon its expiration.
Subsequently Peru, Luxembourg and Switzerland joined the convention,
and the contracting parties were so well satisfied with results obtained that
they extended the agreement for five years beginning September 1, 1908.
The conditions were to remain unchanged, except for an amendment that
permitted Great Britain to disregard the article that prohibited the
importation of bountied sugar, unless paying countervailing duty. This
prohibition directly affected Russian sugars, of which England did not wish
to be deprived.
Russia joined the convention in 1908, with the understanding that her
existing fiscal laws and excise regulations should not be interfered with and
that the method of fixing the price of sugar for home consumption should
rest undisturbed. On her part, Russia undertook not to export more than one
million tons during the next five years outside of Finland, Persia and
neighboring Asiatic countries.
The convention with these modifications was thus extended to
September, 1913, and on March 15, 1912, it was agreed to prolong it until
August 31, 1918, on practically the same conditions as the 1908
convention. Because of the great drought in central Europe in the summer
of 1911, there was a shortage of 2,000,000 tons in the beet-sugar crop of
1911-12, as compared with the former year, and, on account of the
consequent rise in price, England demanded that the Russian exports be
increased. The other signatory powers agreed to this and the amount that
Russia was permitted to export in the seven years beginning September 1,
1911, was fixed at 1,650,000 tons.
In August, 1912, Sir Edward Grey gave notice of Great Britain’s
intention to retire from the convention on September 1, 1913, and on that

date she ceased to be a party to it. Nevertheless, after her withdrawal she
undertook to observe all the obligations of the convention, and in return the
signatory powers agreed not to discriminate against her manufactures of
sugar.
The convention stopped exportation of beet sugar at abnormally low
prices. It was instrumental in lowering the revenue tax, increasing the
consumption and abolishing artificial conditions.
The outbreak of the war in Europe in August, 1914, interrupted the
operations of the convention, and it remains to be seen whether or not,
when hostilities come to an end, it will be renewed and its terms reaffirmed
according to procedure customary when peace is concluded between
warring nations.
As soon as the industry got on a sound basis, cane began to feel the
benefit of the new order of things. Factories that had been closed were put
in operation again and new enterprises were undertaken. Up to the year
1880 the manufacture of cane sugar had been conducted in a slipshod
manner. The planters were lavishly extravagant and spent their incomes as
they made them, giving no thought to putting aside funds for extensions and
betterments. Hard times taught them a severe lesson, by which they
profited, and with admirable courage they bent all their energies to the
improvement of methods of cultivation and cutting down the cost of
production. This was particularly true of Java; beginning with 1884,
abundant new capital was brought in, experimental stations and laboratories
were built and equipped and all that scientific knowledge, energy and sound
business judgment could do was done. At the same time Hawaii, Mauritius,
Porto Rico and Cuba made extraordinary progress, but each of these
countries deserves an individual chapter.

BEET SUGAR IN THE UNITED STATES

While the manufacture of sugar from beet-roots is one of the foremost
industries in the United States today, the early stages of its growth and
development were marked by numerous failures and setbacks. The first
beginning was made by a company headed by John Vaughn and James
Ronaldson, which built a small factory in Philadelphia in 1830, where a few
hundred pounds of sugar were produced. Owing to lack of knowledge of
beet culture and extraction of sugar from the roots, the venture proved
unsuccessful and no further attempt has been made in Pennsylvania.
Northampton, Massachusetts, was the scene of the next experiment in
1838 and 1839 by David Lee Child, who had studied the growth and
manufacture of beet sugar in Europe for a year and a half. He succeeded in
getting 6 per cent of sugar and 2½ per cent of molasses from the beets and
his estimate of the cost of the sugar per pound was eleven cents. After
producing 1300 pounds of sugar he abandoned the enterprise.
A report made in 1838 by the Committee on Agriculture, a government
body, contains the following statement: “From all the information which the
committee have been able to obtain, they are induced to believe that no
country in the world is better adapted for the production of sugar beets than
most parts of the United States, whether we consider the soil, the climate or
the people.”[28]
In 1851 John Taylor, who afterward succeeded Brigham Young as
president of the Mormon church, was carrying on missionary work in
England, and in September of that year he met Elias Morris, whom he
engaged to go to Utah to establish a plant for the manufacture of beet sugar.
Machinery for the purpose was purchased in France and sent to
Liverpool, from where it was shipped to New Orleans in charge of Morris
in March, 1852. From New Orleans it was taken up the Mississippi river to
St. Louis, thence to Kanesville, Ohio, where it was loaded on wagons for
transportation across the plains. The journey from the river was begun on
July 4th, with oxen as the motive power. It proved long and arduous, but the
members of the party reached Green river, Wyoming, four months later,
having suffered much from hunger and cold. There they were met by a

detachment sent out from Salt Lake city by Brigham Young and they finally
arrived at their destination about the middle of November.
The original intention was to start operations at Provo, and the sugar
machinery was taken there, but the company that John Taylor had organized
was dissolved and the machinery turned over to the church, under whose
direction it was installed in an adobe building still standing in Salt Lake
city.
Once more lack of knowledge resulted in failure. Instead of sugar, the
Mormons only succeeded in making a massecuite that was utterly inedible.
[29]

In 1856, a coppersmith named Bepler erected a small beet-sugar factory
at Ocean View, near San Francisco, California, but the enterprise was
unsuccessful.[30]
The next noteworthy attempt was made at Chatsworth, Illinois, in 1863
by the brothers Gennert, who came from Braunschweig, Germany, and who
were familiar with the methods of beet-sugar making. They formed the
Germania Beet Sugar company, planted a thousand acres of land in beets
and sent to Europe for machinery, but their highest extraction of sugar from
the beet-roots was only 5.5 per cent. Weather conditions were unfavorable
and the soil they selected was not suited to beet culture, so six years of
effort ended in failure and the loss of more than a quarter of a million
dollars. The plant was removed to Freeport, Illinois, where the final result
was disaster.
Otto and Bonesteel, two Germans, established a factory at Fond-du-lac,
Wisconsin, in 1866,[31] and during the two following years they achieved
some measure of success. Subsequently, they moved to Alvarado,
California, where they began operations in 1870. They managed to keep
their factory running for a few years, but finally gave up the struggle in
1876.
In 1872 the state of New Jersey passed a law providing that all capital
and property employed in the raising of sugar beets should be free from
taxation for ten years. New ventures were undertaken in California,
Delaware and Maine, and these states stimulated the industry by bounties,
or tax exemption, or both. A factory was built at Hartford, Maryland, in

1879, but it was afterward abandoned, and the only going concerns engaged
in the manufacture of beet sugar east of the Alleghanies during recent years
were the small plants in New York at Rome and Lyons. Dismantled in 1905
and 1911, respectively, part of the machinery of the former was moved to
Visalia, California, and the latter plant in its entirety to Anaheim, California.
All of these failures were traceable to the lack of practical knowledge of
beet culture and the making of sugar from beet-roots. Then, too, the
agricultural lands at first selected were unsuited to the purpose and the seed
used up to the year 1890 gave beets of a low sugar content, from 6 per cent
to 8 per cent. The development of the Western states gave the beet-sugar
industry a permanent place in California, and a little later in Utah,
Colorado, Idaho, Montana and Wyoming.

BUILDING IN SALT LAKE CITY, UTAH, IN WHICH THE FIRST BEET-SUGAR MACHINERY
BROUGHT TO THE WEST WAS INSTALLED

E. H. DYER. THE FATHER OF BEET SUGAR IN AMERICA

The California Beet Sugar Manufacturing company was organized by E.
H. Dyer and C. S. Hutchinson in 1869 with $250,000 capital and a factory
was erected at Alvarado on Mr. Dyer’s ranch. Otto and Bonesteel were
induced to leave Fond-du-lac, Wisconsin, and come west to assume the
management. Operations were begun in 1870 and on November 17th of that

year the first beet sugar was made in California. The factory and equipment
cost $125,000; the daily capacity was fifty tons of beets and one hundred
and twenty-five men were employed. Between one thousand and fifteen
hundred acres were planted in beets, the factory paying $3.50 per ton for
them. The finished product cost about ten cents a pound, while the market
price ranged from twelve to fifteen cents a pound. The first year’s output
was 250 tons, the second 400 tons, the third 562 tons and the fourth 750
tons. Then financial troubles came and the plant was closed. The machinery
was sold to a new concern, which built a factory at Soquel, Santa Cruz
county. This enterprise failed in 1876, but the plant was put in operation
again in 1880, when 150 tons of sugar were produced. That was the end of
the Soquel venture.
In 1879 Mr. Dyer bought the buildings and land of the old California
Beet Sugar Manufacturing company, and, with O. F. Giffin, formed the
Standard Sugar Manufacturing company, with a capital of $100,000.
Subsequently a reorganization was effected under the name of the Standard
Sugar Refining company and the capital was increased to $200,000. The
machinery and diffusion batteries of a plant built at Brighton by some
Sacramento people about eight years previous were purchased and installed
at Alvarado in buildings newly erected for the purpose. While it is true that
in the operation of this company there was a constant struggle to overcome
obstacles and difficulties, it is nevertheless a fact that it achieved success
from the beginning. In 1884 the capacity of the mill was increased to 100
tons of beets per day, but disaster overtook the concern toward the end of
1886. Two of the boilers exploded, making it impossible to operate during
the season of 1887-88.
Nothing daunted, Mr. Dyer grappled with the problem once more and
succeeded in floating a new corporation, the Pacific Coast Sugar company,
with $1,000,000 capital and headed by John L. Howard as president. In
1887 and 1888 this company built the middle part of the present factory at
Alvarado, where it installed most of the machinery from the old plant,
together with some new apparatus. The campaign of 1888 was barren of
results and in March of the following year the Pacific Coast Sugar company
sold its property to a new concern, the Alameda Sugar company, whose first
president was M. H. Hecht. In 1890 two additions to the factory were built,
one at each end.

From small beginnings, this Alvarado enterprise, the pioneer of American
success in the production of sugar from beets, continued its yearly
operations from 1879 until 1914, with the exception of the year following
the boiler explosion. In 1889 the output was 872 tons, in 1911 it reached
9966 tons. At the beginning of 1914, sugar prices were low and tariff
prospects very discouraging. Under such conditions, the owners of the plant
did not believe that they could make sugar at a profit, and the factory
remained closed during that season. The sharp advance in sugar values, due
to the war in Europe, completely changed matters; beets were planted and
6363 tons of sugar were produced in 1915.
For a long time Mr. Dyer was looked upon as an enthusiast and a dreamer
whose sincerity was unquestioned, but whose energies were misdirected. In
the midst of the gloomy forebodings of those around him, he held
tenaciously to his purpose and devoted his brains and his money to the
solution of the problem confronting him. That the beet-sugar industry of the
United States proved a success when it did is due to his unfailing courage
and persistent effort.
A year before the Alvarado factory was built, a number of moneyed men
of Sacramento, head by Julius Wetzlar, then president of the Capital savings
bank, conceived the idea of starting a beet-sugar plant there. After some
experimenting with local beets, the Sacramento Valley Sugar company was
organized and machinery for a seventy-ton plant was ordered from
Germany. Construction was delayed for a year, and thus the Sacramentans
lost the honor of being the first in the field. In 1871 they built a factory at
Brighton, six miles east of Sacramento, near the American river. An expert
was brought out from Germany and work was begun on November 18th.
The first diffusion battery used in the United States was employed in the
extraction of sugar from the beets. The season of 1871 gave good results,
but the following year the crop suffered greatly from the ravages of the
army worm. The campaign of 1873 opened on August 5th, lasting until
November 22nd. The yield of beets was ten tons per acre, the average sugar
content 8 per cent and the total output 982,120 pounds of sugar, including
all grades.
This enterprise struggled along until 1875, in spite of troubles from
drought, army worm, grasshoppers and last, but not least, lack of
experience. The plant was then closed and the equipment put up for sale.

Briefly, it may be said that at the outset very poor sugar was turned out, and
later, when the quality was improved, the cost of manufacture was found to
be greater than what the sugar would bring. The final outcome was that the
stockholders lost nearly all the money they had invested.
About 1874,[32] the California Sugar Manufacturing company was
formed. Sixty-eight acres of land at Isleton were bought, a factory structure
of brick was erected and machinery installed, the total expenditure being
about $250,000. Sugar of good quality was made, but the financial result
was disastrous. Isleton land was ill suited to beet culture, as when the
Sacramento river was high the beet fields were covered with water. One
authority states that the original idea was to manufacture sugar from
watermelons, and when it was found that this was not practicable, attention
was turned to beets.
In 1876 numerous mechanics’ liens were filed against the company.
Later, the factory was leased to H. M. Ames of Oakland, who operated it
during the campaign of 1880. Two years afterward the entire plant was sold
at sheriff’s sale for $10,000. The land and building were purchased by P. H.
Gardiner of Isleton and the machinery went to a San Francisco junk dealer.
This venture is said to have caused financial distress to many of the farmers
in the vicinity.
In 1888, Claus Spreckels, so long a prominent figure in the sugar world,
established a beet factory at Watsonville, Santa Cruz county, in the rich
Pajaro valley. At first its capacity was 300 tons of beets per day, and, the
result of the operations being favorable, this was increased from time to
time until it reached 1000 tons of beets per day. The Watsonville factory
developed into the largest beet plant in America and remained so until 1898,
in which year Mr. Spreckels erected a modern 3000-ton plant at Salinas,
fifteen miles distant. Since then the new factory has sliced all of the beets
grown in that territory and the old one has been dismantled. The capacity of
the Salinas plant now is greater than that of any other beet factory in the
United States, being 4000 tons per day.
The Oxnard brothers, Henry T., Benjamin, James G. and Robert, with J.
G. Hamilton, W. Bayard Cutting and R. Fulton Cutting, organized the
Oxnard Beet Sugar company in 1889, and in December of that year broke
ground for a beet-sugar factory of 350 tons slicing capacity at Grand Island,

Nebraska. In 1891 they built two more, one at Norfolk, Nebraska, and one
at Chino, California, both of the same size as the Grand Island plant. The
machinery for the first two factories was bought in France and that for the
last one came from Germany. Toward the end of 1897, construction at
Oxnard was begun, and in 1899 a consolidation of all these factories was
effected under the corporate title of the American Beet Sugar company.
At the close of 1890, sixty years after the first experiment at
Philadelphia, there were only three beet-sugar factories in operation in
America; those at Alvarado, Watsonville and Grand Island. The total
capacity of the three plants was eight hundred tons of beets a day, or ten
thousand tons of sugar a year. France in the same period increased her
production from 5000 to 770,000 tons a year through favorable legislation
providing for the payment of bounties.
In the United States, whenever beet-sugar enterprises have been started,
there has generally been some legal provision for payment by the state of
bounty on the quantity of sugar produced. The story of how this
responsibility was evaded is hardly a pleasant one. In Nebraska, for
example, three different legislatures enacted laws providing for bounty on
beet sugar, but in each case the following legislature either repealed the act
or failed to make appropriations for the necessary funds. In the early
nineties, Michigan passed a bounty law which resulted in several beet
factories being established in that state, but when the claims for bounty
were presented for payment, the state auditor refused to honor them, and his
action was upheld by the state supreme court on the ground of
unconstitutionality. A similar condition arose in Idaho. Minnesota paid
bounties in 1890 and 1899, after which the law was declared
unconstitutional.
The McKinley bill of April, 1891, was the first national legislation to
encourage the beet industry. It called for a bounty of two cents on each
pound of domestic sugar produced testing over 90 degrees, and admitted
beet seed and sugar machinery free of duty. This encouraged the Oxnards to
build the factories at Norfolk, Nebraska, and Chino, California, of which
mention has already been made. At the same time Thomas R. Cutler and his
associates put up a beet factory at Lehi, Utah, which state offered a bounty
in addition to that granted by the Federal government.

The tariff act of August 28, 1894, abolished the bounty on sugar and
fixed an ad valorem duty of 40 per cent. As a result of the loss of the bounty
and the financial stress that reigned at that time, no beet factories were
started except that at Menominee Falls, Wisconsin, which was a flat failure.
The following résumé of the United States tariffs on sugar since the year
1846 may be found useful for purposes of reference:

Tariff act July 30, 1846: All sugars 30 per cent ad valorem.
Tariff act March 3, 1857, to be effective from and after July 1,
1857: All sugars 24 per cent ad valorem.
Tariff act March 2, 1861, effective April 1, 1861: ¾c per pound
on raw, 2c per pound on refined.
Tariff act August 5, 1861: 2c per pound on raw. Sugars above 12
D. S. and not yet refined, 2½c per pound. 4c per pound on refined.
Tariff act July 14, 1862, effective August 1, 1862: Sugars not
above 12 D. S., 2½c per pound. Sugars above 12 D. S., not above 15
D. S., 3c per pound. Above 15 D. S., not above 20 D. S., and not
stove dried, 3½c per pound. Refined and above 20 D. S., 4c.
Joint resolution of April 29, 1864, in effect for sixty days: Sugars
not above 12 D. S., 2½c per pound plus 50 per cent equals 3¾c per
pound. Sugars above 12 D. S. and not above 15 D. S., 3c plus 50 per
cent equals 4½c per pound. Sugars above 15 D. S. and not above 20
D. S., 3½c per pound plus 50 per cent equals 5¼c per pound. All
refined sugars 4c per pound plus 50 per cent equals 6c per pound.
Tariff act June 30, 1864, effective July 1, 1864: Sugars not above
12 D. S., 3c per pound. Sugars above 12 D. S., not above 15 D. S.,
3½c per pound. Sugars above 15 D. S., not above 20 D. S., and not
stove dried, 4c per pound. All refined sugars and all sugars over 20
D. S., 5c per pound.
Tariff act July 14, 1870, to be effective on and after December 31,
1870, which means January 1, 1871. Later amended by tariff act of
December 22, 1870, to be effective immediately: Sugars not above 7
D. S., 1¾c per pound. Sugars above 7 D. S., not above 10 D. S., 2c

per pound. Sugars above 10 D. S., not above 13 D. S., 2¼c per
pound. Sugars above 13 D. S., not above 16 D. S., 2¾c per pound.
Sugars above 16 D. S. and not above 20 D. S., 3¼c per pound. All
sugars above 20 D. S. and all refined, 4c per pound.
Tariff act March 3, 1875: Sugars not above 7 D. S., 1¾c per
pound plus 25 per cent equals 2.19c per pound. Sugars above 7 D.
S., not above 10 D. S., 2c per pound plus 25 per cent equals 2.50c.
Sugars above 10 D. S., not above 13 D. S., 2¼c plus 25 per cent
equals 2.81c per pound. Sugars above 13 D. S., not above 16 D. S.,
2¾c plus 25 per cent equals 3.44c per pound. Sugars above 16 D. S.,
not above 20 D. S., 3¼c plus 25 per cent equals 4.06c per pound.
All sugars above 20 D. S. and all refined sugars, 4c per pound plus
25 per cent equals 5c per pound.
Tariff act March 3, 1883, effective June 1, 1883: Sugars not
above 13 D. S. and not above 75-degree polarization, 1.40c per
pound and .04c additional per degree or fraction thereof. Sugars
above 13 D. S., not above 16 D. S., 2.75c per pound. Sugars above
16 D. S., not above 20 D. S., 3c per pound. Sugars above 20 D. S.,
3½c per pound.
Tariff act October 1, 1890, effective April 1, 1891 (McKinley
bill): Bounties effective July 1, 1891. Bounties declared
unconstitutional by the United States supreme court: Bounty on
domestic productions, sugars testing 80 degrees to 90 degrees, 1¾c
per pound. Bounty on domestic productions, sugars testing at least
90 degrees, 2c per pound. All sugar not above 16 D. S., free. All
sugar above 16 D. S., duty ½c per pound. All sugar above 16 D. S.
from bounty-paying countries, duty ⁶⁄₁₀c per pound.
Tariff act August 27, 1894, effective August 28, 1894 (Wilson
bill): Bounty on domestic production repealed. All sugars 40 per
cent ad valorem. All sugars above 16 D. S. and all sugars
discolored, 40 per cent and ⅛c per pound. All sugars from bounty-
paying countries, ¹⁄₁₀c per pound additional.
Tariff act July 24, 1897 (Dingley bill): Raws not above 16 D. S.
and not above 75-degree polarization, .95c per pound. Each
additional degree or fraction thereof, .035c per pound additional.

Sugar above 16 D. S. and all refined, 1.95c. All sugars from bounty-
paying countries, countervailing duties equal to bounties additional.
Tariff act August 5, 1909 (Payne-Aldrich bill): Raws not above
16 D. S. and not above 75-degree polarization, .95c per pound. Each
additional degree or fraction thereof, .035c per pound additional.
Sugar above 16 D. S., and all refined, 1.90c per pound. All sugars
from bounty-paying countries countervailing duties equal to
bounties additional.
Tariff act October 3, 1913, effective March 1, 1914 (Underwood
bill): Raws testing not above 75-degree polarization, .71c per
pound. Each additional degree or fraction thereof, .026c per pound
additional. No. 16 D. S. clause repealed. All Philippine sugars to be
admitted free. After May 1, 1916, all sugars to be admitted free of
duty.

In April, 1916, a bill was passed by Congress repealing the free-sugar
clause of the tariff act of October 3, 1913. The President signed the bill on
April 27, 1916.
The Democratic party was defeated in 1896 and the following year saw
the passage of the Dingley bill, which levied a duty of 1.685 on 96-degree
raw centrifugals under 16 D. S. in color and 1.95 on raws over 16 D. S. and
on refined sugars. Under the beneficial influence of this law the industry
revived and within a period of about two years from the enactment of the
bill twenty-four beet factories sprang into being. One-half of the number
were unsuccessful[33] because the stimulating provisions of the new tariff
caused ventures to be made hastily and without regard to actual conditions.
Of the twelve factories that survived, nearly all were situated in California
and Michigan.
From 1900 to 1902 the building of beet plants was not so rapid, for the
reason that the failures just mentioned and the popular demand for
preferential terms for Philippine and Cuban sugars were not exactly
encouraging. A 25 per cent preferential was given to Philippine sugars
March 8, 1902, and a concession of 20 per cent of the duty was allowed
Cuba December 27, 1903; still, notwithstanding the failures and the
political agitation, five or six beet factories were erected each year during

this period. The number of beet factories operating in the United States in
1915 was sixty-seven and the total daily slicing capacity was 73,320 tons.
The acreage harvested was 611,301 acres, ninety-three per cent of which
was worked by independent farmers and seven per cent by the factories.
The total amount of beets sliced during that season was 6,150,293 short
tons, which produced 874,220 short tons of sugar.
The following is a list of the factories themselves:

DATE SLICING
BUILT CAPACITY
ARIZONA
Southwestern Sugar & Land Co.[34] Glendale 1903 600 tons
CALIFORNIA
Alameda Sugar Co. Alvarado 1870 750 ”
American Beet Sugar Co. Chino 1891 900 ”
American Beet Sugar Co. Oxnard 1898 3000 ”
Anaheim Sugar Co. Anaheim 1911 800 ”
Huntington
Holly Sugar Co. 1911 1200 ”
Beach
Los Alamitos Sugar Co. Los Alamitos 1897 800 ”
Santa Ana Co-op. Sugar Co. Dyer 1912 1000 ”
Southern California Sugar Co. Santa Ana 1909 600 ”
Spreckels Sugar Co. Spreckels 1899 4000 ”
Union Sugar Co. Betteravia 1898 900 ”
[34] Hamilton City 1906 700 ”
Sacramento Valley Sugar Co.
San Joaquin Valley Sugar Co. Visalia 1906 450 ”
[34] Corcoran 1908 600 ”
Pacific Sugar Co.
COLORADO
American Beet Sugar Co.[34] Lamar 1905 400 ”
American Beet Sugar Co. Las Animas 1907 800 ”
American Beet Sugar Co. Rocky Ford 1900 1600 ”
Great Western Sugar Co. Brush 1906 1100 ”
Great Western Sugar Co. Eaton 1902 1000 ”
Great Western Sugar Co. Fort Collins 1903 2000 ”

Great Western Sugar Co. Fort Morgan 1906 1150 ”
Great Western Sugar Co. Greeley 1902 1000 ”
Great Western Sugar Co. Longmont 1903 2000 ”
Great Western Sugar Co. Loveland 1901 1800 ”
Great Western Sugar Co. Sterling 1905 1000 ”
Great Western Sugar Co. Windsor 1903 1100 ”
Holly Sugar Co. Swink 1906 1200 ”
National Sugar Mfg. Co. Sugar City 1900 500 ”
Grand
Western Sugar & Land Co. 1899 600 ”
Junction
IDAHO
Amalgamated Sugar Co. Burley 1912 725 ”
Utah Idaho Sugar Co. Blackfoot 1904 860 ”
Utah Idaho Sugar Co. Idaho Falls 1903 950 ”
Utah Idaho Sugar Co. Sugar 1904 900 ”
ILLINOIS
Charles Pope Riverdale 1905 450 ”
INDIANA
Holland St. Louis Sugar Co. Decatur 1912 800 ”
IOWA
[34] Waverly 1907 500 ”
Iowa Sugar Co.
KANSAS
Garden City Sugar & Land Co. Garden City 1906 900 ”
MICHIGAN
Continental Sugar Co. Blissfield 1905 900 ”
German American Sugar Co. Bay City 1901 1500 ”
Holland St. Louis Sugar Co. Holland 1899 400 ”
Holland St. Louis Sugar Co. St. Louis 1903 600 ”
Menominee River Sugar Co. Menominee 1903 1150 ”
Michigan Sugar Co. Alma 1899 1400 ”
Michigan Sugar Co. Bay City 1899 1400 ”
Michigan Sugar Co. Caro 1899 1200 ”
Michigan Sugar Co. Crosswell 1902 700 ”
Michigan Sugar Co. Carrollton 1902 900 ”

Michigan Sugar Co. Sebewaing 1902 850 ”
Owosso Sugar Co. Lansing 1901 600 ”
Owosso Sugar Co. Owosso 1903 1200 ”
Mt. Clemens Sugar Co. Mt. Clemens 1902 600 ”
Western Sugar Refining Co.[34] Marine City 1900 600 ”
West Bay
West Bay City Sugar Co. 1899 900 ”
City
MINNESOTA
Minnesota Sugar Co. Chaska 1906 700 ”
MONTANA
Billings Sugar Co. Billings 1906 2000 ”
NEBRASKA
Scottsbluff Sugar Co. Scottsbluff 1910 1850 ”
American Beet Sugar Co. Grand Island 1890 400 ”
NEVADA
Nevada Sugar Co.[34] Fallon 1911 600 ”
OHIO
Continental Sugar Co. Fremont 1900 500 ”
Continental Sugar Co. Findlay 1911 800 ”
German American Sugar Co. Paulding 1910 900 ”
Ottowa Sugar Co. Ottowa 1912 600 ”
Toledo Sugar Co.[34] Toledo 1912 1100 ”
UTAH
Amalgamated Sugar Co. Lewiston 1905 900 ”
Amalgamated Sugar Co. Logan 1901 750 ”
Amalgamated Sugar Co. Ogden 1898 750 ”
Utah Idaho Sugar Co. Elsinore 1911 620 ”
Utah Idaho Sugar Co. Garland 1903 950 ”
Utah Idaho Sugar Co. Lehi 1891 1165 ”
Utah Idaho Sugar Co. Payson 1913 700 ”
Layton Sugar Co. Layton 1915 450 ”
WISCONSIN
Chippewa
Chippewa Sugar Refining Co. 1904 500 ”
Falls

Rock County Sugar Co.[34] Janesville 1904 600 ”
U. S. Sugar Co. Madison 1906 600 ”
Menominee
Wisconsin Sugar Co. 1901 600 ”
Falls
WYOMING
Sheridan Sugar Co. Sheridan 1915 750 ”
Total capacity (76) U. S. factories 73,320 tons

TERRITORY OF HAWAII

The Hawaiian islands lie in the north Pacific ocean, between 18 degrees
54 minutes and 22 degrees 15 minutes north latitude and 154 degrees 50
minutes and 160 degrees 30 minutes west longitude. The group consists of
eight inhabited islands and a number of small barren islets extending
several hundred miles in a west-northwesterly direction.
The area of the various inhabited islands in square miles is as follows:

Hawaii 4210
Maui 728
Oahu 600
Kauai 547
Molokai 261
Lanai 139
Niihau 97
Kahoolawe 69
Total 6651

All of them are of volcanic and comparatively recent origin, and their
age, or at least the time since the last eruptions on them, decreases from
west to east. On Hawaii, the largest and most easterly of the group, the
volcanic forces are still active and its surface is covered with lava thrown
up at no very remote period. The principal port is Hilo and the highest
mountain peaks are Mauna Kea (White mountain), 13,823 feet, and Mauna
Loa (Great mountain), 13,675 feet.
Maui is formed by two mountains connected by an isthmus. Mauna
Haleakala, the higher of the two, rises to a height of 10,032 feet.[35] Kahului
is the most important town and seaport.
Oahu is of irregular quadrangular shape. Two nearly parallel mountain
ranges traverse it from southeast to northwest and between them is a plateau
that slopes down to the sea both in a northerly and southerly direction. The
principal port is Honolulu, the “cross-roads of the Pacific,” a flourishing
city of about 60,000 inhabitants and the capital of the group. It is admirably

situated on a fine harbor and, in addition to its commercial importance, is
one of the most attractive spots in the world on account of its balmy climate
and wondrously beautiful surroundings. It is strongly fortified and a
considerable military force is maintained there.
Pearl Harbor lies about seven miles from Honolulu in a westerly
direction. Here the United States government has established a great naval
station, one of the finest in existence. It has the most improved apparatus
for supplying coal or fuel oil to vessels; there are machine shops,
storehouses and barracks; and the huge dry-dock when completed will
accommodate the largest dreadnaughts. The entrance from the sea has been
dredged to make it navigable for ships of the greatest draft and the station is
protected by powerful long-range guns of the most modern type.
Kauai, the oldest island of the group, is irregularly circular in shape, with
a maximum diameter of about 25 miles. On the northwest a precipice rises
to a height of 2000 feet and beyond that is a mountain plain, but the other
portion of the island consists of shore plains with the mountain peak,
Waialeale, 5250 feet high, in their midst. The shore plains are broken by
ridges and broad, deep valleys and the island is well watered on all sides by
mountain streams. There are a number of ports, but no large towns.
The climate of the Hawaiian islands near sea-level does not vary greatly
from one year’s end to the other. It is cooler than other regions in the same
latitude and extremely healthful. The northeast trade winds blow with
periodic variations from March to December, or, as one writer says, 264
days out of 365 every year.[36] The leeward coast, protected by high
mountains, is refreshed by regular land and sea breezes. The heaviest
rainfall is from January to May, and naturally the greatest precipitation
takes place on the windward side of the principal islands. The extremes of
local rainfall in the larger islands have been known to range from 12 inches
to 300 inches for the year. In Honolulu the average temperature runs from
72 degrees to 74 degrees, the maximum about 88 degrees and the minimum
52 degrees Fahrenheit. In ascending the mountains a lower temperature will
be encountered as a matter of course and some of the highest mountain
peaks are covered with snow nearly all the year round. Winds seldom blow
with extreme violence and hurricanes are unknown.

Singular it is that so little should have been written upon a subject so
important as the history of the growth of the sugar industry of the Hawaiian
islands. Jarves and Thrum bring the narrative down to 1875 and Mr. H. P.
Baldwin, in his book entitled “The Sugar Industry in Hawaii” (1895),
contributes a fund of valuable information which is freely drawn upon in
this chapter.
Tradition has it that a Japanese junk touched at the island of Maui during
the thirteenth century and a Spanish vessel is said to have put in on the
south coast of Hawaii during a voyage from Mexico to the Philippines in
1550. Be this as it may, our knowledge of these islands dates only from the
time of their discovery by Captain Cook in 1778. He found sugar cane
growing there when he landed and speaks of it in his description of his first
visit as being “of large size and good quality.” According to the old natives,
it grew wild and luxuriant in the valleys and lowlands. As far back as 1837
Mr. D. D. Baldwin recalls having seen fields of white cane on the edge of
the woods at Hana, Maui, at an elevation of 2000 to 3000 feet. The natives
made no attempt to use sugar cane except as an article of food, although it
is said that in ancient days it served as an offering to their gods, particularly
the god “Mano” (shark).
Cleveland[37] says that upon his first visit to the Sandwich group in 1799
the natives came alongside the ship in canoes bringing many fruits and
vegetables, among which was sugar cane.
L. L. Torbert, one of the early planters, in a paper read before the Royal
Agricultural Society in January, 1852, claims that the earliest sugar factory
was put up on the island of Lanai in 1802 by a Chinaman who came to the
islands in one of the vessels trading for sandalwood. He brought with him a
stone mill and boilers, and after grinding one small crop and making it into
sugar, went away the next year taking his apparatus with him.
Anderson[38] makes a statement that 257 tons of sugar were exported
from the islands in 1814, but cites no authority upon which to base his
assertion.
According to Jarves[39] the first instance of the manufacture of sugar goes
back beyond 1820, but the name of the pioneer planter is unknown. It is
certain that at first molasses was manufactured and then sugar some time
before 1820.

Don Francisco de Paula Marin made sugar in Honolulu in 1819, the year
before the arrival of the first missionaries. Lavinia, an Italian, did the same
thing in 1823. His method was to pound the cane with stone pestles on huge
wooden trays (poi boards) by native labor, collecting the juice and boiling it
in a small copper kettle.
Accounts from various sources agree that the making of sugar and
molasses was general in 1823-24. This undoubtedly had direct connection
with the manufacture of rum, which was extensively carried on at that time.
In 1828 a considerable amount of cane was raised in the neighborhood of
Honolulu and mills were built in the Nuuanu valley and Waikapu, Maui. A
pioneer cane grower, Antonio Silva by name, lived at the latter place, and
some Chinamen had a sugar mill near Hilo. In those days mills were made
of wood, very crudely put together and worked by oxen.
The first attempt at sugar cultivation on a large scale was made at Koloa,
Kauai, by Ladd & company, a Honolulu merchant firm, in 1835. This was
the beginning of what is now known as the Koloa plantation, and the first
breaking of the soil for planting cane was done with a plough drawn by
natives. A mill was established here at the same time, and the enterprise was
managed by a Mr. Hooper.
As has been said, the general character of the mills was rude and
primitive and it continued to be so up to 1850. The rollers were generally of
wood and the kettles in which the juice was boiled were whalers’ trypots.
The buildings were adobe or simple grass huts. Only one grade of sugar
was made. The juice was boiled to a thick syrup and put into coolers to
grain, after which the granulated mass was packed in mats, bags, boxes or
barrels with perforated bottoms for the molasses to drain off. The mills
were run by bullocks, horses and in some cases by water power, and were
fed by hand, one stalk at a time. The whole process, both in the field and in
the mill, was very crude and imperfect.
The value of the sugar exported from the islands from 1836 to 1841 was
$36,000 and that of the molasses for the same period $17,130.
An article by the late William Ladd on the “Resources of the Sandwich
Islands,” published in the “Hawaiian Spectator” for April, 1838, speaks thus
prophetically of the manufacture of sugar, then in its infancy:

“It is a very common opinion that sugar will become a leading article of
export. That this will become a sugar country is quite evident, if we may
judge from the varieties of sugar cane now existing here, its adaptation to
the soil, price of labor and a ready market. From experiments hitherto made,
it is believed that sugar of a superior quality may be produced here. It may
not be amiss to state that there are now in operation, or soon to be erected,
twenty mills for crushing cane propelled by animal power, and two by water
power.”
Just here it may be remarked that at that time the price of labor was a
potent argument in favor of making the islands a sugar-producing country,
for native labor was available in abundance and the current rate of wages
was from 12½ cents to 37½ cents per day, or $2.00 to $5.00 per month.
In an article on commercial development,[40] Thrum says:
“Hawaiian produce in the early days had to seek distant markets, for we
find shipments of sugar, hides, goat skins and the first shipment of raw silk
moving to New York per the bark Flora in 1840. A trial shipment of sugar
was sent to France, but it did not offer sufficient encouragement for any
renewals. The Sydney market was also exploited with sugar, where it
obtained better figures than similar grades of Mauritius.”
Between the years 1840 and 1850 a cane field and rude mill in Lahaina,
Maui, were owned by David Malo, a well-known Hawaiian, who made
molasses and sold it for home consumption. His apparatus consisted of
three whaling-ship trypots set up on adobe and stone mason work. The
crushing was done with wooden rollers, strengthened by iron bands.
In 1841, Kaukini, governor of Hawaii, planted about one hundred acres
of cane in Kohala and the crop when harvested was ground under contract
by a Chinese named Aiko.
In Wyllie’s “Notes” on the islands, published in the “Friend,” December,
1844, the quantity of sugar exported from the island of Kauai is estimated at
about 200 tons, and the molasses at 20,000 gallons. Hilo, in the same year,
exported 42 tons of sugar. Maui had, at that time, two mills, but the amount
of sugar produced is not reported.
In 1851, D. M. Weston, then manager of what is now the Honolulu Iron
Works, invented the first centrifugal machine for drying sugar, and this

machine was installed on the East Maui plantation in the same year. This, it
is claimed, was the first centrifugal to be used for the purpose anywhere.
Prominent among the early planters are the names of Stephen Reynolds,
William French, Ladd & company, Dr. R. W. Wood, L. L. Torbert, W. H.
Rice, and later on S. L. Austin, A. H. Spencer and Captain Makee.
In the year 1854 or 1855, Captain Edwards of the American whaler
George Washington brought from Tahiti two varieties of cane, one known
as Cuban and the other as Lahaina. The latter proved to be profitable to
raise and fifteen or sixteen years later began to displace other species
throughout the islands. Since then its popularity continued to increase and
up to twenty years ago it was the variety most in favor on all Hawaiian
plantations.
Twelve varieties of cane were imported from Queensland, Australia, in
1880, but of these only one—the Rose Bamboo—compared with the
Lahaina in productiveness, and that only in high altitudes.
In 1898 Lahaina and Rose Bamboo seemed to have outlived their
usefulness on the Hamakua coast of the island of Hawaii, and while they
continued to give excellent results in the low, sheltered valleys, it became
evident that they could not be profitably grown on the uplands. The yields
in the Hamakua region were becoming smaller each year and the plantation
owners had to seek a new variety. A cane known as Yellow Caledonia[41]
solved the difficulty and wonderful crops of it have been raised
uninterruptedly in that section ever since.
In 1856 no fertilizers were used and practically nothing was known of
irrigation. The average yield of sugar at that time was one ton per acre. The
extraction of sugar from the cane was less than 50 per cent, while today in
the best mills it exceeds 98 per cent and the average result from all
Hawaiian factories shows over 90 per cent.
The industry struggled along under severe handicaps and discouraging
circumstances until 1857, when the number of plantations on the islands
had dwindled down to five: Koloa and Lihue on Kauai, the East Maui and
the Brewer on Maui and a Chinese outfit near Hilo, Hawaii.
In 1858-59 steam was adopted as the motive power in the mills; wooden
mills were superseded by those built of iron and in 1861 the first vacuum

pans were introduced. The same year saw the number of plantations
increase to twenty-two, nine of which employed steam for the grinding of
the cane.
The outbreak of the Civil war in the United States cut off the supply of
sugar drawn from the Southern states and caused the price of Hawaiian
sugar in kegs to advance to ten cents a pound. This gave the Hawaiian
producers their first real start. In 1863 the export tonnage was 2600, and
this increased until in 1860 it reached 8869 tons.
A small plantation was started at Paia, Maui, by a Captain Bush in 1868
and in the following year he disposed of it to S. T. Alexander and H. P.
Baldwin. The former gentleman was then manager of the Haiku plantation
and the acquisition of his interest in the Paia venture necessitated his going
to Honolulu to borrow the sum of $9000, which he managed to do, but not
without difficulty. Mr. Alexander was the father of irrigation in Hawaii. He
promoted and built the Haiku ditch, which was the forerunner of the present
magnificent water-distributing system of the islands.
The period from 1869 to 1876 was one of arduous struggle for the
planters. Their very existence was at stake. The duty levied on imports by
the United States cut their margins down to nothing, labor was scarce and
the cost of obtaining it great, the rate of interest was from ten to twelve per
cent, agents’ commissions for buying and selling ran from five to ten per
cent; in short, many plantations were threatened with utter ruin, and so
seriously discouraged did the business men become that the only gleam of
hope for the salvation of the sugar industry seemed to be annexation.
Repeated efforts were made to negotiate a reciprocity treaty with the
United States. Finally this was accomplished; the treaty was consummated
in 1876 and a new Hawaii was born.
The expansion that followed was more rapid than the finances of the
country could stand. Depression ensued, and as a result the resources of the
islands were taxed to the utmost.
The demand for labor during this period of expansion was so great that
the pay of the laborers in the fields was raised to one dollar a day, with free
rent, fuel and medical attendance. Laborers were sought for in the far

corners of the earth, and in consequence the islands have a race mixture
rarely found anywhere else in the world.
In 1876 the annual crop of the islands could have been put in one vessel
of the capacity of those that are now engaged in freighting Hawaiian raw
sugars to the United States, the total being in the neighborhood of 13,000
short tons. At that time, however, this seemed an enormous amount to the
planters with their small acreage and mills. It is well known that one planter
was very much exercised as to how he was possibly going to handle the
extraordinary production of 1100 tons from his plantation, which was then
the largest in the islands.
The crop came on the market in such small quantities that it was of no
value to refiners, as they could not depend upon definite deliveries. It was
therefore put up in special containers, known as “island kegs,” and sold
directly to the wholesale grocers on the Pacific coast.
Some plantations turned out sugars that found especial favor with the
trade, and these grades brought as high as 14 cents per pound.
Under the benefits of reciprocity the crop increased by leaps and bounds
and in a short time the planters ceased selling these raw grocery sugars and
turned their attention to supplying the wants of refiners. The “island keg”
became a thing of the past and the small sailing vessels which had
heretofore carried all the island products to the mainland gave way to
steamers. At the present day there is only one sailing vessel plying regularly
between San Francisco and the islands, and she usually loads at a port
where the large freighting steamers do not care to venture.
Annexation to the United States in 1898 was the next important step in
the development of Hawaii. Its immediate effect was to create a feeling of
security and confidence in every direction, for while the reciprocity treaty
had produced excellent results, the danger of its being made the subject of
attack in Congress was ever present. The hoisting of the American flag in
the islands permanently dispelled any anxiety on that score.
Of all the early pioneers whose steadfastness and courage kept the sugar
industry alive through so many vicissitudes, but few survive. Their
descendants have succeeded to their possessions and responsibilities, and
today in Hawaii cane cultivation and sugar manufacture have attained a

higher degree of development than has been reached by any other country
in the world. Crude methods and appliances have long since disappeared.
Scientific principles govern the treatment of the land and the selection and
care of the cane. The irrigation works are marvels of engineering skill. The
mills are modern steel-frame structures, with concrete floors and equipped
with machinery of the most improved type. And the end is not yet. The
minds of many highly trained men are constantly at work upon the various
problems presented by the industry, and what the fruit of their effort will be,
who shall say?
Production of Hawaii since 1837 in tons of 2240 pounds:

1837 2
1838 40
1839 45
1840 161
1841 27
1842 ...
1843 511
1844 229
1845 135
1846 134
1847 225
1848 223
1849 292
1850 335
1851 9
1852 312
1853 287
1854 257
1855 129
1856 248
1857 313
1858 538
1859 816
1860 645

1861 1,144
1862 1,342
1863 2,363
1864 4,649
1865 6,838
1866 7,915
1867 7,646
1868 8,175
1869 8,171
1870 8,386
1871 9,715
1872 7,587
1873 10,326
1874 10,967
1875 11,197
1876 11,640
1877 11,418
1878 17,157
1879 21,884
1880 28,386
1881 41,870
1882 50,572
1883 50,941
1884 63,685
1885 76,496
1886 96,528
1887 94,984
1888 105,307
1889 108,110
1890 115,977
1891 122,761
1892 109,178
1893 136,269
1894 148,600

1895 133,596
1896 201,632
1897 224,200
1898 204,834
1899 252,506
1900 258,522
1901 321,463
1902 317,510
1903 391,063
1904 328,103
1905 380,579
1906 383,226
1907 392,872
1908 465,288
1909 477,818
1910 461,687
1911 506,090
1912 531,480
1913 488,212
1914 550,926
1915 577,183
1916 545,000

LOUISIANA

The cane crop of Louisiana comes from the southern part of the state,
principally along the banks of the Mississippi, the Bayou Teche and the
Bayou Lafourche. As this region is outside the tropics, being between 29
degrees and 31 degrees north latitude, frosts must be looked for in winter.
The sugar industry of Louisiana, therefore, as well as that of Texas, Florida
and Georgia, has to cope with climatic conditions that are unknown in most
other cane-producing countries.
All of the sugar plantations are situated in the low plains, the highest
elevation above sea-level not exceeding 83 feet. The annual rainfall varies
from 67 to 95 inches, and 80 inches may be taken as a fair average, which
amply suffices for the needs of the growing cane. In December, January and
February there is always the danger of frost and planters must be constantly
alert to guard against this as far as possible. During the autumnal equinox
much damage to the cane is caused by hurricanes that rush in from the Gulf
of Mexico.
Sugar cane was brought to Louisiana in 1751. According to Gayarré, two
ships that were transporting troops from France to Louisiana touched at a
port in Hispaniola during the voyage and the Jesuits of the island obtained
permission to put some sugar cane on board these vessels to be taken to
Louisiana and there delivered to their Jesuit brethren.
The same means were employed to send a number of negroes to cultivate
the cane, which was planted according to direction on a piece of ground
belonging to the order situated just above the present course of Canal street,
New Orleans. The cane grew to maturity and was sold in the market as a
luxury.
In 1759 a rich colonist, Dubreuil by name, built a mill and attempted to
make sugar, but his efforts were unsuccessful and the idea was abandoned.
Tafia, a kind of rum, was made from sugar cane shortly afterward.
In 1791 Don António Mendez, an officer of the Spanish crown who lived
in St. Bernard parish, bought from a Spanish refugee from Santo Domingo
named Solis his land, crop of cane and distilling outfit and attacked the
problem with a firm determination to conquer it. He called in a Cuban sugar

maker named Morin to assist him, but whether it was that he lacked the
means to erect a proper factory, or whether he became discouraged, the fact
remains that he only succeeded in turning out a few small barrels of sugar.
There is evidence that he did something in the way of refining as well, but
not in an appreciable quantity.
The first crop of sugar sufficiently large and profitable to serve as an
incentive to others was raised by Etienne de Boré about 1794. Of this
achievement Gayarré says: “When the whole agricultural interest of
Louisiana was thus prostrated and looking around for the discovery of some
means to escape from annihilation, and the eager and anxious inquiry of
every planter was ‘What shall I do to pay my debts and support my
family?’, the energy of one of the most spirited and respected citizens of
Louisiana suddenly saved her from utter ruin and raised her to that state of
prosperity which has increased with each successive year.”[42]
In 1794 de Boré purchased seed cane from Mendez and Solis and after
planting it he went ahead with his preparations for harvesting, crushing and
manufacturing. The following year the sugar he produced sold for $12,000,
a considerable sum of money in those days. The boiling of the sugar juice to
grain was done under the direction of Antoine Morin, the former associate
of Mendez. The method was naturally very primitive, the mill being driven
by animal power, and much sugar was lost in the bagasse.
Following the example of de Boré, many planters set out cane and built
sugar mills. Their operations were highly successful and they all became
wealthy within a comparatively short period.
The industry continued to flourish and prosper, and the year 1820 marked
a decided step forward. Up to that time the only two kinds of cane that had
been grown in Louisiana were the Creole (from Malabar or Bengal) and the
Tahiti. The cane originally planted by de Boré and from which he made his
first sugar was the Creole; the Tahiti variety was not introduced from Santo
Domingo until 1797. It became patent to the planters that neither of these
canes was suited to the Louisianan climate, and they set about looking for a
hardier plant. Toward the middle of the eighteenth century the purple and
striped varieties were brought by the Dutch from Java to the island of St.
Eustatius, and from there a quantity of these canes was taken to Savannah,
Georgia, about 1814. They throve extremely well and a former resident of

Savannah who had moved to Louisiana and become a planter there, having
heard about them, secured some for seed purposes. His experiment proved
wonderfully successful and from this single estate the cultivation of the new
canes spread over the entire sugar-producing region. As these varieties
could stand greater cold than the Creole and the Tahiti, the planters were
able to extend their growing area northward and in this way greatly increase
their acreage. As recently as 1897 these canes still constituted the crops of
Louisiana with a few exceptions.
Of late years, however, seedling canes obtained from Demerara have
come into great favor in consequence of the researches of the botanists at
the experiment station. In addition to an advantage both in cane and sugar
over the varieties previously used, the time of vegetation is shorter, so that
the canes mature earlier, and this, on account of the short season in which
Louisianan cane has to ripen, makes the Demeraran decidedly desirable. It
has also been proved that Demeraran cane is better able to resist damage by
storms, so that taking it all in all it would appear that the newer varieties are
quite likely to displace the older kinds.
Cane is usually planted in the same ground every three years. The crop of
plant cane is followed by a crop of ratoons and then maize is put in. As soon
as the maize is cut the field is sown with a species of large pea (Vigna
sinensis) and when summer is over the pea vines and the maize stubble are
ploughed under. A month after this is done, furrows are dug about six feet
apart and early in October cane is planted once more. In this operation two
rows of whole cane stalks are placed in the furrows and covered with five
or six inches of earth as a protection against frost. Most of this layer of
earth is removed in the spring to help the growth of the young cane shoots.
Stable manure, cotton-seed meal, nitrates, phosphates and kainite are used
as fertilizers.
Harvesting begins at the end of November, and, weather permitting, the
cane is allowed to remain standing in the fields until required for grinding.
If, however, the Government Weather Bureau should predict cold, the cane
is cut without delay, piled in the furrows and covered with dry cane leaves
to prevent it from freezing. Cane stored in this manner keeps well so long as
the weather remains cold, but as soon as warm weather comes it rapidly
deteriorates.

Labor in Louisiana is both scarce and costly, consequently agricultural
machinery is used in the fields as far as possible.

HAULING CANE IN THE FIELDS, LOUISIANA

HAULING CANE IN THE FIELDS, LOUISIANA

The steam engine was first employed in the crushing of cane in the year
1822. About this time, when slavery was such a tremendous factor in the
South, sugar raising was marked by a tendency toward the large plantation
method. From 1830 to 1840 the number of plantations in Louisiana
decreased, but the number of slaves employed on them increased 40 per
cent. Later, however, the plantations began to grow in number and by 1853
there were more than fifteen hundred of them, as against 668 thirteen years
previous. In those days, each plantation had its own sugar mill, so that 1853
may be taken as close to the high-water mark for the number of mills in the
South. With the outbreak of the Civil war, the industry was virtually wiped
out of existence, and when its rehabilitation was begun, it was carried on
along entirely different lines and the separation of the raising of sugar from
the manufacture was gradually brought about. Year by year the small mills
were abandoned and the crops of cane raised by the planters, large and
small, were brought to the central factory to be worked up. Today, where
large plantations still exist, it is the practice to rent subdivisions of land

from twenty to fifty acres in size to tenants who grow cane for the central
mill.
In 1880 there were 1144 small sugar mills in Louisiana and their output
of sugar was 121,886 tons. In 1911, 187 mills handled a crop of 5,930,000
tons of cane which gave 308,439 tons of sugar, and this would have been
considerably exceeded had it not been for a disastrous freeze. In 1880, 273
factories used horse power, in 1900 only 5, in 1905 none at all. The advent
of the vacuum pan and the consequent abolition of the open-kettle method
marked another great advance in manufacturing development. In 1880
about 42 per cent of the sugar produced in Louisiana was turned out by
factories equipped with vacuum pans. The government statistics for 1909
show a total of 316,829 tons of sugar boiled in vacuum pans and only 3,678
tons of open-kettle sugar.
As has been said, the growing season for cane in Louisiana is limited and
the harvesting is done before the plant has attained its full maturity.
Whether or not this has any effect upon the flavor of the sugar and molasses
produced is a moot point. It is none the less true, however, that the
Louisiana “Clarifieds” and the so-called New Orleans molasses possess a
flavor distinctively their own.
In the plantation fields, too, the scientists have worked wonders. To
illustrate the benefit resulting from the application of modern methods to
the cultivation of cane, in 1885 the average yield of cane per acre in
Louisiana was about three-quarters of a ton, while in 1909 the average yield
per acre in cane was about 20 tons, the recovery of sugar per ton of cane
over 157 pounds, or 3140 pounds of sugar per acre.
The Louisiana state experiment station was established by the sugar
planters at Audubon park, New Orleans, in 1885 and endowed for a term of
years. This institution has grown in importance until at the present time it
has ample grounds, well-equipped laboratories and a sugar house with an
installation of the latest and best sugar-manufacturing machinery, all
directed and operated by the students of the institution. Here is carried on
the work of developing seedlings, improvement of cane varieties,
investigation of cane diseases, together with the study of all questions of
bettering plantation and factory methods.

The sugar production of Louisiana in long tons from 1860-61 to the
present time is as follows:

1860-61 117,431
1861-62 235,856
1862-63 43,232
1863-64 39,690
1864-65 5,331
1865-66 9,287
1866-67 21,074
1867-68 19,289
1868-69 42,617
1869-70 44,382
1870-71 75,369
1871-72 65,635
1872-73 55,891
1873-74 46,078
1874-75 60,100
1875-76 72,958
1876-77 85,102
1877-78 65,835
1878-79 106,909
1879-80 88,836
1880-81 121,886
1881-82 71,304
1882-83 136,167
1883-84 128,318
1884-85 94,372
1885-86 127,958
1886-87 80,858
1887-88 157,970
1888-89 144,878
1889-90 128,343
1890-91 215,843

1891-92 160,937
1892-93 201,816
1893-94 265,836
1894-95 317,306
1895-96 237,720
1896-97 282,009
1897-98 310,447
1898-99 245,511
1899-00 147,164
1900-01 270,338
1901-02 321,676
1902-03 329,226
1903-04 228,476
1904-05 355,530
1905-06 336,751
1906-07 188,571
1907-08 302,855
1908-09 273,178
1909-10 269,431
1910-11 263,308
1911-12 315,066
1912-13 137,119
1913-14 261,337
1914-15 216,696
1915-16 122,768

PORTO RICO

Porto Rico, the most easterly and the fourth in size of the Greater
Antilles, lies at the entrance to the Caribbean sea, between 17 degrees 50
minutes and 18 degrees 30 minutes north latitude and between 65 degrees
30 minutes and 67 degrees 15 minutes west longitude. It is about 100 miles
long by 36 miles wide and has an area of 3606 square miles.
A range of mountains from 2000 feet to 3700 feet in height runs from
east to west. The south slope of the island rises abruptly from the foothills,
while on the north the ascent is more gradual and broken to a great extent
by rugged spurs and deep ravines. There is but little coastal plain on the
north, except at the river mouths, but on the south a considerable stretch of
lowlands is found. Although many indentations occur in the coast line, few
of them afford safe shelter for ships. There are thirty-nine rivers and a great
number of smaller streams, but none of the rivers is navigable for more than
a mile or two from the sea.
The climate is healthful and is tempered by the northeast trade winds
that, with certain modifications due to local conditions, blow steadily the
year round. The mean annual temperature is about 80 degrees Fahrenheit.
The rainy season begins in May and ends in November and the average
yearly precipitation at the foot of Mount El Yunque on the northeast coast is
120 inches. At San Juan it is 55 inches, while other sections of the island are
semi-arid or subject to severe droughts. Porto Rico is particularly free from
epidemics. The last case of yellow fever was reported in 1897. Cholera and
bubonic plague are unknown, and dysentery diseases, formerly common,
are steadily decreasing. Like other West Indian islands, it is subject to
hurricanes, that of 1899 having been unusually disastrous. The census of
1910 gave the population as 1,118,012.

A. Moscioni, Photo.
SUGAR PLANTATION SCENE IN PORTO RICO

A. Moscioni, Photo.
SUGAR-SHIPPING PORT, PORTO RICO

The soil is fertile and may be divided into three classes. First, the red soil,
generally found in the mountains; second, the black soil, containing much
humus, and third, the coral sand soil of the coast plains. The black has
proved to be the best for sugar cane, although excellent yields have been
obtained from the coast lands. Notwithstanding the fact that both soil and
climate are well suited to cane cultivation, the extension of the industry is
checked by the formation of the country. The hilly character of the island
and the comparatively limited transportation facilities do not admit of cane
being grown in the interior. All of the modern plantations are near the coast,
where sugar can be easily transported to steamers. In the north cane may be
raised without irrigation, but in the south, where the greater part of the crop
is produced, irrigation is necessary. About 400,000 acres of the surface of
Porto Rico are under cultivation and half of this area is devoted to sugar.
The cane grows chiefly on the rich alluvial lowlands along the coast. On the
southern seaboard there is plenty of good land that has never been planted,

but to make this available for agriculture means the construction of costly
irrigation works with extensive aqueducts and much tunneling.
Porto Rico was discovered by Columbus in 1493. The name Puerto Rico
dates from 1521, when gold was found in the island. The natives suffered
cruelly at the hands of their conquerors up to the year 1544, when they were
set free by the order of King Charles I of Spain.[43] Out of a population
originally estimated at 600,000 only a few hundred remained. Great
numbers had died and many had fled to Mexico and Peru, but the Spaniards
soon filled their places with African negroes.
For three centuries the island was harried by the English, attacked by
pirates and freebooters, torn by rebellion among the slaves or terrorized by
the fleets of the Dutch, who were intent upon its conquest, so that Spain
was kept constantly on her guard to prevent her colony from being wrested
from her. This state of affairs naturally did not encourage population. The
country could not meet the cost of its administration and the deficit had to
be paid out of the revenues of Mexico. Up to 1778 only Spaniards were
allowed to settle there, but after that date the privilege was granted to
people of other countries, provided they were of the Roman Catholic faith,
and in 1815 all restrictions were removed. Foreigners were welcomed to the
island and many inducements offered them. Trade with the United States
was permitted in 1815, but only in Spanish ships.
This liberal policy brought many planters from the British and French
islands, and as they had experience, capital and slaves, they did much to
develop the resources of the colony. Subsequently many refugees came
from Haiti, Santo Domingo and Venezuela.
Slavery in Spanish possessions was abolished in 1873 and 34,000 slaves
in Porto Rico received their freedom.
After Alphonso XII ascended the Spanish throne in 1875, commercial
conditions in the island showed a certain improvement, but politically the
situation was deplorable, reflecting as it did all the bad features of an
obsolete system of government, complicated by a liberalism that was
premature. By reason of its arbitrary decrees and many acts of persecution,
the administration stirred up a feeling of bitter antagonism on the part of the
colonists. A step toward reform was taken in 1877, when the provincial
deputation was re-established, and eighteen years afterward, the home

government, in response to vigorous demands from foreign nations,
attempted to pass measures to effectively remedy existing evils, but it was
far too late. The island received a grant of autonomy in November, 1897,
and in July of the following year it was taken over by the United States.

A. Moscioni, Photo.
PLOUGHING CANE FIELD WITH STEAM PLOUGH, PORTO RICO

A. Moscioni, Photo.
UNLOADING SUGAR CANE AT A MILL, PORTO RICO

As soon as this became an accomplished fact, there was a marked
improvement in conditions, especially from a sugar point of view. Up to
this time much attention had been given to the cultivation of coffee, and
sugar production had suffered to a certain extent in consequence. Spain had
admitted Porto Rican coffee free while protecting it by duties levied on
foreign coffee, but when the island passed into the hands of America, this
advantage to the coffee raiser disappeared. Besides, the hurricane of 1899
had caused great damage to the coffee plantations and the combination of
circumstances proved a severe setback to the coffee industry.
The sugar planters, on the other hand, benefited greatly by annexation. In
1889 the government allowed a reduction of 85 per cent on the duty
assessed on Porto Rican sugars entering the United States. In 1901 they
came in absolutely free and Porto Rico has enjoyed the full protection of the
tariff ever since.

In 1900 Congress passed a law known as the Foraker act, which provided
that no corporation should be allowed to acquire more than 500 acres of
land in Porto Rico and that no stockholder in any agricultural company
operating there should be permitted to hold shares in any other corporation
of the kind. The object of the law was, of course, to prevent capitalists from
buying up great tracts of land for the cultivation of sugar on a large scale to
the detriment of the native land owner.
The act, however, did not serve the interests of the small Porto Rican
farmer as its framers apparently intended it should. The owners of large
holdings were non-resident and the small farmers lacked the money and
enterprise to carry on the industry in a proper manner. The law excluded
that which was most urgently needed, namely foreign capital, and when this
fact became apparent, the provisions of the measure were construed
liberally by the authorities, so that of late years extensive sugar estates have
been started in Porto Rico with American, British and French backing, and
the production has grown from 85,000 tons in 1902 to 378,509 tons in
1916.
Formerly the Porto Rican planters used to harvest cane from the same
lands year after year, without using fertilizers of any kind. When they
planted new cane, the soil was only partially prepared; the subsoil was
never cleared of roots and rough grasses and cultivation was only
indifferently done. The result is that many cane fields are now practically
exhausted and some planters find that their lands are becoming spoiled by
rapidly multiplying weeds.
Today the usual method is to plough the ground twice before putting in
the seed. Deep ploughing is taking the place of scratching the surface and
steam ploughs are being used on the larger estates. Where the soil is heavy
and the rainfall abundant, the furrows are dug about eight feet apart and two
feet deep and the cane planted in double rows at four-foot intervals. In dry,
sandy soil the planting is in single rows and the distance between the
furrows ranges from four to six feet, according to how rich the soil is. The
fields are kept free from weeds and manure is used but seldom.
The greater part of the cane is planted during the last four months of the
year and crushing is begun in the second January following, which gives the
cane a growing period of fourteen months or more. Some planting is done

in January, February and March and this cane is cut in twelve months. Then
a certain amount is planted between March and June, and if the sugar
content proves satisfactory, it is ground the following season; if not, it is
allowed to remain standing for another year. Planting is done every four
years and the best results are obtained from the first and second ratoon
crops. The yield of cane per acre averages about 18 long tons, although this
has been exceeded in good years. The cane is cut close to the ground with a
machete and loaded on ox-carts to be taken to the mill or the railway
station, according to the location of the field.
Almost all of the cane grown in Porto Rico is ground in the large central
factories, but it is only during the last ten or twelve years that this has been
done. The small mills have disappeared for the most part, although a few
have been able to struggle along.
The centrals usually raise about one-half of the cane they grind. The rest
they buy from the colono, who grows cane either on his own land or upon
ground rented to him by the central owner. As a rule the price paid to the
colono for his cane is 5 per cent of the weight of the cane in sugar, although
this is subject to modification at times. As the central factories are of recent
construction, they are equipped with the newest and best machinery and the
most scientific methods govern their operation.
In 1853 Porto Rico exported 112,000 tons of sugar; the following year
the amount was 70,000 tons and during the next twenty years it remained
nearly stationary. In 1871 the production reached 105,000 tons, dropping
back to 89,000 tons in 1885 and 65,000 tons in 1886. The crop of 1900 was
very small—35,000 tons—owing to the havoc wrought by an unusually
severe hurricane, but from that time on it has increased year by year.
As most of the diseases and pests that attack sugar cane are met with in
Porto Rico, it is obvious that the work of the United States agricultural
station at Mayaquez has been of inestimable benefit to the planters.
Experimenting with different varieties of cane, importing seed cane from
other countries, analysis of soils, scientific advice upon the use of fertilizers
and instruction as to the best means to destroy or control harmful parasites,
these are but a few of the many important services rendered by the station.
The outlook for Porto Rico’s sugar industry seems hopeful. Labor is
cheap and abundant, climatic and soil conditions are favorable and an

irrigation project at present under way promises to convert lands now arid
into productive cane fields.
Since 1900 the production of sugar in Porto Rico in tons of 2240 pounds
has been:

1900 35,000
1901 80,000
1902 85,000
1903 85,000
1904 130,000
1905 145,000
1906 213,000
1907 210,000
1908 200,000
1909 245,000
1910 308,000
1911 295,000
1912 320,000
1913 350,323
1914 325,000
1915 308,178
1916 378,509

THE PHILIPPINES

This group of islands is situated about 500 miles off the southeast coast
of Asia, between 4 degrees 10 minutes and 21 degrees 10 minutes north
latitude and between 116 degrees 40 minutes and 126 degrees 34 minutes
east longitude. It is bounded on the west and north by the China sea, on the
east by the Pacific ocean and on the south by the Celebes sea. It comprises
3141 islands, of which 2775 contain less than one square mile each.
According to the Philippine census of 1903 the total area is 115,026 square
miles,[44] although some authorities estimate it to be as much as 127,800
square miles. Two-thirds of this is forest land and not more than 9½ per cent
of the entire archipelago was classified under Farms in 1903. The area
devoted to sugar cane the year previous was 177,628 acres, about 5 per cent
of the cultivated land.
The islands are chiefly of volcanic origin and their surface is much
broken by hills, isolated volcanoes and mountain ranges running north and
south, northwest and southeast or northeast and southwest. There are twelve
active volcanoes in the group and eight others with well-defined cones that
are either dormant or extinct. The highest elevation in the islands is Mount
Apo, an extinct volcano on Mindanao, 10,312 feet, with Mount Mayon, an
active volcano on Luzon, next, 8970 feet. Earthquakes are frequent and
occasionally violent.
The most important of the group are Mindanao, Luzon, Samar, Palawan,
Panay, Negros, Leyte, Mindoro, Cebú, Masbate and Bohol. The coast line,
which is over 11,000 miles in length, is fringed with coral reefs and
indented by many gulfs and bays. There are plenty of good natural harbors,
the principal one being Manila in Luzon, which affords perfect shelter for
shipping, even in the severest storms. Next in importance are the harbors of
Iloilo and Cebú.
Climatic conditions vary widely. However, it may be said in a general
way that the climate is characterized by a uniformly high temperature,
excessive humidity, heavy rainfall and violent tropical storms. Near the
seacoast, it is moderate between November and the first of March. The
latter part of March and the months of July, August and September are
warm and very hot weather comes in April, May and June. The nights,

however, are always cool. The temperature naturally changes as the
elevation above the sea increases, but at ordinary levels it averages 77
degrees Fahrenheit in January, and 83 degrees in May.
The annual rainfall is about 74 inches, and two-thirds of this comes in
July, August, September and October. Of course the precipitation in certain
localities is affected by mountain ranges that cause condensation from
moisture-laden trade winds. In the lowlands that are not protected by
mountains, the rainfall is regular. Typhoons occur between April and
October, but they are not nearly so severe as the hurricanes that visit the
West Indies and Mauritius. In October, 1882, a typhoon did a great deal of
damage in Manila, and there was a serious loss of life in the great storm that
visited Samar and Leyte in 1897. The well-appointed observatory in Manila
sends out warnings of the approach of typhoons and much life and property
are saved by this means.
The soil is generally reddish-brown in color and is largely made up of
disintegrated lava with an admixture of decayed vegetable matter;
sometimes decomposed coral limestone is present.

PLOUGHING FIELD BEFORE PLANTING CANE, PHILIPPINES

PLOUGHING AT LA CARLOTA, OCCIDENTAL NEGROS, PHILIPPINES

John W. Dwinelle, in an address delivered in San Francisco in 1866, said:
“Previous to the discovery of America by Columbus in 1492, the
Portuguese had discovered the Azore islands in longitude 31 W., and on the
strength of that discovery claimed that the countries discovered by
Columbus belonged to the crown of Portugal, and that the Spaniards should
be wholly excluded from them. But the Spaniards refused to admit this
pretension and referred the matter for decision to the Pope, Alexander VI. It
was then part of the law of nations, and of the public law of the world, that
the Pope was the ultimate source of all temporal power; that he could make
and unmake kings, and dispose of all the kingdoms of the earth—powers
which he frequently exercised and against which it were vain to contend.
He was therefore, by general consent, the acknowledged source of all
lawful title to land. He assumed to decide the case thus referred to his
decision, and on May 3d, A. D. 1493, determined the matter in dispute
between the crowns of Portugal and Spain, by drawing an imaginary line of

longitude one hundred leagues west of the Azores, and granting to the
Spanish monarchs all countries inhabited by infidels, which they had
already discovered, or might afterwards discover, lying to the west, and to
the crown of Portugal all those lying to the east of that line. This line was
afterwards removed two hundred and seventy leagues further to the west,
by a treaty subsequently made in the year 1494, between the kings of
Portugal and Spain; but so thoroughly was the title thus conceded by the
Pope respected by the civilized world, that when Henry VII of England was
afterwards about to intrude upon some of the dominions thus granted to
Spain, he abandoned his project upon being warned by the Pope to desist.”
This division of the surface of the globe into two parts gave to Portugal
all the territory both known and unknown east of the arbitrary meridian
drawn 470 miles west of the Cape Verde islands, and to Spain everything
west of this line.
Ferdinand Magellan, the famous Portuguese navigator, in the service of
the Emperor Charles V of Spain, set out on a voyage west-bound with the
object of taking possession of the Moluccas, as they lay west of the line of
demarcation. Sailing around Cape Horn, Magellan discovered the
Philippine islands in 1521, landing first on Malhou, between Samar and
Dinagat. Afterward, he touched at Mindanao, from which he sailed to Cebú.
Thence he went to the small island of Mactan, where he was killed in a
skirmish.
But little action was taken with regard to this territory until after the
accession of Philip II (hence “las Filipinas”—Philippines), when an
important expedition was fitted out at the Mexican port of Navidad. It sailed
in November, 1564, under the command of Miguél Lopez de Legaspi, the
distinguished conquistador, who, in the following year established on the
island of Cebú the first permanent settlement in the Philippines. The city of
Manila was founded in 1571 and became the capital of the group. Through
his tact, courage and resourcefulness, Legaspi won the confidence of the
people and placed the colony on a sound footing. At the same time he
checked all attempts at encroachment on the part of the Portuguese. Spanish
rule was undisturbed until 1762, when a British naval force bombarded
Manila and occupied it. At the conclusion of the war between Great Britain
and Spain in 1764, the British withdrew and the domination of Spain

endured until 1898, when the Spanish fleet was destroyed by Dewey at
Manila bay.
The title to the Philippines therefore passed through the Pope to Spain
and from Spain to the United States.
When Magellan reached these islands he found that sugar was made in a
primitive fashion. The methods employed were very much like those in
vogue in China, and the sugar, when made, greatly resembled the Chinese
product. This is very strong presumptive evidence that cane and the
knowledge of its manufacture were originally brought to the Philippines by
the Chinese.

HAULING CANE, PHILIPPINES

CARABAO MILL, PHILIPPINES

The industry, however, amounted to very little prior to 1849, in which
year the island of Negros was placed under the jurisdiction of the religious
order of Recoletos, who did much to encourage the manufacture of sugar,
and this movement was stimulated by the high prices resulting from the
Crimean war. In consequence, cane sugar was exported with profit from
Negros, Luzon and Cebú. Notwithstanding the lack of capital, the rough,
crude mills, the planters’ scant knowledge of manufacturing methods and
the wretched transportation facilities, the sugar trade forged rapidly ahead
until in 1893 the exports totaled 257,550 long tons. A slump in the price of
silver, however, brought on a financial crisis, and subsequently internal
dissensions affected the crops so that in 1901 only 51,448 tons were
exported. Since then a change for the better has taken place and the figures
for 1915-16 indicate a production of 345,000 tons.
Sugar cane is used as a delicacy in all of the inhabited islands of the
Philippine group, but the growing and manufacture of it as a regular
industry are confined to Negros, Mindoro, Cebú, Panay, Luzon and Leyte.

In 1914-15 about 350,000 acres altogether were planted in cane, and the
quantity of sugar exported during 1916 was about 300,000 tons.
The first care of the United States after its occupancy of the Philippines
was the bettering of conditions in sanitation, education, banking methods,
railway communication and deep water terminals. Apart from the primitive
character of the sugar mills and the loss growing out of poor extraction of
juice, open-kettle boiling and curing in earthen pots, the sugar producer was
generally in debt to the buyer for advances that carried a high rate of
interest. The government has taken steps to correct this evil and has made it
possible for the farmer to get credit on reasonable terms, limiting its loans,
however, to those who have Torrens titles to their property,[45] but the
Filipino has been under the influence of the money-lenders too long for him
to break his bonds entirely. Besides, his instinctive dislike for anything new
is a hindrance to progress in this direction.
In addition to the measures just alluded to, a special law was passed in
1902, under which all Philippine sugars entering the United States paid 25
per cent less than the regular customs tariff. The Payne-Aldrich bill of
August 5, 1909, provided for free admission of Philippine sugars up to
300,000 gross tons, and it stipulated that the small producer (less than 500
tons per annum) was to receive first consideration in the event of the
importation exceeding 300,000 tons. Any excess coming into the United
States would have been assessed the full tariff. During the life of this
legislation, however, the largest production of the islands was that of 1913-
14, which amounted to 265,000 tons, of which 225,000 tons were exported.
[46]
The tariff act of 1913, which became effective March 1, 1914, admits all
Philippine sugars free of duty without any restriction as to quantity.
The religious orders were formerly large land owners in the Philippines,
and the feeling of discontent that ultimately led to the insurrection of the
Filipinos against Spain in 1896 was largely due to agrarian difficulties
between the friars and their tenants. When the revolution came, the friars
had to flee for their lives, and after peace was restored by the United States,
the insular government felt that if they returned to their possessions they
would be in constant danger from the hostility of the natives. It was,
therefore, decided to acquire these lands and to that end Congress passed an
act authorizing the Philippine government to issue bonds to the amount of
$7,000,000 and to purchase the lands of the various orders with the money

so raised. With one or two minor exceptions, all of these lands, amounting
to something over 600,000 acres, were bought by the government and are
being resold on long-term payments at a price that will reimburse the
government. In disposing of this property preference is always given to the
resident tenants.

OLD-STYLE SUGAR MILL, PHILIPPINES—SHOWING POOR CRUSHING

TINGUIAN CANE CRUSHER, LINGAYEN, PHILIPPINES

A measure was carried through the Philippine legislature approving the
sale of the unoccupied portions of these friar estates to individuals without
restriction as to acreage, and it was under the provisions of this act that
large tracts of land were acquired by the interests connected with the
Mindoro company in the San José estate in Mindoro and by the people
associated with the Calamba estate in the Calamba, Santa Rosa and Biñan
districts of Laguna province, Luzon.
Apart from these so-called friar lands, the public lands in the Philippine
islands are held for sale or lease subject to the following conditions:
Corporations can purchase or lease up to 1024 hectares, or 2500 acres, and
individuals up to 64 hectares, or 158 acres. The terms of sale are a
minimum of 10 pesos, or $5 per hectare, 25 per cent of which must be paid
at the time the contract is entered into and the remainder within five years,
with interest at 6 per cent, or leased at a minimum rental of 50 centavos, or
25 cents, per hectare per annum, leases running for fifty years.

The Mindoro and Calamba companies, controlling 55,000 and 20,000
acres respectively, and the San Cárlos Milling company of San Cárlos,
Negros, have erected the first and only modern sugar mills in the
Philippines, and they have gone into cane cultivation and sugar manufacture
in a scientific way. The management of these three enterprises has been
entrusted to men who have had thorough field and factory experience in
Hawaii.
Unlike the other two large companies, the San Cárlos Milling company
operates a central pure and simple. The company owns no land except the
site for the mill and the outbuildings connected with it. It has, however,
acquired leases of a certain amount of railway trackage. The capacity of the
mill is 1000 tons of cane per day, which means about 125 tons of
centrifugal sugar. It was completed at the end of 1913 at a cost of about one
million dollars, and the first cane ground was from the 1914 crop.
In the Philippines cane is not planted every year. Herbert S. Walker, in his
work “The Sugar Industry in the Island of Negros” (Manila, 1910), says: “A
decidedly large proportion of the total land under cultivation in Negros is
not replanted every year, but is allowed to ratoon, from two to eight crops
being taken off without replanting. This is especially true in the rich soils of
the districts around Ilog-Cabancalan, Binalbagan-Isabela, San Cárlos and
Bais. Theoretically, cane planted in some of these alluvial soils, which are
flooded and fertilized each year by silt brought down from the mountains
by the overflow of a river, might go on ratooning indefinitely. Practically,
the period between plantings is limited strictly by financial considerations.
“Much time and expense are saved by not being obliged to replant. On
the other hand, the yield from plant cane is, as a rule, greater than even
from first ratoons, and with each successive ratoon crop the total amount of
sugar produced per hectare of land is decidedly diminished. This is partially
due to the shorter time in which the cane is allowed to ripen. Owing to
excessive rains prevalent in this country, canes must be cut every year, and
the practice so common in Hawaii of allowing ratoons to ripen for eighteen
months or more, is here out of the question. A further obstacle, especially
when canes are planted closely in rows, is the tendency of ratoons to spread
out in every direction from the original plant so that in the course of a few
years the cane rows lose all semblance of regularity, and proper tillage of

the soil is rendered very difficult; thus many young ratoons are stunted in
their growth by weeds.”

OLD WATER-DRIVEN MILL, ISLAND OF NEGROS, PHILIPPINES

MILL DRIVEN BY WATER POWER, OCCIDENTAL NEGROS, PHILIPPINES

The time of planting in most parts of the islands is usually from
December until April, but in Negros, where the soil is good and the rainfall
well distributed, planting can be done at almost any time, except during the
period of very heavy rains, i. e., from July to October.
The yield of sugar per acre may be approximated as follows:

Plant cane 2.5 tons
First ratoons 2.0 ”
Second ratoons 1.75 ”
Third ratoons 1.50 ”
Fourth ratoons 1.25 ”

When the yield drops as low as eight-tenths of a ton of sugar per acre,
replanting is necessary, and allowing for the reduced yield of first and
second ratoons, it may be reckoned that one-half of the production is from
plant cane and the other half from ratoon crops.

The length of time during which the cane is allowed to remain in the
ground varies from nine to fourteen months and will probably average
between eleven and twelve.[47]
The labor problem is present in the Philippines as in all cane-sugar
countries. The natives are willing enough to work, but shrink at the idea of
leaving their homes to take employment at any considerable distance away.
Apart from the three modern factories previously mentioned, sugar-
making facilities are greatly behind the times, although there are a few
minor exceptions. Over one thousand small mills were in operation in the
islands in 1907 and of these 528 were driven by steam, 470 by carabao
(water oxen) or natives, and 77 by water power. The carabao mills,
however, are rapidly disappearing. The capacity of most of these small mills
is from 50 to 60 tons of cane per day, and, as the cane is only crushed once,
there is a considerable loss in recovery. A little lime is added to the juice to
clarify it and it is then boiled to grain in a series of five or six open pans.
The general arrangement is shown by the accompanying sketch, which is
taken from Herbert S. Walker’s “Sugar Industry in the Island of Negros.”

The drawing shows two sets of pans, each set being built over a separate
furnace. The number 5 pan, into which the juice from the crusher flows, is
connected to both sets. The furnaces are fed directly under number 1 pan,
where the final boiling is done and where the greatest heat is required. The
two furnaces converge when they reach the boiler, which may be fired
separately, so that grinding and boiling may, if necessary, be done
independently of each other. As the juice leaves the crusher through an open
wooden trough, particles of cane and other matter are removed by straining
through a cloth or a close-meshed wire screen. It runs into the receiving pan
—number 5—and is heated to between 160 and 175 degrees Fahrenheit,
which brings certain impurities to the surface in the form of froth. This is
skimmed off and thrown into the scum tank; the juice is then ladled by hand

as required into the smaller pans (number 4) where lime is added for
clarification. Violent agitation takes place in pans numbers 3 and 2, and as
fast as scum forms it is skimmed off. The clarified juices are then
concentrated in pans number 2 and number 1, after which the massecuite is
put into wooden trays and stirred with a spade until it granulates. It is then
ready to be taken to market.

NATIVE SUGAR FACTORY, PAMPANGA PROVINCE, PHILIPPINES

INTERIOR OF CAMARIN, PHILIPPINES

As has been pointed out, the loss in this primitive method of manufacture
is very heavy. Notwithstanding the fact that all of the molasses is retained in
the sugar, the amount of sucrose that is lost or wasted is 44 per cent, and
over one-half of this is left in the bagasse.
Apart from centrifugals, Philippine sugars consist of the following
grades: Superior, Humedo (wet) and Corriente (current). Sugars polarizing
from 87 to 88.9 degrees are called Superior No. 1, those testing from 85 to
86.9 degrees, Superior No. 2, and those running from 80 to 84.9 degrees,
Superior No. 3. Humedo sugars polarize from 76 to 79.9 degrees and
Corriente from 70 to 75.9 degrees. Roughly speaking, the proportions are
about 85 per cent of Superior of 84 degrees purity and 15 per cent of wet
sugar testing somewhere near 75 degrees.
The Bureau of Agriculture of the Philippines maintains experiment
stations at La Granja, near La Carlota, Occidental Negros, and at Calamba,
Luzon, for the study of cane, soil analysis and the solving of fertilization

problems. This work of scientific investigation is sure to be of great benefit
to the industry. Some experimental work with sugar cane is also carried on
at the station at Alabang, Laguna province, Luzon.
American control in the Philippines promises much for the future of the
sugar industry of these islands, for when it is remembered that for many
years, in spite of the handicap of crude, uneconomic methods, export duties
at home and import duties abroad, sugar was made and sold at a profit in
the markets of the world, it is not unreasonable to look for a considerable
stimulus to be given to production by advanced scientific management and
free admission of the commodity to the markets of the United States.
Quantity of sugar exported from the Philippine islands from 1895 to
1916, in tons of 2240 pounds:

1895 227,279
1896 226,279
1897 198,899
1898 177,962
1899 91,583
1900 61,752
1901 51,448
1902 90,617
1903 88,144
1904 82,656
1905 103,334
1906 122,417
1907 120,050
1908 140,197
1909 125,276
1910 114,506
1911 203,394
1912 190,702
1913 155,201
1914 232,761
1915 207,679

1916 300,000

LUZON SUGAR REFINERY, MALABON, RIZAL, PHILIPPINES

LOADING SUGAR ON LORCHAS, PHILIPPINES

CUBA

The island of Cuba lies between 74 degrees and 85 degrees west
longitude and 19 degrees 40 minutes and 23 degrees 33 minutes north
latitude; its length is about 730 miles, running nearly east and west, and its
width varies from 25 to 100 miles. In area it comprises about 45,883 square
miles, or 29,365,120 acres, which is approximately that of Pennsylvania or
Louisiana. Habana, the capital, is almost on the same parallel as Honolulu
and the City of Mexico.
With the exception of a strip of the central-southern coast, Cuba rises
boldly out of the sea and presents a rugged appearance to the eye on
approach. About one-quarter of its surface is mountainous; three-fifths
consists of gently sloping country, valleys and rolling plains; the rest is
swampy.
A variety of topographic and climatic characteristics divides the island
naturally into three distinct parts. The eastern end is high and broken, with
tall commanding peaks; the wide central region, lying well above sea-level,
is made up of excellently drained, undulating plains, interrupted at intervals
by low, wooded hills; the western portion is a picturesque country of
mountain and valley, but of lower altitude than the eastern end. The entire
island is covered with a mantle of luxuriant verdure, kept always green by
warm mists and generous rains.
A coral reef extends around the greater part of the coast, but between the
forbidding rocks and the marshes there are a number of good harbors,
chiefest among which is that of Habana, one of the finest in the world. The
distance from Cuba to Key West, Florida, is one hundred miles. The census
of 1908 placed the population at 2,048,890.
The prevailing winds are the northeast trades, but these are interrupted at
frequent intervals by variable winds from other directions which bring
changes in temperature and rainfall. Compared with those of Hawaii, the
mountains are low, usually not over 2000 feet, and do not produce the effect
of a wet side and a dry side to the island, as the trades sweep it from end to
end and not transversely. To give an idea of climatic conditions, the average
maximum temperature in Habana in 1914 was 90 degrees Fahrenheit, the

minimum 53 degrees and the mean average 77 degrees. The total rainfall
was 46.15 inches. Seventy-five per cent of the rain occurs in the summer
months, between the first of May and the first of October, and the
precipitation is greater in the eastern part of the island than in the western.
The winters are comparatively dry. This combination of dry winters and wet
summers is extremely favorable to the growing and harvesting of sugar
cane.
The low plains along the coast are of coral formation and the soil
overlying the coral is often found to be shallow. The richest and most
productive soil is that of the uplands some distance from the sea. In Cuba
the soils may be said to consist of two kinds—the red and the black. The red
is generally of great depth, from 30 to 50 feet, and rests on a stratum of free
limestone. The black soil, varying in color from a mulatto to a “gumbo”
black, overlies a clay formation, and as a general rule is not so deep as the
red soil. Owing to the fact that the black soil retains such a large percentage
of water during the extremely rainy period, the cost of cultivation is double
that of working the red soil.

American Photo Co., Habana.
CENTRAL FACTORY, GENERAL VIEW, CUBA

American Photo Co., Habana.
CUBAN CENTRAL—GENERAL VIEW

The date of the introduction of sugar into Cuba is uncertain. Different
authorities place it anywhere from shortly after the discovery of the island
in 1492 to 1580. Von Humboldt is silent on the point, but says that Cuba did
not participate in the sugar industry to any extent in the sixteenth century,
so that its importance in that respect belongs to a later period.[48] Up to
1772 sugar cultivation was greatly hampered by restrictions of the Spanish
government; after that date special privileges were canceled and the right to
grow sugar was given to all Spaniards. This naturally encouraged
production, which from 4390 tons in 1760 increased to 14,000 tons in 1790.
The revolution which destroyed the sugar plantations and mills of Santo
Domingo in 1791 stimulated the development in Cuba still further. During
the ten years that followed, the number of mills increased from 473 to 870,

and by 1802 the output of sugar reached 40,800 tons. In those days mills
were very small, crude affairs and were worked by oxen.
Cuba, in common with all sugar-raising countries, felt the effects of the
European wars very severely, but her sugar trade revived after the
overthrow of Napoleon and the resumption of commerce through normal
channels.
With increased production the question of labor became a serious one.
The number of slaves on the island had been sufficient as long as the sugar
crop was limited, but with expansion came the need for more African
negroes, so in 1834 the governor, Miguél Tacon, caused many new slaves to
be brought in. He did much to help the industry in other directions,
particularly by suppressing abuses, and under his administration the
planters enjoyed prosperity such as had never been known. Fresh lands
were brought under cultivation and the shipping ports grew in importance
and activity.
While figures showing the annual production of Cuba were tabulated,
beginning with 1850, their accuracy was open to question until 1882, in
which year an export duty was imposed, and the records kept by the
authorities from that time forward are reasonably correct. Nevertheless, it is
known beyond any doubt that 610,000 tons were produced in 1870 from
1200 small mills.
The first war with Spain (1868-78) and the abolition of slavery worked
havoc with the industry. All children born of slaves were proclaimed free in
1872 and slavery was entirely abolished in 1880, without any
indemnification to the slave owners. Sugar producers found freeman labor
both costly and hard to obtain, the island was ravaged by fire and sword,
and in the markets of the world beet-root sugar, protected by bounties, was
proving a powerful competitor. These were dark days for the planter.
With the restoration of peace, conditions improved. By 1890, 470 mills
were in operation and their production in that year was 625,000 tons. In
Cuba a change in methods came about, just as had been the case in
Louisiana; the cultivation of sugar was gradually dissociated from its
manufacture, and as mills became fewer in number, plantings increased.
The manufacturers leased tracts of land to farmers, from whom they bought
the cane raised on it. Independent planters, too, sold their cane to the central

mills, and the plan was adopted so generally throughout the island that but
little cane was grown by the owners of the centrals. During this period of
peace and development, the tonnage mounted steadily upward and in 1894
it totaled 1,054,214 tons.

American Photo Co., Habana.
CANE FIELD, CUBA

American Photo Co., Habana.
LOADING CANE ON OX-CARTS, CUBA

The following year saw the renewal of hostilities with Spain, which
dragged along with brutality and devastation until May, 1898, when the
United States declared war against Spain and finally established the Cuban
republic. The period of this second rebellion against Spain was marked by
ruthless destruction of property, the burning of mills and cane in the fields,
and the killing of the cattle that were used for transport purposes. In 1897
the output of sugar had shrunk to 212,051 tons. The work of reconstruction
after the expulsion of the Spaniards was slow, involving as it did a
tremendous amount of effort and the investment of a great deal of new
capital. Manufacturers who were unable to raise money to rebuild or re-
equip their mills turned planters and grew cane for the nearest centrals.
Some, more fortunate, succeeded in securing the money they needed and
restored and extended their property. Far the greatest number, however,
being unable to command the ready cash for immediately necessary repairs,
incorporated or sold their holdings outright to newcomers. The many small,

old-fashioned mills have given way to a limited number of large plants, or
centrals, that are under corporate ownership and governed by scientific
business principles. This process of consolidating several small factories
into one big one is constantly going on, and in addition American capital
and enterprise are opening up new lands to cultivation in many parts of the
island. To a great extent the old-time planter has had to make room for the
corporation, with its powerful resources and modern methods, and while the
individual has suffered in many instances, the industry has greatly
benefited.
Cuban plantations may be divided into two classes, the ingenios and the
centrals. The ingenio is a small plantation whose lands lie in the
neighborhood of the mill, while the central, in addition to its own cane,
handles the crops of a number of ingenios. The ingenio hauls all of its cane
to the factory by ox-carts; the central is served by railroads, both privately
and publicly owned, and its equipment and machinery are of the most
modern type.
Approximately 90 per cent of the cane grown in Cuba comes from what
are termed colonias, i. e., farms varying in size from a few acres up to
several hundred.
Colonos, or farmers, may be classified in three groups: in the first is the
man with his small estancia, or farm, on which he raises foodstuffs and
cattle, and who takes his few hundred arrobas[49] of cane to the central
when the price is good, or feeds it to his animals when the pasturage is
short. In this class, too, is the man who has a hundred or two hundred
caballerías[50] of land, but whose chief interests are in other channels and
whose operations in cane growing are merely an adjunct to his regular
business.
In the second group is the independent farmer, who owns his land and
cane and sells his crop to whom he pleases.
The third and most numerous group comprises those who plant cane on
lands belonging to the central. These people either pay rent, or receive a
certain fixed amount for their cane, or both. Their work is at all times
subject to inspection by the central administration and under such
circumstances they may be likened to contractors or employés, whose
compensation is based upon the success of their own efforts.

The average size of a colonia, exclusive of those owned by colonos of the
first-mentioned class, who are independent of cane growing, doubtless
depends upon what would afford a man a decent living with a few luxuries.
H. C. Prinsen Geerligs, in his book “The World’s Cane Sugar Industry,”
states that one hundred arrobas (2500 pounds) of cane costs the Cuban
farmer $2.07 at the mill. If 2½ cents be taken as an average price for sugar
and $900 per annum as a fair living wage, then the colono who gets an
average yield of 50,000 arrobas per caballería and is paid for it at the rate of
5 per cent, receives $1560 per caballería for cane that has cost him $1035 to
produce. According to this reasoning, a colonia should not be less than 1.75
caballerías in size, but of course this is purely speculative.
The farmer who owns his land is paid about six per cent[51] of the weight
of the cane he furnishes in centrifugal sugar of 96 degrees, sacked and
ready for shipment, and occasionally delivered at the nearest shipping port.
Sometimes settlement is made in cash, based upon the value of the agreed
percentage of sugar at the Habana quotation on the day the cane is
delivered. In other words, for every one hundred pounds of clean cane in
bundles, delivered on board the cars, the plantation pays the grower about
six per cent of 96-degree centrifugal sugar, or its equivalent in money.[52]
Where the land is furnished by the plantation, the farmer is paid from
four to five per cent of the weight of the cane in sugar. He is given a house
free of rent and an acre or two of garden land as well. All material, labor or
stores supplied to him are debited to him to be accounted for when final
settlement is effected.
Planting cane in Cuba is a simple matter. In preparing virgin forest land
for seed, no ploughing whatever is done; the trees and shrubs are cut down
and allowed to dry, the valuable timber is carried away, and the remainder is
burned. When this is done the land is found to be smooth and level, as a
rule. Planting consists in making holes in the ground with a heavy pole shod
with iron that is driven obliquely into the earth at regular intervals, the seed
is then dropped in these holes and covered with earth, completing the
operation. Grassy ground, however, must be ploughed, in which case
furrows are made six feet apart. The seed cane is planted in them at
intervals of from six inches to twelve inches, covered with earth and left to
grow. There are the spring plantings and the autumn plantings, the first from
April to June and the second in October and November, that is to say, one at

the beginning and one at the end of the rainy season. In the case of the
former, if the rains come soon after planting, the cane can be cut in the
following March or April, i. e., after a growing period from nine to twelve
months. If, however, the rains are late the cane cannot mature before the
advent of the new rains and therefore cannot be ground until the following
December. Cane planted in the fall ripens in December of the next year or
sometimes a month later.[53]
Notwithstanding the little care given to the planting, the cane once started
yields a generous crop, which is followed by profitable ratoon crops for a
number of years without fertilization or a great amount of tillage. Finally,
when through age the cane ceases to produce a paying crop of ratoons, the
old roots are taken up,[54] and the same soil reseeded brings forth excellent
results for another period of years without any rotation of crops being
necessary. Not more than ten per cent[55] of the total area of Cuba is
devoted to the growing of cane. In addition to the ground on which cane is
actually planted, large tracts are needed as pasture for draft cattle. Besides,
there is much forest land and many barren spaces that are undoubtedly
included in the acreage classified as being under cane cultivation.
According to Dr. W. D. Horne,[56] the average yield is from fifteen to
twenty tons of cane per acre[57] and the crops are usually allowed to ratoon
for ten years.

American Photo Co., Habana.
TRAIN-LOAD OF SUGAR CANE, CUBA

American Photo Co., Habana.
SELF-DUMPING CANE CAR, CUBA

In Cuba, cane diseases are of rare occurrence, but in dry years swarms of
mice invade the fields and cause great damage by gnawing the cane. They
rapidly disappear, however, as soon as the wet season sets in. It is the
weather that brings success or failure to the sugar crop, for the growth of
the cane is entirely dependent upon rainfall and a long period of drought is
extremely hurtful. Hurricanes that sweep in from the Caribbean sea work
havoc in the plantations, beating the cane flat to the ground or uprooting it
altogether, which results in heavy damage both to the growing crop and the
one following it.
Harvesting is generally begun in December and over in May, although
one or two centrals continue in operation practically all the year round.
Weather conditions determine when the grinding starts and ends, for, as a
rule, the cane has to be hauled from the fields to the weighing station in
huge carts drawn by oxen. When the roads are dry, three pairs of oxen can
pull a load of 7500 pounds of cane with ease, but as soon as the heavy rains

set in the ground quickly softens, the roads become impassable and the
movement of cane by carts is out of the question.
The cane is cut close to the ground with a long, heavy knife, called a
machete. It is “topped,” cut into two- or three-foot lengths, tied in bundles
and loaded on the ox carts to be hauled to the scales and thence by rail to
the mill. The stumps that remain in the ground are covered over with dry
leaves to conserve the moisture in them. Nourished by occasional showers,
the roots quickly sprout and a year afterward a crop of ratoons is ripe and
ready to be harvested.
Wages in Cuba are higher than in most important cane-producing
countries in the tropics, and Dr. V. S. Clark quotes a number of authorities
to show that inefficiency makes Cuban labor costs in most lines of work
relatively higher than in the United States and other countries on the
American continent, although he says that American supervision has in
some instances increased efficiency greatly.[58] (Bureau of Labor, Bull. [L.
of C.] 41, pp. 712, 778.)
Complete, reliable and up-to-date information and statistics concerning
Cuba’s sugar industry are not obtainable at the moment, nevertheless it is
well known that the Cuban plantations and mills that are operated by
modern scientific methods can produce sugar at lower costs than Germany
or any of the beet-raising countries, while as regards cane-growing
countries, Java is the only possible rival. And yet, despite the optimistic
views of Cuba’s supporters, the fact remains that the full development of
her resources is still a matter of uncertainty, though the possibilities for
expansion are enormous, provided that certain obstacles, notably the labor
problem, can be overcome. At the present time it is doubtful whether the
production of sugar could be largely increased, chiefly because of the
growing difficulty of securing adequate help in the fields.
During the season ending midsummer, 1915, Cuba’s output of sugar was
2,592,667 long tons, the largest crop raised in any country in the world, and
the vast amount of cane from which it was manufactured was ground by
176 central factories. It is estimated that the production for 1916 will reach
3,000,000 tons.
When it comes to the marketing of her sugar the United States is Cuba’s
best customer, only a comparatively small amount being taken by Europe.

[59]
The 20-per-cent preferential allowed on Cuban sugar duty under the
reciprocity treaty, however, does not always go to the Cuban manufacturer.
The real beneficiary is the consumer in the United States, for this reason:
when the grinding of the Cuban crop is in full swing, the weekly production
of raw sugar is approximately 150,000 tons, which speedily exhausts the
available storage capacity of the island, so that movement of the sugar is
imperative; besides this, the natural anxiety of the planter to realize in order
to meet his current expenses causes a strong pressure to sell. It becomes
with him a question of whether he can net better figures in New York or the
United Kingdom, and owing to difference in port charges and dispatch, the
New York results are generally more satisfactory, even with the concession
of a part, or at times all of, or even more than, the 20-per-cent preferential.
Inversely, it follows that when raw sugars are in keen demand, the planter
pursues his advantage to the limit.
The total production of sugar in Cuba from 1850 to the present year is as
follows, but the figures prior to 1882 are not entirely dependable, as has
been previously explained:

YEAR TONS
1850 223,145
1851 263,999
1852 251,609
1853 322,000
1854 374,000
1855 392,000
1856 348,000
1857 355,000
1858 385,000
1859 536,000
1860 447,000
1861 446,000
1862 525,000
1863 507,000
1864 575,000
1865 620,000

1866 612,000
1867 597,000
1868 749,000 [60]
1869 726,000 [60]
1870 726,000 [60]
1871 547,000 [61]
1872 690,000 [60]
1873 775,000 [60]
1874 681,000 [60]
1875 718,000 [60]
1876 590,000 [60]
1877 520,000 [60]
1878 533,000 [60]
1879 670,000
1880 530,000
1881 493,000
1882 595,000
1883 460,327 [62]
1884 558,932
1885 631,000
1886 731,723
1887 646,578
1888 656,719
1889 560,333
1890 632,368
1891 816,980
1892 976,000
1893 815,894
1894 1,054,214
1895 1,004,264
1896 225,221 [63]
1897 212,051 [63]

1898 305,543 [63]
1899 335,668
1900 283,651 [64]
1901 612,775
1902 863,792
1903 1,003,873
1904 1,052,273
1905 1,183,347
1906 1,229,736
1907 1,444,310 [65]
1908 969,275 [66]
1909 1,521,818
1910 1,804,349
1911 1,483,451
1912 1,895,984
1913 2,428,537
1914 2,597,732
1915 2,592,667
1916 3,000,000 [67]

JAMAICA

Jamaica lies 80 miles south of the eastern end of Cuba, between 17
degrees 43 minutes and 18 degrees 32 minutes north latitude and 76 degrees
10 minutes and 78 degrees 20 minutes west longitude. It is 144 miles long
and 50 miles across at its widest part, with a total area of 4207 square miles.
The island is traversed from east to west by a mountain range from which
a number of spurs run out to the northwest or southeast. This range is more
sharply defined in the eastern end, where the highest point is Blue Mountain
Peak, 7360 feet above sea-level. The mountains gradually slope westward
down to the hills of the western plateau, which is of limestone formation
and comprises two-thirds of the island’s surface. As a rule the highlands
terminate abruptly in steep bluffs, a strip of level land lying between them
and the sea. On the south coast there are extensive plains. Fully one
hundred rivers and streams empty themselves into the Caribbean, but the
greater number of them are not navigable and in flood time they become
raging torrents. In 1911 the population, of whom only 2 per cent are white,
was estimated at 831,123. It is made up of Maroons, descendants of the
slaves of the Spanish; descendants of African negro slaves; a mixture of
British and negro; laborers from India; a sprinkling of Chinese, and the
white settlers.
On the coast the climate is hot and humid, but at the higher elevations it
is mild and delightful. The temperature at Kingston and the low sea-level
region generally ranges between 70.7 degrees and 87.8 degrees Fahrenheit.
At Cinchona, which is 4907 feet high, it runs from 57.5 degrees to 68.5
degrees. With rare exceptions, rain falls during every month in the year, and
there are two wet seasons, each of about three weeks duration, one in May
and one in October. The amount varies considerably; the yearly average for
Kingston is 32.6 inches, for Cinchona 105.5 inches and for the entire island
66.3 inches. Hurricanes, which were of frequent occurrence during the early
part of last century, have not visited the island so often of late years.
Earthquakes take place from time to time, that of 1907 having been
particularly violent and destructive.
Transportation facilities are excellent, the roads are good and a railway
180 miles long connects Port Antonio, Kingston and Montego bay.

Jamaica was discovered by Columbus on May 3, 1494, and was called
Santiago by him, but this never supplanted the original Indian name
Jaymaca, “the island of springs,” modified into its present form, Jamaica.
Columbus put in at the island for shelter in 1505, and four years later his
son Diego sent out Don Juan d’Esquivel to take possession of it in the name
of the Spanish crown. Sant’ Iago de la Vega, now Spanish Town, founded in
1523, was destroyed by the British in 1596 and was rebuilt after their
departure. The British raided the island again in 1635, and twenty years
later they occupied it permanently, expelling the Spaniards entirely by
1658. During the three years that followed, Jamaica was under military rule
and then a constitution modeled upon that of the mother country was
established.
About this time the island became a rendezvous for the buccaneers.
These gentry quite often combined the roles of merchants or planters and
pirates or sea-rovers. In 1670 the treaty of Madrid confirmed the British in
their possession of the island and the buccaneers were suppressed. Jamaica
then became a great slave market, and the growing of sugar cane and the
manufacture of sugar on an extensive scale were begun. Civil disturbances
retarded the progress of the colony until 1728. The town of Port Royal was
destroyed by a great earthquake in 1692, while in 1712 and 1722 hurricanes
of extreme violence carried destruction throughout the island.
When the Dutch were driven from Brazil by the Portuguese in 1655
many of them settled in Jamaica, Barbados and other West Indian islands.
They brought their slaves with them, and, besides, they had a good
knowledge of sugar and the necessary capital, so that the industry entered a
new phase of development after their arrival. The keenest competitors of the
British islands were the French sugar producers of Saint Dominique,
Guadeloupe and Martinique, as they were more skilled in manufacturing
methods and made sugar at a lower cost. A heavy export tax affected the
sugar trade of Jamaica and her sister colonies adversely. The refining of
sugar was prohibited and heavy import duties placed upon sugar and syrup
entering British North American possessions closed that market to the
Jamaican product. Notwithstanding these drawbacks the industry continued
to grow and in 1791 the destruction of the plantations of Saint Dominique
removed a formidable rival.

Since the passage of the emancipation act in 1834 and the granting of
£16,500,000 as partial indemnity to the planters for the loss of their slaves,
there has been persistent agitation by the planters, both in Parliament and
outside of it. It became very loud when the protection afforded West Indian
sugars as against sugars raised in slave-owning countries was lessened and
finally withdrawn. It subsided somewhat with the abolition of slavery in the
colonies of other European nations, and it was renewed with added vigor
when the competition of bounty-nourished beet-root sugar manufactured on
the continent of Europe made itself felt. As has been shown, bounties and
cartels enabled the European beet-sugar manufacturers to sell their product
in foreign markets below actual cost, while realizing a handsome profit in
the quantity sold for home consumption. Jamaica and the other cane-
producing colonies which had no domestic trade to fall back upon found
themselves in a grievous plight.
By 1895 matters had reached such a pass that a royal commission was
appointed to make a thorough investigation of conditions and report to the
home government. The main features of the remedial measures adopted as a
result of the work of this body were:
First: The establishing of the farmers as owners of land, that is to say,
parcels of land were sold to small farmers, who were assisted by money
advances in the cultivation of their crops, with the understanding that they
were to grow cane at their own risk and sell it to the mills.
Second: Planters were encouraged to raise crops other than sugar.
Third: Agricultural experiment stations were built and equipped in
Barbados, Trinidad and Jamaica with sub-stations in a number of the
smaller islands.
Fourth: A direct steamship service to Canada was established. The
service between Jamaica and England was improved and regular steamer
communication between the islands was provided.
It was stipulated that the cost of building and maintaining the experiment
stations was to be borne by the home government until the results obtained
justified their being supported by the colonies. In addition, a grant of money
was authorized by Parliament to take care of the pressing needs of the
planters during the year before the Brussels convention became effective.

With improved steamship facilities between Jamaica and the mother
country, the volume of the trade in fresh fruit was greatly increased.

Photo by H. H. Cousins

MORELANDS SUGAR MILL, VERE, JAMAICA

THE FLEET, MORELANDS, VERE, JAMAICA

In 1907 the value of the fruit shipments in pounds sterling was as
follows:

Bananas £842,689
Citrus fruits 90,468

as against

Sugar 122,328
Rum 98,923

On January 14, 1907, an appalling earthquake occurred. The buildings in
Kingston and Port Royal were destroyed or badly damaged and about one
thousand people were killed.
In 1906 the area under cultivation in Jamaica was 750,000 acres and of
this only 26,000 were devoted to cane. Sugar planting has been in a

stagnant condition for years and only a limited number of the estates that
still carry on the industry are making money. Many have stopped growing
cane entirely and have turned to bananas, cocoanuts, coffee or cattle raising.
In certain districts there is plenty of fertile alluvial land, ample water and
cheap labor, but proper cultivation is lacking, so that the results are far from
what they should be. Planting simply consists of sticking a piece of cane
stalk in a hole in the ground and very little ploughing is done, consequently
the weeds are never under control. It takes about twelve months for the cane
to ripen and the yield per acre varies widely, ranging from ten to forty-five
tons. The average may be taken as about twenty tons per acre.
The island boasts of three central factories and eighty-two small mills,
only twelve of the latter having vacuum pans. The others make muscavado
sugar and rum. In the operation of boiling by no means all of the sugar is
extracted, as a pure liquor is needed for the manufacture of good rum and
quite a large amount of cane juice is made into rum direct.
In the process of making muscavado sugar in Jamaica, the cane juice
after being brought to boiling point in an open kettle is transferred into a
second kettle, where it is treated and the heavy impurities allowed to settle.
The clear juice then goes into copper walls, a series of three or more large
open copper pans, called teaches. These pans rest above an open fire fed by
bagasse, cane trash and wood. After the juice has been boiled to a certain
density in the first pan it is transferred to the second and the final
concentration takes place in the third or fourth, as the case may be. In some
mills the last boiling is done with steam in what is called an Aspinall pan,
instead of over an open fire. When the mass becomes sufficiently thick, it is
put into large tanks and left to crystallize. Sometimes it is kept in motion
during crystallization, but usually no stirring whatever is done.
Crystallization completed, the mass is packed in hogsheads with perforated
bottoms. These hogsheads are allowed to stand over drainage troughs for
two or three weeks so that the molasses may run off. The holes are then
plugged up and the sugar is ready to be shipped.
The percentage of sugar, glucose and water in Jamaica muscavados is
approximately:

No. 1 Sucrose 88.6 Glucose 5.30 Water 3.42
2 86.2 4.40 3.72

3 83.9 5.92 4.66
4 83.0 6.98 3.84

Management is slipshod and the extraction is poor. It takes fifteen tons of
cane and sometimes more to produce a ton of sugar.
As for the future of the sugar industry in Jamaica, much in the way of
improvement could be done by the introduction of systematic management,
proper cultivation, adequate fertilization and scientific methods of
manufacture. Labor is plentiful and cheap, and it would seem that sugar
could be produced in Jamaica at as low cost as in Cuba. Thus far, however,
there have been no signs of a real awakening.
As regards production, the following figures are taken from Willett &
Gray:

1903-04 crop 14,255 tons
1904-05 ” 16,000 ”
1905-06 ” 18,000 ”
1906-07 exports 13,971 ”
1907-08 ” 10,718 ”
1908-09 ” 11,453 ”
1909-10 ” 12,000 ”
1910-11 ” 19,960 ”
1911-12 ” 21,835 ”
1912-13 ” 8,728 ”
1913-14 ” 15,583 ”
1914-15 ” 15,063 ”
1915-16 ” 15,000 [68] tons

BARBADOS

Barbados, the most easterly of the Windward islands, lies seventy-eight
miles east of St. Vincent in 13 degrees 4 minutes north latitude and 59
degrees 37 minutes west longitude. It is twenty-one miles long, fourteen
and one-half miles at its greatest breadth and its area is 166 square miles. It
is of coral origin and at certain points the coral reefs extend out to sea as far
as three miles and are a menace to navigation. The island is low and flat,
except in the central and northeastern part. Mount Hillaby, the highest peak,
rises 1148 feet above sea-level and from it the land slopes in terraces in
every direction. Carlisle bay on the southwest is a natural harbor, but only
available for vessels of light draft. Barbados is densely populated. In 1906
the number of inhabitants was 196,287, of whom by far the greater number
were negroes, who, in proportion to the whites, are as nine to one.
The climate is agreeable, with well-defined wet and dry seasons, and for
eight months in the year the heat is modified by the northeast trade winds.
The dry, or cold, period is from December to May. The temperature ranges
from 70 degrees to 86 degrees Fahrenheit, seldom falling below 65. There is
a plentiful rainfall, the annual average being sixty inches, and September is
the wettest month. Moisture readily penetrates the coral subsoil and collects
in subterranean reservoirs. Porous soil, thorough cultivation and the absence
of swamps give miasma no opportunity and fever is unknown, but
hurricanes are the scourge of the colony. The soil is thin, but extremely
fertile, and there is a theory that it was originally formed of volcanic ash,
carried by the winds from St. Vincent during times when La Soufrière was
in eruption.
It is said that the Portuguese were the first Europeans to visit the island;
be this as it may, they never took possession of it. A British ship touched
there in 1605, and, finding no inhabitants, annexed it in the name of King
James I. Since that time British ownership has continued without
interruption. An actual settlement was established in 1625, in which year
the king made a grant of the island to Lord Leigh, afterward the Earl of
Marlborough. Bridgetown, the present capital, was founded in 1628.
Barbados was the first of Great Britain’s island colonies to grow sugar
cane. The plant was brought there in 1642 during Philip Bell’s

governorship, and slaves were imported at the same time. A number of
Dutch who were expelled from Brazil in 1655 took refuge in the island, and
their knowledge of sugar and experience in its manufacture did much to
stimulate the industry. Beginning with the middle of the seventeenth
century, Barbados became an important sugar-producing center.
Following emancipation in 1834, the Barbados planters received
£1,720,000 to indemnify them for the loss of over 83,000 slaves. At the
same time a large number of the freed blacks continued to work on the
sugar plantations as before, but under pay; hence abolition did not bring on
the same hardships in Barbados as it did in some of the other West Indian
colonies.
Labor is plentiful and cheap, so that cultivation is done carefully and in a
thorough manner. The naturally rich soil is treated with fertilizers of various
kinds, and planting is done every year as a rule, although ratoon crops are
often raised on the uplands. Formerly Bourbon cane was grown exclusively,
but owing to the falling off in the yield, it was discontinued and the
varieties now in favor are White Transparent and seedling canes raised
locally. The crops suffer from time to time through hurricanes and droughts,
as well as from the common run of cane diseases. Of the entire area of
106,470 acres, about 100,000 acres are cultivated; between 60,000 and
70,000 acres of this are in sugar cane.
In 1902 there were 440 estates on the island, the average area being 168
acres. Of these, 23 exceeded 500 acres and 139 contained less than 100
acres; 19, comprising 6707 acres, were owned by corporations. Each estate
had its own mill, and 432 of them made muscavado and eight of them
centrifugal sugar. Today the number of factories is estimated at 335, of
which 221 are driven by windmills. A few plants are equipped with vacuum
pans and modern machinery, but muscavado sugar and molasses still
represent nearly all of the production. The molasses obtained in the open-
kettle process has a higher value and finds a much readier sale than that
resulting from boiling in vacuum pans. Therefore in making comparisons
between the yield in sugar from the open-kettle process with that from the
vacuum-pan method, the increased price brought by the rich-flavored
molasses made in the old-fashioned way must be taken into account.

On an average, the sugar content of the cane is 13.5 per cent and the
recovery is about 7.5 per cent muscavado sugar and 3.5 per cent molasses.
It is evident that imperfect crushing and crude manufacturing methods
cause a considerable loss in sugar on most of the estates.
In 1898 the Imperial Department of Agriculture established its chief West
Indian station in Barbados. This station has rendered great service to the
planters in improving cane varieties, giving expert advice concerning
fertilizing and fighting cane pests.
Undoubtedly much could still be done to better conditions, but the small
estates are generally mortgaged and their owners are in no position to
borrow more money to enable them to operate on a more extended scale.
On the other hand, they are extremely tenacious of their holdings and will
not part with them to capitalists who might establish large central factories.
It therefore seems altogether improbable that there will be any expansion in
the sugar industry of the colony in the near future.
The production of Barbados during the last twenty years in long tons has
been as follows:

1895 33,331
1896 45,170
1897 51,275
1898 46,878
1899 40,442
1900 44,250
1901 56,912
1902 45,576
1903 33,795
1904 55,785
1905 41,210
1906 50,630
1907 33,033
1908 31,353
1909 15,571
1910 36,389

1911 32,514
1912 exports 30,548
1913 ” 11,479
1914 ” 33,387
1915 ” 32,578
1916 ” 50,000 [69]

TRINIDAD

Trinidad lies six miles off the northeastern coast of Venezuela, between
10 degrees 3 minutes and 10 degrees 50 minutes north latitude and 60
degrees 39 minutes and 62 degrees west longitude. Its average length is
forty-eight miles, it is thirty-five miles in width and has an area of 1754
square miles. It is the largest of the British West Indian islands, with the
exception of Jamaica, and the population in 1914 was estimated to be
255,148, one-third of whom were East Indians.
The surface is level or rolling, with a mountain range in the north, which
rises to 3100 feet at its highest point, Tucuche Peak. In the south there is a
ridge of hills about 600 feet high, and in the central part an upland belt runs
from east to west by south. There are a number of small rivers, none of
them navigable.
The island enjoys an equable climate, the temperature varying from 70
degrees to 87 degrees Fahrenheit, the mean being 78.6 degrees. The seasons
are regular, rainy from May to January, with a four weeks’ interval of fine
weather in October, and dry from the end of January until May. The average
rainfall is 66.26 inches, but in the cane-growing region it is about 80 inches.
Hurricanes, earthquakes and long spells of drought are unknown.
Christopher Columbus discovered Trinidad in 1496 and the Spaniards
occupied it ninety years later. It remained in their hands until 1797, when it
was taken by the British, to whom it was formally ceded in 1802.
As was the case in other West Indian islands, the aborigines were quickly
exterminated by the Spanish conquerors and their places filled with negro
slaves. A number of French and Creole settlers came to Trinidad in 1780,
and about the middle of the following century Portuguese refugees from
Madeira joined the colony. After the abolition of slavery by Great Britain in
1834, many Hindus were brought in under contract.
The soil of the island is very rich and well adapted to the growing of
sugar cane and other tropical products. The sugar plantations are found in
the level country bordering on the Gulf of Paria, where the soil is a dark
clay, and which has been described as one of the finest stretches of sugar
land in the West Indies.

As a result of the financial distress of 1895, which caused the home
government to pass relief measures, a number of plantation owners were
compelled to dispose of a portion of their land to farmers, who grew cane
upon it and sold the crop to the sugar factories. It is estimated that today
about twenty-five per cent of the cane worked up by the factories is
furnished by these small growers, the remainder being raised by the owners
of the estates. Grinding begins in January and is finished in May or June.
Trinidad has its own agricultural station, which is chiefly devoted to the
study of sugar-cane culture. It has been of great service to the industry in
determining the kinds of cane that can be most profitably grown, in fighting
cane diseases and pests and in working out fertilization problems.
From 1855 to 1887 an average crop of 59,774 tons was turned out by
ninety estates. Of this total, 28,500 tons were vacuum-pan sugar and the rest
muscavado. In 1896, 62,975 tons of sugar were made by thirty-nine estates.
Seven of these made 2000 tons of common muscavado, six made 5500 tons
of centrifugal muscavado, and the remaining twenty-six made vacuum-pan
sugar. A report made in that year concerning sugar estates in Trinidad sets
forth that advantage has been taken of the most modern improvements in
boilers, furnaces, multiple evaporators, crushing mills and other machinery.
Trinidad produces a large amount of what are known as “yellow crystals,”
which are sold in the British market for direct consumption and command a
premium over the ordinary raw sugar.
Statistics compiled in 1909 show that the colony then had sixteen sugar
factories, which turned out 52,972 tons of sugar, and the recovery
represented 8.74 per cent of the weight of the cane; 451,801 tons of this
cane were grown by the estates and 154,663 tons by the small farmers.
There were 11,401 of the latter, 6077 of whom were East Indians and 5324
West Indians. Trinidad is the only West Indian colony where the attempt to
fill the places of negro laborers with coolies from India has been successful.
The production of sugar since 1900 has been as follows:

1900 41,269 tons
1901 51,077 ”
1902 44,913 ”
1903 46,029 ”

1904 50,744 ”
1905 38,240 ”
1906 62,975 ”
1907 50,564 ”
1908 48,933 ”
1909 52,972 ”
1910 exports 44,139 ”
1911 ” 37,282 ”
1912 ” 32,557 ”
1913 ” 31,665 ”
1914 ” 47,251 ”
1915 ” 49,107 ”
1916 ” 55,000 ” [70]

SANTO DOMINGO

Haiti is divided into two unequal parts, the republic of Haiti (République
d’Haiti), comprising 10,204 square miles, and the republic of Santo
Domingo (República Dominicana), with an area of 19,325 square miles. It
is one of the four large islands of the West Indies and lies between 17
degrees 37 minutes and 20 degrees north latitude and 68 degrees 20 minutes
and 74 degrees 28 minutes west longitude. Its length from east to west is
about 407 miles and its greatest width is 160 miles. The total population is
2,737,700.
The surface of the island is exceedingly mountainous, three distinct
ranges traversing it from east to west. The loftiest peak, Loma Tina, near the
city of Santo Domingo, reaches a height of 10,300 feet. The extensive
intervening valleys are fertile and watered by numerous rivers, none of
which, however, are deep enough to be navigable.
The climate is hot and humid. An average temperature for the month of
January would be about 75.4 degrees Fahrenheit, for July 84 degrees, and
for the year 79.2 degrees. There are no active volcanoes, but great damage
is done from time to time by earthquakes and hurricanes. The yearly rainfall
is abundant, averaging about 120 inches. In San Pedro de Macoris,
however, where the greater part of the sugar crop of the island is grown, the
annual precipitation is in the neighborhood of 60 inches. As this is not
sufficient for the needs of the growing cane, the planters have to do a
certain amount of irrigating, and the water for this purpose is obtained from
artesian wells.
The soil of the sugar-growing territory is of porous limestone formation,
which shows evidence of disturbances and upheavals due to volcanic
agency. Overlying this is a deposit of decomposed vegetable matter from
three to twelve inches in thickness, and there are areas where a rich black or
red soil, varying from one to two feet in depth, is found.
On December 5, 1492, Columbus sighted the northern coast of Haiti and
found safe anchorage there. The newly discovered island was named
Española, which was afterward latinized to Hispaniola. Later still, the
settlement founded by the Spaniards in the southern part under the name of

Santo Domingo gave its name to the entire island. When Columbus set foot
on its shores, Haiti had 2,000,000 inhabitants, who were governed by five
caciques, each holding both religious and political sway over the separate
kingdoms. At the outset the newcomers were received with welcome and
honor, but it was not long before their tyranny caused a rupture between
them and the natives. A war of extermination followed, and by 1506 the
entire island had fallen into the hands of the invaders.
Left in possession of a depopulated country, the Spaniards restocked it
with African negro slaves. Meanwhile the interior of the island had been
explored, settlements had been established, mines opened up and progress
made in agriculture. In 1506 sugar was brought in and its cultivation soon
assumed important proportions. About 1625 the French and English began
to give trouble to Spain in the western archipelago, and a few years later a
number of Englishmen and Frenchmen, who had been expelled from St.
Kitts by the Spaniards, took refuge on Tortuga island and became famous
under the name of Buccaneers. They succeeded in establishing themselves
in a part of Haiti, and in 1697 their right of possession was acknowledged
and the territory occupied by them was ceded by Spain to France by the
treaty of Ryswick. The new colony was called Saint Dominique, and it
entered immediately into an era of prosperity in which the expansion of the
sugar industry was the principal factor. When the French revolution broke
out, the exportations of sugar amounted to 80,000 tons, and this large
production necessitated the employment of a great number of slaves. The
whites were few and the unequal proportion led to disaster. The population
consisted of whites, free colored people (most of whom were mulattoes)
and negro slaves. The mulattoes demanded the same civil rights as the
white people and these privileges were accorded them in 1791. Incensed
beyond measure, the whites clamored loudly for a reversal of this decree
and finally obtained it. On August 23, 1791, a violent insurrection of the
blacks broke out; the plantation slaves were joined by the mulattoes and a
massacre of the whites followed. Those who escaped the slaughter fled,
leaving all their possessions behind; the sugar plantations were destroyed
and the entire sugar industry came to an abrupt end.
In 1793 Saint Dominique was attacked by England and Spain, whereupon
the French government, in order to conciliate the blacks and retain its
dominion over the colony, proclaimed all the slaves free. By the terms of

the Peace of Bâle in 1795, the whole island passed into the hands of the
French.
Toussaint Louverture, a negro of marked military ability, was appointed
commander-in-chief by the directory, and by 1801 he succeeded in restoring
order. Unfortunately, the measures that he endeavored to put into effect
aroused the suspicions of Napoleon, who sent out an army to subdue him
and to restore slavery. This expedition met with such determined resistance
that the commander, General Leclerc, opened negotiations and Toussaint
was induced by solemn promises to lay down his arms. He was
treacherously seized and taken to France, where he died in 1803. The blacks
immediately renewed hostilities under Jean Jacques Dessalines, and in
November, 1803, the French withdrew completely. In the following year the
independence of the island was declared and its ancient name of Haiti was
restored. Dessalines was first made governor for life and in October, 1804,
he proclaimed himself emperor. He was assassinated in 1806. From that
time to the present the country has been in a state of turmoil and the end is
not yet. In 1844 the people of the eastern end of the island seceded and
formed the republic of Santo Domingo. Ever since then there have been two
distinct governments in the island, with the strongest political antipathy
existing between them.
But little sugar cane is raised in Haiti, and the most of this small quantity
is either consumed as cane or made into a beverage called tafia.
The sugar plantations of Santo Domingo are found on the southern coast,
in the level stretches of Arua and Romana, in the valleys near the city of
Santo Domingo and in the region near San Pedro de Macoris. No sugar is
grown in the interior. While most of the factories are land owners and
cultivate cane, they do not grow all that they grind. A good deal is raised by
colonos under the following conditions: The factories assign parcels of land
to the colonos rent-free and in addition allow them the use of draft cattle
and farming implements. When necessary a certain amount of actual cash is
advanced. The colonos plant and till the land, furnish their own labor and
deliver the cane at the point where it is loaded on the railway cars. The field
hands are either natives or negroes brought from nearby islands, and their
pay ranges from 50 to 75 cents gold per day.

The ground is tilled in an indifferent fashion and no fertilizing whatever
is done. When virgin soil is planted, the seed is put in at seven-foot
intervals, sometimes greater, without any holes or furrows having been
made; the cuttings are simply stuck in the ground and partly covered with
earth. The cane ripens in fourteen months or more. Ratooning follows until
the yield gets so small that replanting is necessary. When this time comes,
the old roots are ploughed up and furrows from four to six inches in depth
are made about five or six feet apart. The seed cane is planted in these
furrows at four- or five-foot intervals. The yield from virgin soil is very
heavy and has been known to reach ninety tons to the acre, but the sugar
content of such crops is low, whereas the subsequent ratoons with a
decreased tonnage of cane per acre give juice of a better quality. A fair
average production on a plantation having 4000 acres in cane would be
about twenty-four tons to the acre. Naturally this estimate would be affected
by the relative proportions of plant cane and ratoons, as well as by the
character of the soil. Planting is generally done in June and October, while
the harvesting begins in December and continues until April.
Manufacturing methods in Santo Domingo admit of much improvement.
Single crushing is the method employed for the most part, so that the loss in
extraction is considerable. The juices are treated and the suspended
impurities allowed to settle at the bottom of the tanks. Filter presses are the
exception rather than the rule, and for want of them the sugar in the
resultant mud is lost. The clear juices are then concentrated and boiled to
grain in vacuum pans. First sugars generally polarize between 95 degrees
and 97 degrees, seconds about 86 degrees. The molasses is either made into
rum or permitted to run to waste. Notwithstanding the crude character of the
factories and machinery, the recovery of sugar is generally good, the
average being between 9 per cent and 11 per cent of the weight of the cane,
with single crushing.
Almost all of the factories are managed by Americans, but, as has been
said, the equipment they have to work with is by no means modern, and
under the extremely uncertain political conditions that prevail there is scant
encouragement for outside capital to come in and improve matters. Just
when a change for the better will come is impossible to say.
Messrs. Willett & Gray give the yearly figures since 1903 in long tons, as
follows:

1903-04 47,000
1904-05 47,000
1905-06 55,000
1906-07 60,000
1907-08 62,235
1908-09 69,483
1909-10 93,003
1910-11 89,979
1911-12 96,046
1912-13 84,661
1913-14 105,778
1914-15 108,267
1915-16 120,000

GUADELOUPE AND MARTINIQUE

GUADELOUPE

The French West Indian colony of Guadeloupe consists of two islands
that lie in the middle of the Leeward group between 15 degrees 57 minutes
and 16 degrees 31 minutes north latitude and 61 degrees 10 minutes and 61
degrees 49 minutes west longitude. They are separated by a channel from
one hundred feet to four hundred feet wide, called Rivière Salée.
Basse-Terre, the western island, is twenty-eight miles long, from twelve
to fifteen miles wide and its area is 364 square miles. It presents a rugged
surface, broken by hills and highlands, and a backbone of mountains runs
through it from north to south. It is of volcanic origin, having been thrown
up by four volcanic centers, Grosse Montagne (2590 feet), Les Mamelles
(2536 feet and 2368 feet), Morne sans Toucher (4855 feet), and La
Soufrière (4868 feet). The last-named volcano was in eruption in 1797, and
in 1843 its disturbances wrecked several towns; today, however, the only
evidences of life are a few hot springs and the emission of sulphurous
vapors at certain points.
Basse-Terre is watered by a number of streams that become swollen and
turbulent during the rainy season.
Grande-Terre, the eastern island, is low and level, the greatest elevation
being only 450 feet. It consists of a plain of limestone formation with a
conglomerate of sand and broken shells. It is about twenty-two miles long
from north to south and its area is 255 square miles. The population is
190,273, chiefly negroes and mulattoes. For water supply it is dependent
upon ponds and cisterns, as, owing to the porosity of the soil, no rivers or
streams exist.
The climate is warm and humid. The mean yearly temperature is 78
degrees Fahrenheit, the minimum 61 degrees and the maximum 101
degrees. The wet season is from July to November, and on the coast the
annual rainfall is about eighty-six inches, with a great deal more in the
interior. Terrific storms visit the island and hurricanes have wrought much
destruction.

The soil is fertile and rich and the principal crop is sugar cane, which is
grown on over half the total cultivated area. The principal sugar centers are
Point-à-Pitre, St. Anne and Le Moule in Grande-Terre, all of which have
well-appointed usines. There is also a large usine in Basse-Terre.
Guadeloupe was discovered by Columbus in 1493. One hundred and
forty-two years afterward l’Olive and Duplessis took possession in the
name of a French company called the Compagnie des Iles d’Amérique. The
native Caribs did not long survive the cruel treatment accorded them by
l’Olive, and efforts at colonization were the reverse of successful, in fact
four chartered companies were ruined in the attempt. In 1674 the islands
passed into the possession of the French crown and they were governed
from Martinique for a long time. In 1759 they were captured by the British,
in whose hands they remained for four years. The British again occupied
them in 1794, but were driven out the following summer by Victor Hugues
with the help of liberated slaves. The last British occupation took place
during the Hundred Days of 1815, and they finally withdrew in 1816.
Slavery in Guadeloupe was abolished in 1848.

MARTINIQUE

The French colony of Martinique is the most northerly of the Windward
islands. It is situated between 14 degrees 55 minutes and 14 degrees 23
minutes north latitude and 60 degrees 48 minutes and 61 degrees 16
minutes west longitude. Its area is 381 square miles, its greatest length from
northwest to southeast 36 miles, and its extreme width 18 miles. The
population, negroes and half-castes for the most part, numbered 190,000 in
1913.
The surface is mountainous, the highest peak being Mt. Pelée, which
rises 4428 feet above sea-level. The appalling eruption of this volcano in
May, 1902, was one of the greatest disasters of modern times and cost the
lives of 40,000 people. About one-third of the island’s surface consists of
extensive plains, most of them occurring in the south. The soil of the
northern part is of volcanic formation, while in the south it is composed of
clay. There are a number of streams, some of them of considerable size.

Near the coast the average temperature for June is 83 degrees, and for
January 77 degrees, the mean for the year being about 80 degrees
Fahrenheit. The wet season extends from June to October and the total
yearly rainfall approximates 87 inches. August is the wettest month and
March the driest. In the low region of the sea coast the climate is not
healthful for Europeans during the hot period, but a more salubrious
atmosphere and a temperature 10 degrees lower is found in the wooded
uplands, 1500 feet above the sea. Fresh, dry northerly winds prevail from
November to February, easterly winds from March to June, and damp,
warm southerly winds from July to October. Earthquakes are frequent, but
hurricanes seldom visit the island.
Martinique was discovered by Columbus on June 15, 1492, and the
French Compagnie des Iles d’Amérique took possession of it in 1635. It
was settled in the same year by Pierre Belain, captain-general of the island
of St. Christopher, and in 1674 it became the property of the crown.
Sugar culture was begun in 1650, and a few years later the aboriginal
Caribs were exterminated, their place being filled by negro slaves, of whom
there were 60,000 in the island by 1736. Slavery was abolished in 1848.[71]
During the seventeenth century Martinique was attacked several times by
the British and the Dutch. It was captured in 1762 by the British under
Admiral Rodney, but restored to the French in the following year. It was
held by the British from 1793 to 1801 and also between 1809 and 1814.
The capital of the island is Fort de France, on the west coast. It is situated
upon a fine harbor and has 18,000 inhabitants. Besides the chief product,
sugar, the colony raises coffee, cocoa, tobacco and cotton.

GUADELOUPE AND MARTINIQUE

Sugar planting in these islands dates from 1635, the year in which they
were first occupied by the French, and the industry grew apace, so that
much sugar was exported to France during the latter half of the seventeenth
century. The import duties levied by France in 1664 shut out foreign raw
sugars from that country, while protecting raw sugars from her colonies; but
at the same time the tariff laws excluded white sugar produced in the
colonies. This was a death blow to the refineries of Martinique. A decree

entirely prohibiting the refining of sugar in the colonies and the exportation
of raw sugar to foreign countries was issued in 1669, while an export duty
was imposed upon the raw sugar shipped to France. The tax upon raw sugar
was removed in 1682, but the duty on refined was increased. The colonial
planters then turned their attention to the manufacture of clayed sugars,
which they sold in North America and southern Europe.
In 1717 France established relations with her colonies that were almost
tantamount to free trade. No duties were assessed upon French goods going
into the colonies, and commodities produced in the colonies entered the
mother country without duty. As a result of this policy, the sugar industry
grew until the production of Guadeloupe, Martinique and Saint Dominique
was more than France could consume, and a law was passed permitting the
sale of the surplus in other countries.
During the closing years of the eighteenth century, the war between
England and France crippled the trade of the French West Indies, but when
peace was finally restored the sugar industry revived and continued to
flourish until the abolition of slavery in 1848.
When the slaves were freed, the planters cast about them to find laborers,
and India was one of the first sources of supply. Over ten thousand Hindus
were brought to Martinique between 1852 and 1862, and with very few
exceptions they remained in the island after their five-year contract expired.
During the twenty-two years that followed 1862, 25,500 laborers came to
Martinique from Pondicherry, Yanaon, Karikal and Calcutta with the
permission of the Indian authorities, but emigration from that country under
government auspices was discontinued in 1885. In addition to Hindus, free
African negroes, Chinese and Annamese were brought in.
The sugar plantations of Guadeloupe and Martinique are situated on the
low, alluvial lands around the coast, although some are found in the interior.
The hilly character of the latter, however, is not favorable to cane culture, as
the heavy rains wash the arable soil down the slopes, thus interfering with
the growth of the cane.
The ground to be planted in cane is first cleared and then ploughed.
Furrows about two feet deep and four and one-half feet apart are then made
and the seed cane is planted in holes five inches deep. Three weeks
afterward the cane is banked and fertilizer applied. The soil between the

canes is loosened from time to time and the crop is cut after a year’s
growth. As a rule, ratooning is limited to two years, one crop being
produced each year. The land is then allowed to rest for a time, after which
planting is begun anew.
Bourbon cane is the variety principally grown, although seedling canes
have been brought in from Barbados and British Guiana of late years. The
average yield per acre of plant cane is twenty-four tons; first ratoons give
sixteen tons and second ratoons about eight tons. After the cane is cut it is
loaded on large carts and taken to the factories. Some estates are equipped
with field railways, the cars being drawn by mules or locomotives.
As mentioned in the chapter on Jamaica, the early sugar producers of
Saint Dominique, Guadeloupe and Martinique excelled the manufacturers
of the other West Indian islands in the preparation of the commodity. The
result was that their lead was gradually followed by the others, and a brief
description of the methods they employed will be of interest.
The cane juice was boiled in a series of five or six copper kettles placed
over a furnace fed by bagasse and wood. These kettles were of different
sizes, the largest being farthest from the fire and the size of each decreased
as the furnace door was approached, the smallest being directly above the
fire. The kettle next to the largest was set a little higher than the largest one,
the third higher than the second and so on until the last and smallest, which
was the highest of the series. Clarification was done with lime and wood
ashes, and sometimes a little crude antimony. As soon as the raw juice
reached the first and largest kettle the clarifying material was thrown in and
the boiling began. The scum was removed as soon as it formed, and when
the juice became sufficiently clear it was quickly transferred to the second
kettle; a small amount of alkali was mixed with it and further boiling and
skimming was done. The liquor was then ladled into kettle number three,
potash lye and an extract of herbs were added, and after being boiled for a
time it was passed to kettle number four, and finally concentrated in the last
and smallest kettle immediately above the fire. When the required
consistency was reached, the massecuite was put into vessels to cool, at the
same time being kept in motion by stirring until the grains began to form. It
was then placed in moulds, and after having become thoroughly cool it was
dumped into hogsheads that had perforated bottoms. These hogsheads stood
on racks, beneath which there was a receptacle to catch the molasses as it

drained on through the holes in the bottom. The draining was allowed to
continue until about one-half the weight of the contents of the hogshead
was crystallized sugar. The holes were then plugged up and the sugar was
ready for shipment. The molasses was manufactured into rum.
A superior grade, called sucre terré, or clayed sugar, was also made. In
its preparation, juice from the best and ripest cane was taken and as little
lime as possible was used in clarification. Antimony was excluded entirely,
on account of its tendency to darken the color of the juice. As the juice was
transferred from kettle to kettle during the various boilings, it was strained
through a cloth each time, instead of being ladled direct from one kettle to
the next. When the syrup was concentrated it was put into earthenware
sugar-loaf moulds that held between thirty and thirty-five pounds of
massecuite apiece. These moulds had perforations in the bottom that were
stopped up before the mass was put in. In filling a mould, one quarter of its
capacity was put in at one time, making four operations. Fifteen minutes
after the last lot of massecuite was put in the mould, a layer of crystals
formed on the surface, and this was thoroughly stirred into the mass, which
was then left to cool. A couple of days later the plugs were removed so that
the molasses might drain from the mould. In case it did not run off properly,
the massecuite was remelted, but if the drainage was satisfactory, the next
step was the claying of the sugar. If the top of the loaves was uneven or
dark-colored, it was scraped smooth and covered with a layer of crushed
sugar. The surface was then hammered level and even. A special kind of
clay brought from Rouen was mixed with water and the mould was filled to
the top with this mixture. Windows and doors were shut to prevent
evaporation of the moisture, and the water draining from the clay gradually
passed down through the sugar crystals, washing the syrup from them. After
ten days had elapsed, the clay, then thoroughly dried, was removed, the
surface of the sugar-loaf was cleaned, another layer of wet clay was applied
and allowed to remain as long as the first. When this second layer was taken
off, the loaves were removed from the moulds and allowed to dry in the air
for a time. Further drying was done in a drying room, heated for the
purpose, and the sugar, when all the moisture had been driven from it, was
crushed by wooden pestles. Refined sugar was packed for shipment in casks
containing between 600 and 700 pounds. The first molasses was made into
rum or boiled into second sugar, and the syrup washed from the loaves was
made into a sugar called cassonade.

This primitive method of manufacture has been entirely supplanted by
newer processes and appliances. As a rule, today cane is crushed twice and
maceration is often employed. The juice is treated with sulphur while still
cold, and it is then pumped into defecation tanks, where powdered lime is
added; after this is done heat is applied. As soon as the scum cracks, the
steam is turned off and the clear juice is separated from the sediment by a
siphon and run to the evaporators, while the muddy precipitate goes to the
filter presses.
Concentration of the juice takes place in double, triple or quadruple
effects of rather an old type, which means lack of economy in steam and
consequent large fuel consumption. As the quantity of bagasse available
does not afford sufficient fuel to generate all the steam that is required, a
considerable amount of wood and coal is used in addition for the purpose.
The unwise and short-sighted policy of denuding the hillsides of their
timber has had the effect of lessening the rainfall, a condition that has
brought great injury to the planter.
The vacuum pans are small and of old style; the centrifugal machines,
too, are of obsolete design and slow to operate. After the liquor has been
boiled to grain in the pans and the sugar crystals have been separated from
the mother liquor in the centrifugals, the sugar is dried and packed for the
market in barrels or bags. The first molasses is reboiled and the resulting
massecuite sent through the centrifugals. After this operation has been
repeated three or four times, the final molasses is made into rum.
Today there are eighteen factories in Guadeloupe and fifteen in
Martinique. The average extraction of sugar is 9.70 per cent of the weight
of the cane, the loss of sugar in the bagasse is 2.15 per cent, the mechanical
loss in manufacture is .90 per cent, and the percentage of sugar not
recovered from the molasses is 1.75. This gives an average total of 14.50
per cent of sugar in the cane.
The manufacturers are dependent upon the small farmers for their raw
material, and the price paid for the cane is determined by a very complex
agreement, which nevertheless seems to be entirely satisfactory to both
buyer and seller.
The outlook for the sugar industry in Guadeloupe and Martinique is far
from bright. There is labor in abundance, but the natives are averse to

working steadily, and consequently are unreliable. There are great
possibilities for improvement, but little can be expected under the
circumstances that prevail at the present time.
Since 1894 the production of the two islands in long tons has been as
follows:

MARTINIQUE GUADELOUPE
1894 36,353 42,395
1895 28,777 29,394
1896 33,886 42,616
1897 34,185 39,493
1898 30,971 36,550
1899 31,165 39,259
1900 33,234 27,895
1901 39,121 38,086
1902 38,905 39,995
1903 28,578 37,891
1904 23,561 35,348
1905 29,986 26,905
1906 42,231 42,535
1907 36,764 38,345
1908 35,943 35,485
1909 37,757 24,812
1910 39,950 44,289
1911 35,438 38,384
1912 39,433 39,368
1913 40,000 32,000
1914 38,730 39,920
1915 40,000 40,000
1916 40,000 40,000

MEXICO

The United States of Mexico lie between 14 degrees 30 minutes and 32
degrees 42 minutes north latitude and 86 degrees 46 minutes and 117
degrees 7 minutes west longitude. On the north the boundary is the United
States of America; on the east the Gulf of Mexico, the Caribbean sea,
British Honduras and Guatemala; on the south British Honduras and the
Pacific ocean, and on the west the Pacific ocean. The superficial area of the
country is 765,537 square miles. Its greatest length is 1942 miles and its
greatest width is 762 miles. It has a coast line of 5486 miles, of which 1603
miles are on the Gulf of Mexico and the Caribbean sea and 3883 miles on
the Pacific ocean and the Gulf of California.
The surface of Mexico rises sharply from the seacoast levels by a series
of terraces to a central plateau, that varies in height from 4000 to 8000 feet
and runs northwest and southeast. This tableland has been formed by the
material deposited during the gradual erosion of the mountains and by
matter thrown up by a great number of volcanoes. In this manner the
original valleys became completely filled up and those that now exist are of
later formation. To illustrate this filling process, buried mountains whose
peaks appear above the surrounding mass are found in the higher parts of
the plateau, while elsewhere they are met with as continuous ridges. The
eastern coast is low and sandy, except in a few places where the mountains
come down close to the shore. The Pacific coast lands are also low, but
occasionally broken by mountain spurs. Owing to the terraced character of
the country, very little river navigation is possible, but on the other hand an
enormous amount of power can be developed from the numerous waterfalls.
Two high mountain ranges, one on each coast, run parallel to the sea the
entire length of Mexico. The eastern chain is about ten miles inland, while
on the west there is only a narrow shelf of land between the sea and the
cordilleras. This western range has several branches that run in different
directions, the most important being the Sierra Madre Occidental. In
Mexico the highest mountains are volcanoes. On the Pacific side and west
of the plateau are found the Volcán de Colima (12,750 ft.) and the Nevado
de Colima (14,354 ft.). Southwest of the City of Mexico is the Nevado de
Toluca (16,610 ft.) and to the south and east are the snow-crowned giants
Popocatepetl (17,540 ft.) and Ixtaccihuatl (15,705 ft.). Still farther east are

Orizaba (16,176 ft.) and Cofre de Perote (14,309 ft.). Popocatepetl and
Orizaba may be classified as dormant cones, for the reason that aqueous and
sulphurous vapors are constantly being emitted from their perfectly formed
craters. One of the highest lakes in the world is found in the crater of the
Nevado de Toluca. Colima has been in eruption continuously for many
years and is still active. The snow never leaves the summits of Orizaba,
Popocatepetl and Ixtaccihuatl, and on the last the ice cap attains a
development sufficient to form true glaciers.
On the western coast the principal ports are Guaymas, Mazatlan,
Topolobampo, Acapulco, La Paz and Salina Cruz; on the eastern seaboard,
Tampico, Vera Cruz, Puerto Mexico, Campeche and Merida. Of the
numerous rivers, the most important is the Rio Grande, 1550 miles long,
which forms a natural boundary between Mexico and the United States
from El Paso to the Gulf. However, the conformation of the country does
not admit of river navigation to any extent.
According to the census of 1910, the population was 15,063,207, of
which 20 per cent were whites, 43 per cent of mixed blood and the
remainder of Indian extraction.
In Mexico there are three distinct climates and a wide range of
temperature. The hot country, tierra caliente, extends from the seacoast
inland to an altitude of about 3000 feet. Here the mean annual temperature
is between 80 degrees and 88 degrees, and the highest between 100 degrees
and 105 degrees Fahrenheit. In this region the winter climate is delightful,
except when severe gales sweep down from the north. In summer the
extreme heat is not so great as in New York, because of the moderating
effect of cool breezes.
The temperate region, tierra templada, extends from 3000 to 6500 feet
above sea-level, and it is here that the ideal climate of Mexico is found, the
mean annual temperature being between 73 and 77 degrees Fahrenheit, with
a total variation of possibly not over 6 or 8 degrees during a season. In this
dry, clear atmosphere the hygienic disadvantages of the seacoast, the sharp,
cold winds of the upper altitudes, sudden changes in temperature, heavy
frosts, extreme humidity and harmful insects are unknown, and in the dry
season there is no malaria.

Tropical and semi-tropical growths flourish side by side, and there are
estates on which wheat and sugar cane are raised almost in touch of each
other.
The cold country, tierra fria, extends from the 6500-foot level to the
snow line, but here the term cold is used in a comparative sense, as
distinguished from the heat of the seacoast. The average temperature runs
between 59 degrees and 62 degrees Fahrenheit, with slight variations. At
times, however, a norther will drive the mercury down to 40 degrees or 35
degrees and sprinkle the streets of Mexico City with white.
As a rule, in Mexico the rainy season begins in May or June and ends in
October. The annual rainfall varies greatly according to locality, ranging all
the way from fifteen to fifty inches. Earthquakes are of common
occurrence, especially on the western coast.
Sugar cane was brought to Mexico by the Spanish conquistadors.
Prescott, in his “Conquest of Mexico,”[72] says that the sugar cane was
transplanted from the neighboring islands to the lower level of the country,
and that, together with indigo, cotton and cochineal, it formed a more
desirable staple for the colony than its precious metals. He also states that it
was Hernan Cortés himself who introduced the cane from Cuba. This
famous soldier established the Atlacomulco plantation, which lies an easy
hour’s ride distant from Cuernavaca in the state of Morelos, and there, in
1520, a hundred years before the landing of the Pilgrim Fathers at
Plymouth, he erected the first sugar mill in Mexico. This mill is owned by
the descendants of Cortés and is still in operation.
Thirty years later sugar was shipped from Mexico to Peru and Spain, and
the production of the commodity was maintained steadily until 1791. In that
year all the cane-growing countries of western America received a stimulus
from the wholesale destruction of the plantations and mills of Santo
Domingo.
In Mexico natural conditions are very favorable to sugar culture, but the
growth of the industry has been retarded by the primitive methods in vogue,
the inadequacy of transportation facilities and political disturbances. In the
seaboard states the sugar plantations are found chiefly in the rich lowlands
bordering on the Pacific ocean and the Gulf of Mexico. In the Gulf states
the rainfall is ample to insure good crops. The largest sugar producer,

however, is the inland state of Morelos, and there, as well as on the west
coast, irrigation is necessary. The higher levels do not give such good crops
as the lowlands; on the latter the yield is between forty and sixty tons to the
acre, and on the former it runs between twenty-five and forty-five tons to
the acre. Sugar beets have been grown on the plateau with marked success.
In the low, tropical regions seven or eight crops of ratoons can be raised,
but on the higher lands replanting must be done every two or three years.
The best-known plantations are situated on large estates that have been
owned by the same families for many generations. For instance, in Morelos,
where about sixty per cent of Mexico’s crop is produced, the estates are
owned by non-resident families and, as a rule, managed by Spaniards.
Labor is cheap and abundant, the cane is rich in juice and the sugar content
is high, but the extraction in the small, crude mills is poor, the recovery of
sugar, as a rule, not exceeding six per cent of the weight of the cane. There
are a few large factories in Mexico where the methods and results should be
more closely in accordance with modern practice.
The nineteenth century saw the industry maintained on a fairly even
basis, but about 1900 an improvement was noted, as the following table will
show:

1899-1900 75,000 tons
1900-1901 95,000 ”
1901-1902 103,000 ”
1902-1903 112,000 ”
1903-1904 107,000 ”
1904-1905 107,000 ”
1905-1906 107,500 ”
1906-1907 119,000 ”
1907-1908 123,000 ”
1908-1909 143,000 ”
1909-1910 148,000 ”
1910-1911 161,602 ”
1911-1912 151,735 ”
1912-1913 148,672 ”
1913-1914 130,000 ”

1914-1915 110,000 ”
1915-1916 75,000 ”

The effects of the internal disturbances in Mexico are plainly reflected in
the crop figures. In addition to the sugar tonnage shown, about 50,000 tons
of piloncillo or panela (concrete sugar) are turned out annually by the small
mills and the production of molasses is large. A considerable amount of the
latter is used in the manufacture of rum and alcohol.
As regards the future of sugar in Mexico, there is much to justify belief in
ultimate expansion and prosperity. Labor is cheap and plentiful, there are
vast tracts of rich virgin land awaiting cultivation, irrigation possibilities are
great, and when the present political disorders shall have been quieted and
stable conditions established, a movement forward will surely follow.