Mr. Clark takes New York prices in October, 1898. These prices were not under normal conditions, the current prices of the year being 2-3/8 to 2-1/2 cents for 96 centrifugals in bond. Mr. Clark gives cost of Muscovado sugars at the British islands of Trinidad and Barbadoes. These sugars test 89, and are worth seven cents less per pound in New York than 96 test centrifugals. He compares cost and values as if they were worth the same money. Properly compared, his profit changes into loss. In this connection the following figures, especially prepared by an expert for this work, may be of interest: THEORETICAL SUGAR CONTENTS OF 100 POUNDS CANE _Bagasse_ (dry fibre) 12 pounds Juice 88 " --- Total 100 " 88 pounds of juice containing 16 per cent. in sugar 14 " [Illustration: CUTTING SUGAR CANE.] THEORETICAL PURE SUGAR CONTENTS OF 100 POUNDS CANE "The practical results are difficult to obtain. The best of work seems to be about as follows: Per 100 pounds of cane: _Bagasse_ 30 pounds Juice (extracted) 70 " --- Total 100 " 70 pounds of juice at 16 per cent. sugar equal in pure sugar, 11.20" "This 11.20 pounds of sugar, less loss of working and less the sugar left in the final molasses, reduced the actual yield to about 10 per cent. of pure sugar, or 10-1/2 per cent. of commercial product, besides the mechanical difficulty of increased impurities, whose ratio increases rapidly with better milling, and the loss of fuel in the _bagasse_, which is an important consideration where such loss must be made up by imported coal. "With 30 pounds of _bagasse_ per 100 pounds of cane, no other fuel should be required. "The difficulty of increasing the sugar contents of the cane comes from the fact that cane, unlike beet, has no seed, and must be reproduced from cuttings. "Improvement in this line is quite possible, but must come from long years of study and experiment and will require the best attention of scientific minds." The expert who furnished the above, adds: "It will seem strange to the uninitiated that the manufacturers can afford to leave any sugar in the _bagasse_, if there is any possible method of getting it out; but with low prices for the sugar product and expensive coal it can be seen that there is a point beyond which it may not be profitable to pass. With cheap fuel and high-priced sugar products, the case might be different." The second statement, which is at considerably greater length, is by Mr. E. F. Atkins, who prepared the following especially for this volume: