Sugar Beets and Sugar Cane 
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7. Why can Cuba produce cane cheaper than Louisiana ? 
8. In what section of the country, and especially in what four states, does 
sorghum grow? Why do we not hear of it in other sections? 
B. The United States as an importer of sugar. 
The annual consumption of sugar in the United States is about 90 pounds 
per person. This country has ample land, good soil, and the proper climate 
for raising beets and cane in sufficient quantity to yield all the sugar we 
need. Why then do we raise only a fourth of our total supply and 
import almost an equal amount from the little islands of Porto Rico and 
Hawaii ? 
Why does Cuba supply more than half of the sugar that we import from 
foreign countries ? 
Today the amount of sugar consumed per person in the United States 
is ten times as great as it was a century ago. Tell three ways in which 
the supply has been increased to meet this demand. 
C. 
How the United States ekes out its sugar crops. 
In addition to cane, beet, sorghum, and maple sugar, we use several 
other forms of sweetening. Each year these include about 200 million 
pounds of glucose extracted from corn and about 50 million pounds from 
grapes. Glucose is mostly consumed by bakeries and candy factories, 
which use it because it is relatively cheap. Judging by the production 
of corn, in what four states would you expect to find many glucose fac- 
tories? 
One effect of the legislation prohibiting the use of alcoholic drinks has 
been to increase the consumption of candy and other sweets. Mention 
two ways in which this legislation has affected the industry of extracting 
grape glucose. 
Man can also satisfy his desire for sweets by eating honey. The supply 
produced in the United States could be increased perhaps ten times if bee- 
keeping were to become more general. The flowers of alfalfa, buckwheat, 
and cotton furnish excellent food for bees. Name three states where 
honey might be produced extensively with the aid of these plants. 
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D. 
How war affects sugar production. 
Napoleon I had much to do with the development of the beet sugar 
industry. When England’s blockade cut off the cane-sugar supply, 
he ordered that thousands of acres of beets be planted and that French 
scientists perfect the methods of extracting sugar. Does Figure 54 show 
that France became a permanent, sugar-producer? Compare Germany. 
England was not blockaded in the World War, yet she suffered for lack of 
sugar. What former supplies was she unable to secure ? Why? 
What connection was there between England's inability to secure sugar 
from her regular sources and our own sugar shortage ? 
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