because of the better quality of the matured beet as well as its high saccharine value. This indicates that beet cultivation as an agricultural problem has materially improved, and that farmers have found sufficient encouragement to increase the acreage, which has been about 58,000 acres in excess of 1905. There has been also an increase in the number of factories operated, 63 making returns during 1906, compared with 53 the the year previous. Nine new factories were completed and three old ones were moved and reerected in more advantageous localities. The total acreage sown was 399,542, compared with 341,075 last year, and the quantity of beets delivered at the factories was 3,728,072 tons, compared with 2,340,726 tons in 1905, while the sugar produced aggregated 432,981 tons, compared with 282,597 tons the previous year, an increase of 150,384 tons. Three new States have entered the list of producers, Arizona, Kansas and Montana, so that there are sixteen States in which the industry is being successfully operated. The following table gives the production of sugar by States for the past four years:

The following table gives a comprehensive view of the development of this industry during the past sixteen years, showing the total production in tons for each year:

Exports.-During the year under review the re-shipments of foreign raw sugar, according to the Bureau of Statistics, amounted to 3,952,531 pounds, or 1,765 tons, compared with 2,487,235 pounds, or 1,110 tons the year previous.

The exports of domestic refined amounted to 21,619,826 pounds, equal to 9,652 tons, compared with 7,692 tons in 1905, and 9,743 tons in 1904. The shipments were principally to Mexico, Canada, Central America, West Indies, Australia and Cape Town.

Consumption. The estimated consumption of all kinds of sugar for the year under review, according to the statistical compilation on page 6, is considerably in excess of the previous year, the increase being 266,924 tons. As already pointed out, the large influx of population by immigration, the general prosperity of the country and the comparatively moderate prices at which supplies have been distributed by retail have been potent factors in enlarging the volume of distribution. Moderate prices have prevailed in consequence of the abundant supplies available, but although there has been increased production in nearly all important cane and beet growing countries, the supply has not been excessive or burdensome by reason of the increasing demands of consumption in all the distributing markets of the world, and it is claimed by some authorities that the attractive and varied forms in which sugar is now used for food is steadily increasing its use in all parts of the world. It is not many years ago that refined sugar of the best and purest quality was esteemed a luxury beyond the means of the laborer, while now it has became a necessity for the poorest son of toil.

The total consumption of all kinds of sugar in the United States for the calendar year 1906 was 2,995,519 tons, compared with 2,728,595 tons the previous year, or an increase for the year of 266,924 tons, which is equal to 9.78 per cent., or on the basis of a population of 84,054,000 of 79.73 pounds per capita.

The total consumption of the United States for the past ten years has been as follows:

The relative per capita consumption in this and European countries for the last ten years is as follows:

The following statement shows the distribution of foreign and domestic sugar at the Port of New York for the past ten years :

The per capita consumption of the United States is based on a population of 84,054,000, compared with 83,143,000 in 1905, being the estimate made by the Actuary of the United States Treasury. Next to Great Britain we are, therefore, the largest per capita consumers, but in the British Kingdom a considerable quantity of low grade raw sugar is used for feeding live stock and the manufacture of jams and marmalades, for which there is a large export demand, likewise uses up an important per centage of sugar which is not, strictly speaking, consumed at home.

Prices.-There has been an unusually steady market throughout the year for both raw and refined, the fluctuations having been within comparatively narrow limits, and compared with the previous year upon a lower basis. From January until April there was a gradual decline in the value of raw sugar, due chiefly to the marketing of the Cuba crop, which brought forward liberal offerings and an easier feeling on the part of sellers, but as soon as this pressure had been removed and holders showed less disposition to sell, prices straightened up and gradually advanced until in October the highest were made. At this time the offerings of beet sugar both foreign and domestic caused a gradual easing off in value until at the end of December prices came within a fraction of the point from which they started a year previons. Cuba Muscovado was lowest in April, when 89° test was quoted 2.87 cents net cash, and was highest in September, when the same grade sold at 8.624 cents, but the average for the year was 3.17 cents, compared with 3.69 cents in 1905, which is the lowest since 1902. The fluctuations of 96° test centrifugal followed the same course, declining from 3.75 to 3.37 in April, and in September selling as high as 4.12 cents, the average for the year being 3.67 cents, compared with 4.25 cents

in 1905.

The same general features have influenced the market for refined, and the fluctuations have been much the same as those noted above. Prices touched the lowest point for the year during the month of May, and from thenceforward a gradual advance until the ruling prices for Angust and September, with scarcely any change, were the highest for the year, and from thenceforward until the close of the year there was an easier tendency. The average price of granulated was 4.50 cents, compared with 5.47 cents in 1905, and of cut loaf 5.28 cents, compared with 6.17 cents the previous year. Average yearly price of fair refining or 89° test Cuba Muscovado sugar for each of the past ten years:

Average yearly price of granulated (refined) for each of the past

The value of raw sugar being based chiefly upon the price of beet sugar on the London and Continental markets, a guide to the fluctuations of this market will be found in the quotations of beet in Hamburg and Java in London. The average price for both descriptions was relatively lower for the year 1906, the average for German beet being 8s. 6d., compared with 11s. 8d. the year previous, and for Java 9s. 8d., compared with 12s. 8d. the previous year. The highest prices ruled during September and October, and the lowest during February.

The following table gives the highest and lowest quotations in sterling for ten years:

Crop Prospects.-While the buying and selling of spot and future supplies is primarily based upon the known requirements of consumption, the crop outlook of an agricultural product is always. an important factor in fixing values, especially where a commodity is the subject of speculative trading. The sugar producing countries that contribute to the world's supply are distributed over so wide an area of the land surface of the earth that they encounter a great diversity of weather conditions and climatic influences, and hence each locality is entirely independent of the other, so far as its proportion of rain or sunshine, and heat and cold are concerned. Cane sugar is the product of the tropics and sugar beet of the temperate zone. Cuba and Java, the greatest of cane growers, are Antipodees; the beet zone of Europe is nearly five thousand

miles distant from the western section of the United States, that is so rapidly developing a substantial beet industry. The crop outlook for each of these localities is therefore a separate proposition, but, nevertheless, it forms one of the units that go to make up the whole, especially since the establishment of cable communication and steam transportation. The beet production of Europe practically dominates the sugar markets of the world, and the progress of that crop through its growing period, as well as during the time of manufacture, is the most important factor in creating the fluctuations of values.

There was a general increase in the yield of all the important crops from which the world's supply is drawn during the year 1906, and the estimated supply is about two and one-half million tons in excess of what it was in 1905, and the present indications are that this increase will be fully maintained for the year if it is not exceeded, especially as there is very little talk of over-production or any falling off in the requirements of consumption. The last two beet crops of Europe have exceeded six and a half million tons, Cuba will probably come very close to a million and a half crop, and Java will ship more than a million tons, and there is not any prospect of there being any falling off in the supply available from the less important cane producing countries.

Beet. The campaign of 1905-1906 fully realized the estimates given out a year ago, the yield aggregating very nearly seven million tons. The next campaign, that of 1906-1907, has been equally successful, a favorable growing season, the high test of the juice and good weather for fabrication have contributed to excellent results shown in the table below. It is as yet too early for any reliable information of the 1907-1908 crop, the fabrication of which will commence next October. There are indications that there will be an increase of acreage in Germany. The increasing yield of Russia has been noteworthy.

The following table gives the latest estimates for the campaign which is about completed, together with the actual results of previous crops, according to official data.

Cuba. Although the Island has become easily a million crop producer, the further development of the industry appears to be in some measure handicapped by the difficulty of securing sufficient labor to harvest the cane and the political unrest that has prevailed for the past two years. These influences prevented the previous