Nebraska advertiser., 1869-04-15
The Rise I'm sugar.

The late rise in sugar ought to sug-
-gest a lesson TO as as a people. It
shows US how wholly we are Deepen
dent upOn other countries for a supply
Of this great staple.
We use in the United States upwards
Of four hundred thousand tons of sugar
yearly; three hundred and fifty thOus-
and tons of which are imported.
There is at present no l~essening of
the supply, but the bare possibility of
next seasons supply ofsugar from Gu
babeing cutoff on account ofthe trOub-
les in that's sland, is sufficient to send
up the price 25 per cent. in a single
week. If the prospect Of continued
war ia Cuba should be realized, the
price Of sugars is likely to be still more
largely increased, and in case Of the
cessation of our foreign commerce,
should we become involved in war
with any foreign power nearly our
whole supply would be cut of, and
prices must. advance wholly beyond
the reach of all but the wealthy class
es. This would be q National cdLdm-
itV greater than the loss of dRy other
single article Of importation. It would
affect every citizen.
No " INV "a 10l JAY way " A41AAO
ourselves against such a possibility,
and that is to raise our own sugars.
This we are abundantly able to do.
We do not refer now to our capacity
for the production of cane sugar, but
to our far greater capacity for the pro-
duction of sugar from the Sugar Beet.
In q recent complete and valuable
work on Farm management, farm
crops, &C., (entitled-"HOw to make
the Farm Payn-and published by
Zeieler, McCurdy & CO., of Philadei-
aphia and Chicago is a most excel
lent chapter on the cultivation and
management of Beets for sugar, from
which we make the following extract:
t'The production of beet sugar,
throughout the world, is now about
six hundred and fifty thousand tons,
or One-fOurth ofthe whole production
of sugar. We have millions of acres
adapted to the cultivation of the sugar
beet. We have the best labor saving
machinery ofany country on the globe,
aud there is no good reason why we
should not produce a million tons of
sugar annually, within ten years. In
accordance with the practical aim of
this work, we shall endeavOr to show
that il is to u pecuniary, and espec-
tally to u agricultural interests, to
DO so.
The cost of raising the beet cannot,
under judicious cultivation, exceed
three dollars per ton, and we think
that they be raised for two dollars
per ton. But taking the highest esti-
mate, of three dollars a ton, there is
left q wide margin for profit, as one
ton o fbeets will yield from one hum
dred and forty to n hundred and
eighty pounds of refined sugar; about
nifty pounds of mOlasses suitable for
~distillation five hundred pounds of
leaves, an excellent green fodder and
fve-hundred pounds of pulp, worth
one-third as much as good hay. But
this is not all; the beet crop cleans and
prepares the soil and, I'm rotation, is
one of the best p~receders Of any grain
o The yield Of beets, per acre, va
ries from seventeen to fOrty-twO tons.
We think that, with our improved
methods, an average yield Of thirty
tons per acre can readily be secured,
but taking the low average yield Of
twenty tons per acre, at FIVE dollars
per ton, is one hundred dollars; de-
Quoting the highest estimate Of the
GleG VI DlOuOlhAOMF hlLCC 0OAA2lG lCA
ton, leaves forty dollars per acre clear
profit TO the farmer. Considering the
probability Of a yield of thirty tons
per acre, costing two dollars per ton,
we have the possibility Oft profit Of
ninety dollars peracre.
"There are, at present, but few
manufactures of beet sugar in this
country, but they would spring up
on every side, if farmers ono deter
mined to raise the crops, and make
that determination known. COmmu-
mites settling on the rich soils Of the
west and south, have this matter in
their own hands, as have also the far
, mers in the older states. Let a dozen
farmers, in any section of the country,
agree with some capitalist to supply
him with beets, and amarket viii be
at once created. It is for farmers to
agitate this matter, in their daily con-
versation, in their visits to the city
markets, In farmers clubs, and
through the columns Of their chosen
agricultural journals. The manufac-
ture must be exceedingly profitable.
Its carried On from September "a
March, a period when labor is easily
pmmanded. II VIII employ the ex-
farm labOrers, at q season when