The Abbeville press and banner. [volume] (Abbeville, S.C.) 1869-1924, 1879-07-16
SUGAR BEET CULTURE.
Interesting Information about this New
Industry for Farmers.

that this industry mas Caken aStFOnS !lol'
upon the farmers of this country, and tn
probabilities are that the capital neces
sary for the manufacturing Of sugar viii
be forthcoming by the time the farmer
will have raised the necessary supply o
the raw material. We see it announced
that already some fourteen .companle
have been formed in the States ant
Canada for the manufacture ofsugar, ant
the demand for the seed has been so grea
that although several tons Of the seet
were imported early in the spring from
Germany, by Mr.. (. T. Gennert, for or
ders for New Brunswick, Delaware ant
other parties, other firms had also i'm
ported of German and French seed very
considerable quantities for this year!
planting. Yet, as we learn from th'
Boston CuNiuator. with this large aggre
cate of seed, the demand was not salts
fed, large supplies being still required
Well-known seed merchants of Boston
were applied to and soon solved the
problem, through the aid Of their Euro
bean correspondents. On the fourth O
April they cabled to France for three ton'
of beet seed, which was Immediately
shipped, arriving in this country May
7th. This lot was secured for the Maine
Beet Sugar Company. Again, Apri
2sth, the Boston seed merchants cablee
for an additional lot of three tons of bee1
seed, which arrived May 18th, or II
twenty-four days from the date of tht
order. This last importation was fol
farmers in the Connecticut valley, who
have manifested deep interest in sugar
beet culture this year.
Thus it will be seen that many tons O.
seed have been planted this year, and the
result will be watched with great inter
est by American farmers. Heretofore the
importations of beet seed by the seec
houses have been on a limited scale. anc
almost exclusively tor use in raising
bcets as cattle food. Another year the
market will be well supplied with bee1
seed for the sugar industry.
Letters lately received from successful
beet growers in France, while speaking
hopefully of the prospects of the sugar
beet industry here, yet state that they
fear disappointment among American
growers if the practice of growing large
bcets (as is reported to have been follow
ed in certain sections) generally prevails
Large roots are not as rich in sugar as
small ones. French growers advise thai
not less than eight to ten roots be growr
upon a square yard, and that roots o.
from two to three pounds each will yield
the most sugar and prove the most re-
muneratiye to those concerned in the in
dustry. Small roots lessen the extract
ing expenses by reason of the less amount
of water in their composition. Coco
authority asserts that six pounds offresl
and genuine sugar beet seed is sufficient
for seeding an acre of land.
At the sugar convention held Mt Ell
mira, New York, in May, number o.
prominent agriculturists were present
from different sections of the country
Among others, Mr.. Englehardt pre-.
sented an exhaustive report on the cult
walton of the beet, in which he presented
the following views:
1.-The German beet growers cultivate
most extensively the white Silesian beet
the so-called Ashard beet but not to
the exclusion of the Audinburg variety
which requires the richest soil. The
Vilmorine beet, a French variety, is cul'
tivated for its large percentage Of sugar
but usually worked before it freezes
since it looses considerable of its sugar
in the pits. A good sugar beet should
contain at least twelve per cent. of sugar
capable of capitalization, but a very
small per centage of saline substances
and while the latter have no injurious
effect on the formation of sugar IN the
growing beets, they are very Objectionable
in the process of separating and crystal
izing the sugar. increasing the yield in
molasses and the manufacturing eX'
penses. heterogeneous substances on the
other hand exert their influences in the
growing beets. They reduce the yielo
Of sugar, and we find, therefore, the
amount of sugar in the beet correspond
ing to the amount of nitrogenous sub
stances. The more of the latter are pres
ent the less of the former we will lind
For seed beets we must select healthy
well-shaped beet roots, of from one ano
one-half to two pounds weight, show
ine the most rings of leafmarks. More
over. seed beets must never be taker
from the first product of the soil, anc
they should be grown by themselves
An acre of seed beets usually produce
from 1900 to 5000 pounds of seeds.
I find it stated that mellow, deep
sandy loan, provided it possesses fret
and permeable subsoil-a soil named by
German agriculturists a rich, tirst-clas:
barley SOILS best adapted to beet-roo1
culture. Whenever the subsoil is moi
perfectly free we must remedy this de-
feet by a proper drainage. The sol
should be deep and loose, more limey
than sandy, rich in humus or 'well-de
composed organic matter. Stony soils
too coarse, gravelly soils, or thin surface
soils with gravel as a subsoil, or, finally
a soil with Too much undecayed vegeta
BILE matter, are considered not vel
adapted to beet raising. In regard tt
clayish soils I may state that they art
Objectionable during rainy summer
since they produce watery beets, want
ing in saccharine matter, while in dry
season they become hard and SO com
pact as to interfere very materially will
a proper development of the roots
which is more the case when from time
to time the heavy showers occur"
We now send from this country annu
ally sixty to eighty millions of dollars tt
pay for sugar, syrup and molasses, all o
which can be saved blythe general intro
duction of the manufacture of the bee
aud sorghum sugar.
The effect of beet root culture on tn
general prosperity of n country may b.
learned from the following facts:
can inquiry by the French govern
ment in 1850, for the purpose of ascer
tanning if an increased production o
beets would cause. a proportionate de
crease in that of cereals and meat
showed that the district of Valencienne
in 1918 produced about twenty bushel
of wheat per acre. In 1888 it producet
about thirty bushels. Before beet Gu,
ture was established the entire produc
ton of wheat was 10000 bushels. I
rose in 1888 to 1,492, 900 bushels-an in
crease of over fifty per cent. In 1922 tn
whole district fed 400 oxen; nine year
later, in 1881, it fattened l0,784, or an in
crease of over twenty-five to one. Ac
cording to another official document O
the French government, of 1873, there ex
lists in the north ofFrance certain mum
ber of districts which have obtained tn
maximum of agricultural production
Thus in favorable seasons these local.
ties produce an average to the acre Q
forty bushels of wheat, forty-five tons Q
beef and $50 to 400 bushels of potatoes
etc. What causes this prodigious pros
perity In some parts it is due to tn
use of Flemish manure, which agricul
turists from the North have utilized 70
centuries; in others where human fece
are not collected it is entirely due to tn
production of beets. 1t has been repeate
on all sides and it, cannot be too muc,
said of the cultivation of beets that j
T., ,o,+r;b,,+od ronob RI opr;n,,lt,,ro