Green-Mountain freeman. [volume] (Montpelier, Vt.) 1844-1884, 1879-04-30
The Beet.Sugar Industry.

The Beet.Sugar Industry.
Is it not time 10 seek some new outlet
for the enterprise of the farmer? There
is much complaint of overproduction in
agriculture, and consequent lack of
profit in raising grain, beef and wool.
Hardly any new field of industry that has
been suggested promises so well as beet
sugar. We fully believe that the time is
coming, and is near at hand. when we
shall not only raise our own sugar. but Il
surplus for export. That we can raise as
good sugar beets in this country as in
France or Germany. has been demon
strated. but il must be confessed that our
first enterprises for manufacturing beet
sugar were only partially successful. The
experiments ut the Massachusetts agricul-
tural college proved that our beets were
rich in saccharine matter, aud Prof.
Goessmann succeeded in making some beet
sugar as good us any made in Franz e.
rhe country is largely indebted to Prof.
Goessmann and President Clark for their
efforts in this line, which really paved the
way for the larger enterprises undertaken
in Illinois, Wisconsin and California, and
more recently and successfully in Maine.
Commissioner Le Due. of the agricultural
bureau ut Washington, in his report tor
1877, recently published, speaks rather
dl,couragngly of the beet sugar industry.
These are his words: The belief and
expectation OF many that the beet would
be made to yield in this country, rs in
France and Germany, sugar of good quail
lty in sufficient abundance, and at II
sufficiently low cost to take the place
eventually of the imported sugars pro-
duced from the tropical cane, had not
been realized. although no pains had been
spared to insure success, and large sums
had been expended by capitalists in the
equipment of factories" He therefore
concludes that ave cannot reasonably
hope to find in beet culture sure com
pensation for diminished cane sugar
crops" and seems disposed to look to
sorghum rs the main reliance for the
home production of sugar. He speaks
Mighty OF Il specimen of sorghum sugar
which he saw at the Minnesota state fair
in the fall of 1877, and which was made
from ii new variety of sorghum called the
Minnesota early amber" This variety
ripens from ninety to one hundred days
"a ter planting, yields one hundred and
twenty to one hundred and fifty gallons of
syrup per acre, and about six pounds of
sugar per gallon.
The experiments with sorghum sugar in
this country have not been more success
full than those with the sugar beet, al
though they have been extended over Il
much longer time and have been much
more generally attempted. A respectable
yrup has been made, but not enough
-ugar to make any impression on the
market. We are glad to see the commits
-ioner so ready to encourage the manu-
f'cture of sorghum sugar ut the west.
This may be just the sugar plant adapted
to that section. 1t certainly deserves
further trial, but the experiments made by
the Maine beet sugar company. of which
the commissioner does not seem to have
been aware when his report was compiled
90 far 10 prove that The beet is the sugar
plant for New England at least. The
great objection to this industry is the
amount of capital required for manuftc
turing sugar. The machinery is cxpens
i've, and skilled labor is required. In the
present undeveloped condition of this new
industry it is idle for farmers to think of
going into the manufacture of sugar. The
capital of the Maine beet sugar is forty
thousand dollars, and the success of this
company is in part due to the liberal
bounty offered by the state, the generous
co o peration of the railroads, and, perhaps
more than all, to the fact that sugar
factory originally costing some three
hundred thousand dollars already existed
in Portland. The true way for farmers to
manage is to raise the beets and let cap
talists do the manufacturing. The Maine
company last year paid five dollars per
ton for unwashed beets delivered ut their
factory in Portland and their success in
the manufacture, Notwithstanding the low
price of sugar, was so great that this year
they offer six dollars per ton at the facto-
ry, and five dollars on delivery at the
nearest railroad station. The Maine
railroads are so much interested in devel-
"ping this industry that they have offered
cheaper transportation than ever before
for beets and pulps-e'ghty cents per ton
for beets from any station in Maine to
Portland, and the same amount for re-
shipment of the pulp from the factory to
the farmers. The average price paid for
bets delivered at the sugar factories in
France is three dollars and fifty cents per
ton. and the average yield is twenty-th, ee
tons per acre. So far rs price and yield
are concerned. the American farmer has
The advantage of the French. Many OF
the Maine farmers report forty or fifty
tons per acre, and one, Mr.. j. B. Morri,
Fsnn, of Pennington, raised Mt the rate OF
tifty-six tons. If only twenty tons are
raised, the product of an acre delivered ri
the factory is one hundred aud twenty
dollars, and ut the nearest railroad station
| is one hun lred dollars. This is paying
business us beets are II sure crop, have Mt
insect enemies, and, with the modern i'm
provements in cultivation, the care of NJ
acre is little, if any, more expensive thar
the care of an acre of corn. The quick
returns that sugar beets make, certainly
under the present order of things il
Maine, is pleasant feature of the suga
industry. Cash is paid for them on deliv
cry ut the factory, and if delivered at
railroad Station, the railroad agents an
authorized to receive, weigh, and pay 70
the beets. The grangers of Maine hav
no reason to find fault with the conduct o
their railroad officers. HIDE
in NeU York Times.