Daily Republican., 1881-09-06
TUESDAY, SEPTEMBER 9. lssl'
Our Rect Sugar Interests.

ated. 10 the credit Of the Riversi
company it must be said that it holt
out well, and having invested a lar
amount of money in the manufactu
of beet sugar, it has no notion to gi'
up the enterprise until the question
whether beet sugar can be manuta
tured proftably in this country h;
been properly discussed in all its bea
ings and proved by practical tests.
far the Riverside company have hard
got Under full headway. The manufa
ture of beet sugar was new entc
prise in this country, and there wel
but few who knew anything about
except from general formed theori,
gained from reading works upon til
subject. The greatest trouble in the el
terprise is to get a sufficient quantit
and a good quality of beets. Their
seems to be no trouble with the River
side works to extract the sugar and pu
it into the market in competition witt
other sugars and have reasonable
margin of profit left, but how to get th'
beets and enough of them is the per
picking question. All that could bt
raked and scraped together in the two
years of trial through which the com.
hos nnsSa1 o,,A t,, l..
the manufactory running about two
months the first year and three months
the next year. The company can as
easily run their works five months as
two or three if they only had the beets.
1t is the farmers who are behind in
this enterprise. Good prices have been
promised and liberal encouragement
given to induce farmers to engage in
the cultivation of beets, but with that
stOical conservatism for which Della
ware farmers are noted, they have not
engaged in the enterprise rs eagerly rs
was expected. Those who did engage
in it and followed strictly the instruc-
tions of the company have been -e.
warded for their trouble. The crop
properly cultivated paid then better
than corn and wheat, which are the
usual paying crops outside of the fruit
and vegetable crops. SO tar the COM
pany has failed to induce a sufficient
number OF farmers to engage in the
cultivation of the beet to supply their
manufactory proftably, and to meet
this want the managers haveimported "A
German superintendent, who under
stands the raising of beets and the
manufacture of sugar, to oversee the
raising of heets, and the company has
also leased lands upon which they are
raising beets under the directions Of
this superintendent. 1t is hoped by
these extra efforts that y sufficient
quantity Of beets will be raised TO keep
the works in operation some four or
five months the coming manufacturing
season.
1t is true that many of the compa-
nies engaged in this enterprise at
and soon after the first introduction Of
the subject into this country have failed
and suspended operations, but that we
are happy to say is no cause for dis.
cOuragement to the Riverside company
The first manufactory in this country
was at Chad,worth, Illinois, and it
struggled hard for three years to over
come the mechanical and chemical
troubles that presented themselves, and
were but indjtterentiy understood, and
at last it had to yield to the pressure
and go under. The Isleton factory in
California also died the death and
the Sequel establishment in the same
State is now engaged in retrieving its
former luck by trying sorghum and
sugar cane.
The factory at Portland, Maine, after
three yeasr Of uphii work finally gave
HI and the machinery is low in use in
the Eiversitl" works near Wilmington.
A factory at Franklin, Massachusetts,
is at present under financial difficulties
owing t. an inadequate supp y of beets
The Only factories it seems now at which
beet sugar is manufactured in this
country is a factory at Alvarado, Cali
fornia, and the factory in the suburbs
of this city. We believe the latter will
hold out and will yet be the nucleus
around which the beet sugar interests
OF the country will cluster.
There are two things yet needed to
make the enterprise a complete success
In this country. One of these reouire-
ments is little more enterprise on the
part of the farmers in raising beets.
Every farmer should raise some as food
for his stock, if nothing else. No other
root vegetable is better for this purpose.
In this way he Is paid for his labor,
while at the same time he acquires an
ample store of experience which will
stand him in good stead when he raises
beets for the sugar factory. He will by
this means be able by degrees to grow
as many tons Of beets on an acre as the
French and Gerulan farmers do and
his sugar beet crop will be amongst the
most remuuerative of all the farm pro-
ducts he grows. This is one of the ways
in which beet sugar factories can be
made profitable in this country.
The oLher thing to which we have al
lnded is necessary, is governmental aid.
Our government has granted aid to rail-
roads, steamship cOrDanies and to our