The National tribune., 1882-03-04

BEET SUGAR-It is reported that the Della
ware Beet Sugar Co. has abandoned the attempt
to make sugar from the beet, owing to the failure
of making the manufacture profitable industry.
If the statement is correct it adds to the
many failures which have been recorded in this
country in regard to similar efforts.
There are several important factors involved
in the profitable prosecution of this industry,
and as the margin of profit is said to be small
even under the most favorable auspices, partial
short-coming in any one of these factors may be
sufficient to cause disaster. From a scientific
standpoint it is conceded that the extraction of
sugar from beet is much in advance Of the extrac-
ton of this condiment from the tropical sugar
cane, so far as concerns processes of manufacture
From beet juice which indicates, by chemical
tests, II per cent of crystallizable sugar. 10 per
cent is recovered in manufacture, whereas in
the case of cane the same amount is barely re-
covered from juice which, under similar tests,
will indicate Is per cent. The machinery en-
ployed in manufacturing sugar from beet is very
elaborate and very expensive.
1t cannot be proftably made on small scale;
it has been stated, that to furnish an establish
ment of sufficient size to be profitable would
require 1000 acres of roots; to produce this
annual crop would require at least 5000 acres Of
arabic land within reasonable distance of the
mandatory, for nothing less than three years
rotation would suffice in order to secure profta
bic crops for a series of years.
Again, it appears to be well understood in
Europe where this business is successfully pros
ecuted, that the profit to the farmer is mainly
L.
cattle for the butcher. He thus not only realizes
direct profit from his beet crop, but what is of
still greater importance, he is indirectly improv-
ing his land by the application of the manure
made by the livestock which is fed upon the
pulp, and one of the results Of the sugar-beet
industry in Europe is, that the lands upon
which the roots are grown have materially in
creased IN fertility, so that their yield of grain
and other crops is gradually On the increase
This is not a matter of surprise for what is
known as hgh.tarmiag is simply that system of
farming which appropriates from 16 to 20 per
cent of the land to root crops for the feeding of
stock and making manure.
Another impediment to the culture of the
sugar-beet throughout large portion of this
country is that of the unsuitableness of the
climate. Our summers are too hot and dry for
the CROP This has been also found to exist in
many parts Of Europe, and is so well understood
there, that certain well-deined lines are drawn so
as to exclude districts where the climatic in
fuences preclude absolute success.
Among the requirements for successful beet
sugar production we must include that of co-ope-
ration between farmers and manufacturers. The
capitalist will not willingly invest his means in
establishing mandatory unless the farmers
bind themselves to cultivate and furnish him
with the raw material; but this involves
conditions of culture new to them, and with
doubtful profits at best they will fail to continue
after a few unsatisfactory attempts.