Vermont phÅ“nix. [volume] (Brattleboro, Vt.) 1834-1955, 1883-08-31
The Resr.surar Fnilnr.-

The rise of the beet-sugar industry in this
country is very generally known, but its fail
ure here is an item of news to the general
public. The first intimation of the decline
of the industry in the East WAS recently re-
ceived from Hatboro, Pa where a conven-
ton of sugar beet growers had proved a fas-
co on account of letter circulated among the
farmers purportlng to emenate from former
clerk of the Delaware Beet-Sugar Company.
The letter alleged that the enterprise had
proved failure wherever tried in the East
The despatch also said that S. G. Never. su-
perintendent of the National Beet. Sugar Man
ufacturing Company, had successfully refuted
every point advanced by the ex-clerk With
tue object of presenting the present state of
the industry in this country, a visit was paid
to Wilmington, which is the headquarters of
the industry of the East. The Delaware
Beet Sugar Company was organized about
three years ago with a capital of Sl2O, 600
Contracts for sugar beets were entered into
with the farmers within an accessible distance
of the factory, which is located about two
miles north of the city of Wilmington. The
first seasons supply proving inadequate to
the capacity of the factory, the company
sought to make up the deficiency for the en-.
suing campaign by cultyating and planting,
by the most improved methods, a tract of
land in the neighborhood of the factory. The
yield was disappointing, the full supply for
the campaign only aggregatiug twenty five
hundred tons, whereas the factory had ca
pacity of one hundred tons per day, and re-
qulred to place the business on a profitable
basis, supply of not less than from 10. 900
to $1,000 tons per season. The season, or
campaign, for converting the beet into sugar
Is limited from 80 to 12O days. The treasurer
Of the company stated that the manufactur-
ing part of the enterprise has been eminently
successful, but as it was an agricultural prob
lem entirely, the results had been disastrous.
He considered the cause Of the failure of the
industry in Delaware to be from the poverty
of the soil and the warmth of the autumn.
Another and sufficient cause for throwing
up the experiment was their inability to OBJ
tain enough beets to keep the factory in Cd
Grafton for more than three weeks in the year,
which, in view of the heavy expenses for i'm
ported labor proved losing investment.
Another thing that initiated against the sue
cess OF the scheme was the difficulty in keep
ing the farmers to their contracts and in get
ting them out of their old ruts and habits of
cultivation. They also lost money in the ex
pertinent of cultivating 300 acres according
10 their own methods Still another and dis.
astrous agency against the success of the en-
terprlse were the depredations of little in.
sect known as the jumping flea" These in
oSSeo NSeNiO9 VI tbG uEhl crop, ana Inc COmDa-
ny was compelled to replant the tract. The
mechanical plant was of the most approved
European pattern, but on account Of the
above and other troubles, the enterprise prov
ed complete failure. The conditions of sue
cess, according 10 the officers of the Delaware
Company are full supply of raw mate
rial for the factory, showing a polarscope
test of y per cent, with Juice of average pu.
rity and the agricultural part of the industry
would, probably, be profitable if the farmers
could obtain fifteen tons to the acre and re-
ceive in the neighborhood of s. per ton. But
the offset to these conditions is that it seems
to be impossible to supply sufficient quanti-
ty of the raw material in this climate to make
the industry profitable,
Lewis 5. Ware of this city is the author of
an elaborate work on the subject of the beet
sugar industry and is the editor of a quarter
~ publication devoted to the interests of the
Industry IN this country, He has devoted ten
years of labor in establishing the enterprise
IN the United States, and is consequently an
enthusiast on the subject. He considers the
cause of the Delaware failure to have been
lack of sufficient capital, inexperience and
proneness OF experimenting with machinery
which has not been approved by the Europe- |
an manufacturers. He considers the essen
tial condition to the culture of the sugar beet
a Northern climate, and consequently Della
ware was too far south. All Of the expert
ments in the South have proved disastrous
The factory at Alvarado, CAL, recently paid
an annual dividend of over S44, 900 which .
would have been greater had they been able
to utilize the refuse, upon which greatly de.
ponds the success of the enterprise. They
have succeeded in abstracting I per cent Of
the sugar from the beet or several times
more than has ever been obtained from sorg-
hum. While sorghum may yield profit in
The South, In Mr.. Wares opinion it will never
succeed in the North.
reward of $1,000 has been offered by Ag-
ricultural Commissioner Loring for the best
report on the manufacture of beet sugar.
Aside from the California factory, the princi-
pal manufactures in operation in this country
are located at Franklin, Mass, Portland, Ne,
and in Canada In Mr.. Wares opinion, one
If the main contributors 20 the experiment
N Delaware was that the company contracted