Wichita eagle. [volume] (Wichita, Kan.) 1886-1890, 1889-12-13
SUGAR MAKING IN KANSAS.

From the Topeka Capital.
| George W. Watson, of this city, has
had almost as much experience in sugar
manufacturing as any man in the state.
He has great faith in the industry, and
has invested largely in it. He superin.
nded the Topeka works during the sea-
son of 1888, and during the past season
gave his whole time to the Attica sugar
works. He said yesterday to Capital
reporter:
| Your article containing letter from
| Meade Center and Secretary Mohler's
| reply is timely and should be needed be-
| fore it is too late. The roasting process
| was tried at Minneola this year, but if
| am correctly informed they did not make
| any sugar that would stand the test of
80 per cent, as required by the state law.
1t is of course true that they can make
some 'mush' sugar, but in my opinion
every pound made by that process will
cost at least Is to 20 cents per pound to
| produce it without counting interest on
the capital invested in the machinery.
The legitimate sugar business by diffus-
ion is a success, and the only points
| now that are experimental in the sugar
| business are in manner Of construction
| run, the same as is expected, and
generally obtained, in a Touring mill,
| and economy as to number
| of hands required to operate. We
have at least one if not two years to pass
through yet in the machinery expert
mental stage; when that time has passed
| we will have reached a stereotvped plan
for the construction of sorgum and beet
sugar factories combined that will run
| at least six months in the year contInu-
ally and turn out millions of pounds of
| sugar ready for the refinery, at a good
profit to the factory as we'll as to the
farmer. | agree with Secretary Mohler
that IN the, extreme western part of the
state there are enough factories now to
experiment as to whether that region
| will produce cane that has a sufficient
sugar content to make il profitable.
Meade Center, Arkalon, Liberal and Ness
City have good diffusion mills, but the
hot winds and dry weather inverted the
sugar In the cane standing in the field
and no sugar was made.
Medicine Lodge, in Barber county,
has the best equipped factory in the
state, and although their mill was not
ready when the cane was first ripe, vet
they made nearly half million pounds
OF sugar, and made money. Why? Be-
cause when they started they ran to the
close of the season and had fine cane
Attica, in Harper county, has the max
ing of one of the best plants in the state.
but this year there was too much
experimenting in new ways of
handling the cane up to the bat
terry (drags and Carriers, cutters and
swudders doing poor work., therefore
they did not make a good showing, but
yet made about 300, 900 pounds Of sugar,
and the output Is worth more than the
cost of production. If this mill had run
as steadily as the Medicine Lodge mill it
would have made nearly 1000, 600
pounds of sugar and have cleared up at
least $4,000. Undoubtedly the finest
crop of sorghum ever grown for a sugar
mill was grown at AtIica, unless the
crop raised at Topeka, which unfortu-
nately could not be worked, was its
equal.
Conway Springs had a fine crop of
cane and made near 100000 pounds OF
sugar, but on account of defects in
machinery failed to make both ends
meet. Fort Scott is an old factory and
made worry poor crop on account OF ex
cessive wet weather.
The sorghum sugar industry by diffu-
sion process and by that alone is a sue
cess and when capital and properly con-
structed machinery are once thoroughly
applied Kansas will be the greatest sugar
state in the union. l hope within the
next three years to see at least a dozen
mills within ten miles of Topeka and a
refinery to Topeka that will handle the
sugar from 100 miles"