The Louisiana Democrat. [volume] (Alexandria, La.) 1845-1918, 1889-01-02
SUGAR FROM BEETS.
One of the Most Prosperous and Extensive
of German Industries.

One of the Most Prosperous and Extensive
of German Industries.
The beet-sugar industry in Germany
has grown to large proportions in the
last twenty years, and has been thor
oughly systematized. 1t was intro
duced in Hanover in 1864, and sugar is
now produced in all the southern por-
ton of Hanover, the larger part of
Brunswick, the Prussian part of Sax
ony, and also in a part of the kingdom
of Saxony. Perhaps two-thirds of all
the German beet sugar is raised in
these localities. 1t requires very fer
tile ground to raise the sugar beet, and
bone dust, phosphates, CHILEAN salt
peter and composts are freely used.
The plant is exceedingly exhausting to
the soil, and farmers, to preserve their
ground, observe strictly the rule of
rotation in crops, only planting field
in beets once in seven years, as a
rule. The planting is done in May.
The ground is thoroughly prepared
beforehand. 1t is plowed twice in the
fall preceding, the first blowing being
to the depth of inches. the second 16
or IS inches. Then just before plant
ing it is narrowed and rolled until it is
as smooth and hard as a floor. The
seed is drilled in rows l foot apart.
When the young plants are about 8
inches high they are thinned out, leav-
ing three or four in hill, 1 foot apart,
and these are subsequently, reduced to
one in hill. The cultivation is done
mostly by pillow, the crop being plowed
about four tines in season, both
lengthwise and across the rows. The
women and children, meantime, are
constantly going over the field keep
ing out the weeds by hand. The gath
ering season extends from September
Is to February 10. Men 60 ahead with
long spades and loosen each hill, the
women and children following, who
lift the roots out of the ground
and pile them together. After
the tops are removed they are
either taken directly to the commu-
nifty factory or covered deeply with
earth to preserve them. The factory
system is a very interesting part of the
business. Factories are established in
each neighborhood. In all the sue
cessful ones capitalists are rigidly ex-
Guided, and only farmers may hold
shares. Each farmer must, for each
share he holds, cultivate from three
to five acres in beets. The average
product is 1900 or $4,000 pounds per
acre, for which the farmer gets about
80 pfennig per 100. He is guaranteed
sure market for his crop at a fixed
price, and gets dividend out of the
profits at the end of the season. The
pulp of the beets, after the sugar is
taken out, makes a first-class food for
cattle, and this the farmer gets also at
a fixed price. The cultivation is SUBJ
ject to inspection by the factory, and
each inspector must be not only first
class farmer, but a chemist. He
must live close to the factory, and gets
a good salary, besides per cent. of the
profits. Most of the sugar goes to re-
fineries at the large cities. At each
factory is also government inspector,
who examines each lot and fixes the
tax. Each wagon-load of beets is
sampled by a chemist, and if they fall
below a certain grading as to percent
age of sugar, they are rejected. This
is to prevent the use of inferior COM
posts. which would make large beets
with little sugar in them. One nice
feature about the business is that or
all the sugar which is exported the
government returns to the farmer ar
amount which is more than equivalent
to the tax. This results in very large
portion Of the crop being exported, -
81. Louis GlQ6e-Qsmoeras,