Fort Worth weekly gazette. [volume] (Fort Worth, Tex.) 1882-1891, 1890-05-15
TEXAS FARM AND FIELD.
The Sugar Beet in Nebraska-It Might be
Made an Important Crop for Texas.
Broom CORRECTION Seed oiI-More Light
Needed-A Fine Grape Region, and
Going to Grass.

For the Gazette.

The Sugar Beet for Texas.
For the Gazette.
The latest issue of the New Orleans
Sugar Bowl tells of the arrival, per
| steamer Ocean, of a large consignment
of French sugar machinery for the Ok
nard Beet Sugar Co., of Grand Island ,
| Nebraska. 1t is only second consign-
ment for the same plant, one hundred
carloads of machinery having already
been sent out. 1t is to be one of the
largest plants of the kind in the world 4,
costing an immense amount of money.
Those people who have ventured IN SO
| gigantic an enterprise must be able to
possess themselves with strong faith in
the success of sugar beet culture for Ne
| braska. They feel sure of being able to
make grand thing of the industry, and
| the probability is that they will succeed
TO the full extent of their expectations.
If so, then what is there to prevent Texas
from doing likewise. Texas possesses
every natural advantage favoriug the
sugar beet that IS possessed by Nebraska,
with much still more favorable that Ne
braska does not possess.
1t is possible that every character of
soil existing in Texas might not be first
| class for the sugar beet Drop, as our
heaviest, waXey soils, for instance. All
root crops do best on an open or porous
soil, but we have that kind of soil in
| abundance IN our poastoak landslide
very best of soil, evidently, for the sugar
beet.
In writing on the subject of tine sugar
beet inc 1stry in Nebraska and Califor-
MA, the editor of the Prairie Farmer
says there are advantages existing now
that did not exist decade ago, when
there were sugar beet failures in this
country. Within the time named great
advance has been made in Europe by
which a much larger outcome of sugar is
realized than formerly. There is no
reason why manufacturers in the United
States may not profit by all this.
To give the reader some idea of the
profits to be expected from the sugar
beet industry, published statement ex-
hibiting California transactions is drawn
upon as follows:
F. Therwatoher planted ten acres in
beets; the product was 154 tons, the cost
of planting, harvesting and hauling to
market, distance of three miles, was
S544; the price received for the product
WAS 1912; the net profit was S429; the net
profit per acre, $40 .9S. w. Nj. German
planted five acres; his distance from the
market was mile and half; his outlay
for planting, harvesting and hauling was
$3.50; he received $50 for his pro-
duct; net profit, 1928; profit per
ten acresi distance from market,
mil nf
planting, harvesting and hauling, S614;
he received Sl906 for his produce; net
profit, 1922: profit per acre, 500. T.
Mitchell planted six acres; distance from
market, one mile; product, IA tons;
cost of produce, S3l2; he received for
his crop S621; net profit, 500; profit per
acre, S5l go. A. F. Richardson planted
eleven acres; distance from market two
miles; produce, 10 tons; cost of har-
vesting, hauling and planting, S532; he
sold his crop for S921; net profit, 1885,;
profit per acre, S35.
The profits on these crops, continues
the Prairie Farmer, are largely in excess
of ordinary farm crops, while they COM
pare favorably with the profits per acre
from ordinary garden crops. In the case
of the crop giving profit of S35 per acre,
the cost of production is found to be
S48 80 per acre; in the case of the crop
yielding profit of $50 per acre, the cost
of production was S61.40 per acre.
But the product of beets was twenty-six
tons per acre, only attainable for sugar
purposes where the stand is perfect, and
the thinning so complete that each plant
gets its full modicum of nourishment
from the soil. The point aimed at in
this last is that the sugar, beet requires
careful culture for best success. 1t is
no lazy mans crop. But about as
much may be said for any other prof1ta-
BILE crop. We can t get something from
nothing, and long keep it up. So to
convey any reasonable idea as to what
Texas might do with the sugar beet, on
a large scale, the test experiments
should be thorough.