Shenandoah herald. [volume] (Woodstock, Va.) 1865-1974, 1891-11-27
Sugar Beets in Virginia.

A meeting Of farmers and business men
was held in Harrisonburg, Va, on Mon
day of last week, in the interest of grow
ing beets for the manufacture of sugar
in that section. o. X. Lapham, of
Chicago, addressed the melting
He offered to convert bis fac
tory at Stanton into sugar
factory at cost of $4,000 to $4,000
provided the farmers would guarantee
sufficient beets to carry on the manu-
facture of sugar on large scale. When
in Europe he found, to his surprise. that
there was a larger percentage of sucrose
and beets raised in the vicinity of Staun
ton than IN those raised in France and
Germany. He proposed to pay four dol
lars per ton for the beets. Poor land
near Stanton without fertilizer will
bring 10 tons of beets. In Europe the
product per acre is 80 to 20 tons. A COM
mittee was appointed to confer with the
railroads about freights. Another meet
ing will be held in December.
Messrs. o. X. Lapham & Co.. of Staun-
ton, Va, in writing to us in regard to the
cultivation of sugar beets in the Valley,
and especially in this county, send us
large amount OF interesting matter on
the subject which we regret to say we
have not space for in this issue. In his
letter he says as follows:
eve were shortly since through your
county when we saw, without exception
as fine lands, apparently, suited for beet
sugar culture as ever we saw anywhere.
The freight, we believe, will be reason
able if the citizens of the county organize
to secare g thorough canvass of people
who will enter into contract for FIVE or so
acres and appoint a committee or repre-
sentative citizens who will urge the rail-
roads to give them reasonable freight
rates. or as low as are obtained by the
farmers in Nebraska where beets are ship
ped to factories at Grand Island and Nor
folk. The rates paid there are as follows:
for distances % miles or less, 80 cents per
ton; for distances exceeding % miles and
not over As miles, 80 cents per ton; and
for distances exceeding As miles and not
exceeding 100 miles, 50 cents per ton.
We know beets are shipped over 2OO
miles to these factories with profit to the
owner. but don't know what the rate lie.
Parties wanting further information, or
wishing to make contract for from five to
ten acres, should write us early, as the
acreage for which we will contract for Will
soon be filled and thereafter, other condi-
tons being as good, we shall consider
them entitled to the preference on subse-
ouent contracts. However anyone can grow
few acres of beets and feed them to stock
with greater profit than any other food
grown on their farms but the great
profit lies in selling the roots and saving
the tops and leaves and a small portion OF
the beets above the ground, for food and
in using the spent beet's pulp for 1000.
When parties who sell us beets live so far
away from the factory that they prefer
to sell us the pulp from their beets rather
than to ave it shipped to them, we Will
nav them a fair price for it, which they
oct in addition to the 500 paid for their
beets."
We kopc the enterprising farmers OF
this county will take sufficient interest
in the above to give the subject careful
investigation. 1t has been fully demon
strated that the raising of sugar beets Is
far more profitable to the farmer than
the raising of any other crop, large beet
sugar mandatory in this section would
surely be to the interest OF every one