Staunton vindicator. [volume] (Staunton, Va.) 1860-1896, 1891-11-20
signatures might be procured.
INDIVIDUAL EXPERIENCE WITH


| Mr.. Norman said he and a neighbor had
made an experiment in beet growing as
| food for cattle, and found that the stock
would eat it all-bOth tie root and tops
ravenously. From his experience with
them he thought it would pay to raise them
whether there was a factory OF not.
Mr. Iapham said i'll his experience On his
place near Staunton, one of the poorest
places in the county, he had raised Is tons
to the acre. He had tried it on his worst
land. He thought a calculation of Is tons
would be safe. On bottom lands you might
calculate for 20 tons, but the amount of
sugar produced by it would not be more
than Is tons on high land would give
A MEMBER OF THE STATE BOARD OF AG-
RICULTURE INTERESTED.
Maj. Absolom Koiner, &. member of the
State Board Of Agriculture, asked MI.
Lapham what the factory would pay for
tine beets.
Nh. Lapham replied from $3.50 to 81 "a
ton, according to the sugsr in them.
Mr.. Koiner said he thought the farmers
of Augusta We're extremely fortunate in
having this opportunity presented to them
| without risk to themselves. The machine
ry OF factory is very costly, from $75, 600
to s150,000, and to fnd q gentleman who
would on his own account take that ex-
penditure on himself, was great piece of
good fortune for Augusta county. Ii the
farmers planted a few acres each of beets
they could not lose by the experiment, as
the beets could be fed to cattle. He said
he saw that in Kansas the farmers had
combiEed by townships to pay tax to raise
| a fund to erect such a factory as is propos-
ed to be erected 10y Mr.. Lapham, and also
combined by townships to raise supply
of beets for it. The beets used for sugar
factories were not, as he understood it, the
the old fashioned beets that Augusta farm
/ ers were accustomed to raising.
Judge Grattan.-Mr. Lapham proposes
take his pay in beets.
| THE COST.
MI. Moorman-Can you give us the cost
of preparing an acre of land ON which a
yield Of Is tons would be gotten?
MI. Lapham.-In Nebraska they say $40
to SIS; in other places SIS to $780, and in
some places in Europe as large as $40 to
$45. The actual cost here would be be-
tween $25 and $50, which would not in
clude fertilizer,
A FURTHER AND THOROUGH CANVASS OF
THE COUNTY TO BE MADE.
The following resolution was offered and
adopted:
hesolUed That the Committees report on the
acreage OF land to be put into beets this COM
ing year, shows they are alive to the subject
and others are awakening to the benefits the
farming community Will derive from this
new crop which has enriched the foreign far
ner and is now beneftting the Western far
mer at our expense; that inasmuch as lack of
time and opportunity has prevented thor
ough canvass OF those farmers who can grow
beets, the present committee be continued to
make a complete and thorough canvass so
that at least 1900 acres may be secured for
growing beetS the coming season, and as fast
as contracts are made and the canvass be com.
pleted, the contracts be returned to the Chair
man OF the Committee, Mr. w. N. Wilson of
Staunton, Va.
The meeting then adjourned to reassem-
BILE on court day, Monday, Nov. 23d.