The morning news. [volume] (Savannah, Ga.) 1887-1900, 1893-11-27
The Sugar Beet Industry.

making of sugar from beets was first at
| tempted in this country, except in an eX-
perimental way by the agricultural de-
partment at Washington In these few
years, however, the industry has grown
to considerable proportions. Still il IS,
as yet, in its infancy. The territory in
this country suited to the raising Of
sugar beets is said by experts to be prac-
tically limitless, yet the raising of sugar
beets and the manufacture of beet sugar
has not been gone into except in three west
ern states.
The beets, it is said, will grow any
where that cotton will, and in many
places that cotton cannot be
grown because of early frosts
Cotton cannot be raised in
northern and western North Carolina
because of early frosts; but sugar beets
thrive in the higher latitude of northern
Nebraska. The planting and cultivating
Of the beet is said to be somewhat similar
to the mode of procedure with cotton.
The seed are drilled in rows about eigh-
teen inches apart, and the plants are
thinned out every seven inches. The
thinning is done by hand, all the rest Of
the culture of the crop being done with
horse power As the crop comes to ma
turity samples are taken out for analysis,
and when the beets are ripe the harvest
ing is simple and expeditiously performed
The harvesting of cotton is one of the
chief annoyances of the planters life and
one of the great items in the cost of his
crop
In twenty-four states experiments in
! sugar beet raising are being made this
| year. The beets will be sent to the fac
tories for analysis, and there is reason to
| believe the result will show that sugar
beets can be successfully grown almost
| anywhere in this country. They are not
| a costly crop. No new and expensive i'm
plements or skilled labor are required
Anybody who can grow cow peas can
| grow beets.
And wherever beets can be grown beet
sugar can be manufactured. The question
| ofproducing the sugar is no longer prob
lematical. There are six large factories
| in this country which are now in success
full operation. Three of them are in
! California, two in Nebraska and one in
Utah. One of those in California consumes
some 500 tons of beets day and turns
out about $50, 600 pounds of sugar every
twenty-four hours. For the current year
! 1t is estimated that this factory alone
will turn out 20,000,000 pounds of
sugar Estimating the output of the
other six factories in operation at approx
imately the same amount, there is room
! II, this fop hr1rA 70
tories of equal size, to supply the amount
OF sugar that is now imported.
The farmers of Georgia and Florida
have for years been seeking for a better
money crop than cotton. The need for
such a crop is becoming greater year by
year Why should they not give some at
tention to sugar beets, A concerted
movement on the part of the farmers
to plant sugar beets would be followed al
once by movement to erect a factory al
some central city, Savannah, very proba.
bly,, and by the time the beets were ready
for the watts, the watts would be ready tC
receive them. There are thousands OF
acres of land in this state that are yeal
after year planted in cotton from which
| the planter does not receive in return as
much as his outlay. This land in sugar
beets might, and probably would, yield d
snug profit. Ii one hundred Georgia
farmers in the same geographical section
of the state would enter into an agree
ment TO plant each ten acres of sugar
beets next year, and live up to it, We
would in all probability have, on New
Years day, 1895, new and prosperous
industry established in the south,
The idea is worthy of serious oousidera
tion by the alliance and all other farmers
clubs, of whatever name.