The weekly Union times. [volume] (Union C.H., South Carolina) 1871-1894, 1893-12-08

and knows that no gambling In futures
can affect the price while he Is pro-
ducing it. Each years experience
puts him in q better position to CON.
tract for the coming year. Thismusual
dependence of manufacturer and pro-
ducet will always insure reasonably
fair division Of profits. The manu-
facturer, with half o million or more
invested In plant that can be run but
for few weeks or months annually,
must be sure of his supply, and the
farifief, learning by experience the
price that viii pay him, has the whip
handle, and no extortiou can be
practiced.
The factory we visited is the Nor
folk Beet Stgar Factory, located ut
Norfolk on the north fork OF the Elk
horn river in Nebraska, on The railroad
leading from Fremont on the Platte TO
the Black Hills Of Dakota. The same
company owns also. factory ct Grand
Island on the Plate -sse- ...Sa :s;s--we we
did not have time to Visit. They also
run two factories in California. The
! business, after many encouragement
| and liberal expenditure, is now in
| Nebraska, but we understand that the
California factories are much more
profitable owing to the longer season
! for planting and manufacture. The
great drawbacks to the business in
/ Eewbrasks are the lack of labor and
| the short season for working up the
crop. Farmers are deferred from
| planting large areas because Of the i'm
| possibility of getting abundant help at
! thinning time. Both of these difficult
tics would be obviated in q Southern
latitude 30 far an could observe,
the culture is almost identical with
that of cotton, except that deeper
breaking is necessary for the beets.
Our Southern farm hands, accustomed
to chopping out and thinning cotton,
would find the chopping out and thin
ming the beets almost identical, and the
abundance of this class OF labor In the
South would admit Of beet culture on
n larger scale than an Nebraska. Then
too we could begin to SOW earlier in
spring, and by succession of crops,
could keep tho factory running twice
as long as thero. We drove into the
country arouiid Norfolk, Nebraska, and
talked with quite lumber of the
farmers. They are generally an ignorant
class of German immigrants, but they
all agree that the beet crop is the most
profitable one they raise. The only.
other crops are corn and prairie hay,
and though they raise large corn crops
the price, 20 to as cents per bushel,
renders it necessary that they turn it
into beef and pork to get any profit
out of it, From a number of these
growers ascertained that their average
gross receipts are about $4,000 per
acre for the beets. The factory pays
tine dsvs~, ,.>s;nn nf rs. ssper ton and
acre, though there are instances of 90
or more tons being raised. One grower
! in California IL said to have raised 81
tons per acre, the largest yield known.
, Too large beet is not wanted, one
the size of small or medium pine
apple being as large as desired. In
California the price runs az high AT
$3.50 per ton, the practice there being
to pay according to the saccharino
quality of the beet ns ascertnined by
the Polariscopc. But owing to the
less intelligent character of the Ne
braska grower it has been found ncccs.
sary to fix an average price for MI.
The greatest care is used in getting
seed from bcets of good pedigree, the
best seed growers in Europe always
testing by the Polariscope every beet
planted for seed, and rejecting all that
falls below standard in quality. The
- Errontnn irsc rtnrers 81 annually send an agent
crop, and buy no beets but tR6st
grown from seed thus selected for
{, various soils This III more essential
where the average price prevails, than
when each grower is responsible FOR
the quality of hiscrop. An expnrienc-
ed buyer is already in Europe select
ing seed for the crop of 1891, and con
tracts are now being made with the
farmers for next year. Every one
with whom we converscd h"s increased
his planting annually and MI propose
to put in a larger area next year.
though the factory has neatly reach ed
its full capacity for that climate. Thi.
is of itself sufficient indication OF the
value of the crop to the grower, wbo
all seem enthusiastic or the srbje:t
We were hardly preparei for the cx'
tent of the manufacture, much as We
had hexrd of it, The Norfolk Beet
Sugar Company has plant which W.
were informed cost S30O, ,OOC, and from
, the extent of the massive brick build
ings, and the array of complicatc'
, machinery we could well believe TIT
statement. They say that they wonl'
not build another 80 small Thi
company expected to turn oht thi
season over three million pounds "
granulated white sugar. I file witt
this sample of this sugar, which wa
made in twelve hours from the ray
beets. The process usedis diffusion
process. The beets are carried iron
the soils, or covered pits between tn
,, railroad tracks, through cemepte
sluices, through which stream o
water rnshes, to an opening in tn
., wall of the building, where an Al
= chimedean screw elevates them to- tn
washer, whicfris long tbro"S
|. the centre of which shaft revolves o