The herald., 1894-12-26
BIG MONEY IN SUGAR BEETS,
Examples of Profitable Farm
ing at Chino.
What Several Industrious Farmers
Did Last Season.
instances Taken From Actual Experience
in the Industry-Facts and
Figures.

Mr. C &. Howell, in q letter TO the Sacramen.
to Bee, of recent date, tells that paper, in a
plain, unvsrnished way, the actual state of
beet farming at Chino The gentleman gives
names and figures, so that his statements can
DC verified. AS there is good deal OF inquiry
as 10 the profits of beet culture, Mr.. HowelPs
letter is given in full below for the benefit of
those desiring information on this subject:
70 THE EDITOR OF THE BEE-sir: Perhaps 1
ssnould give the experi ence OF a few of the best
pee growers on the Chino ranch, aud then my
ngures Will be considered more conservative,
H. N. Day. living Il mi g and Il hal west of
Chino, reports tnat he planted 2JA acres TO
neets rom which he harvested 400 tons, for
/ whlcn he received $l400 On MS home placa
! e nad 534 acres the beets from which brought
! 500 or s9l 80 per acre. On another 10 acres
ne harvested 204 tous, which brought him
ShoV per ton Ihs makes the returns for
the 10 acres %91S, or SOL 50 per acre. The
$l4Oo ne receiged Ior mis- entire crop is all clear
gam except T40 he paid out for wages and $40
Tor seed aud use CT cultivator.
Himself and two boys one II and the other
10 years OF age, did enougs work on their own
crop ana in exchange with their neigh bors to
G G ear az expenses on their own crop, except the
III 10 noted ! n other words, Mr.. Days summer
wor5 on his beet crop has brought him just
Sl254 III clear cash. Besides tnls ne has taken
care o., cut ana harvested 10 acres OF alfalfa of
ms own, raise III acres o. barley and d $50
worth of work cutting alfalfa and barley for
other people. This viii so long way toward
paying all his living expen ses for the year. aud
MS beet crop can be counted elear gain. Mr.
lS,A
IN ali his farming experience he has never
done rs we'll as he has here, or found he prod
uct that paid as well as su9ar-beets. H is nat
urally enthusiastic i'll his praise of the CROP.
George c. Moore rented 36 acres, which he
planted to beeis He did the team work and
large part of the labor upon the crop himself
hiring no more than ne could avoid He is an
enc gc&c, painstaking and careful man, and
his care has been well rewarded. In making
statement OF his expenses on the crop he in
ci irled his own labor and that of his teams.
HIS actual expenses N money therefore
much les than the figures given His account
on the 30 acres stands: Six hundred and forty
nine tons at $4,25, income S2753.25; ex-
penses, blowing, $72 preparing ground, $27;
seed, SOD; pla nting, S12; thinning, $1O5; cul.
tivating. S $40: hoeing, $7c; pulling and top
ping, 1914 SO: hauing, $299.5O: factory ex-
penses $32.i5' Toisl sao. expenses pei Sl1o4 q;
$17s9.3I; net profit. $868.94.
Ne profit per acre after paying rent $26 80;
net profit on land, S29.0l.
To Mr.. Moore's net profit of S96S.94 on his
venture should be added regular wages for his;
own summers work-R600 This shows him
nearly $l55S.94 ahead on mis- summers work,
with no mofe capital than team and imple-
meuts invested.
Peter Warner harvested from 1S acres $50
tons OF beets, or 20 tons per acre For these
he realized $500 per ton, S1404 for his
crop-S7S per acre. less than three years ago
Mr. Warner came to Chino with no capital
whatever but his energy, his perseverance and
his pluck. He has recently purchased 49, 600
worth of land for a home, and he is paying for
it with money realized from beet farming. He
says he is satisfied that there Is no other line of
farming In California in which he can do as
well as growing sugar beets.
N. s. Rice plarted 16 acres, from which he
harvested POI tons net, or about 124 tons per
acre. At S5.06 per ton these brought hi m
R816.52, or $5I .04 per acre gross. The money
he actually paid out in raising and harvesting
The crop was follows: Seed, $57; thinning,
$54, plowing and planting $780, topping. $1Ol;
total, $242 All the rest of the work was dons
by himself and no account was kept OF it. This
itsaves his net profits on the l6 acres 1874. So.
w. q. Riehtmier harvested from ~ acres 400
| tons and 700 pounds, or an average of Is tons
per acre. They analyzed between 13 and IA
| per cent sugar, making an average price of. say
in the neighborhood of $6150 per acre from
this field Another field of eight acres gave
better returns The eight acres yielded l72
tons of beets, averaging 14L per cent sugar.
This makes MIN 21l4 tons per acre at $3.50 per
ton, or return of 1896 rs an acre for the field.
A. L. Cavanaugh harvested 10 acres from
which he got % tons per acre, or 22O tons of
Is per cent beets. Sixteen per cent beets bring
50. per ton, so Mr.. Cavanaugh gets 81 1922 or
sIl2.Z0 per acre from that 10 acre field
w. A. Lyell harvested 4 acres of beets south
and west of his house. These IA acres yielded
230 TONS or 1615 tons per acre of IA per cent
beets. This gives Mr.. Lyell $9S7, or $40 95 per
acre. In one corner of this field is sand
streak, which reduces the average yield very
materially On three and two-thirds acres of
it there were harvested 80 tons. or 24H tons
per acre.
l might fill your paper with such results, but
the few that nave given you show what an
Industrious man can do by raising beets.
G. q. HOWELL.
Sacramento December 49, 1894.