The Jasper weekly courier. [volume] (Jasper, Ind.) 1858-1922, 1897-06-04
FARMERS AND SUGAR BEET PROFITS

New York Price Current.

and industrial world, which may be
anticipated within the next few
years in the United States. Ameri-
can farmers are just beginning to
appreciate the value of beet culture.
In 1897 the total production of beet
sugar in this country was only 257
tons; in 1896 it was 10000 tons.
This year the farmer has much
stronger incentive to plant beets
than ever before, for, whereas, Cuba
before the break of the instruction,
exported upward of 100000 tons
of sugar, her surplus product fell
last year to less than tenth of that
amount. Much the greater part,
consequently, of the 100000 tons
of sugar annually required by the
United States will, during the next
twelve months and for some years
thereafter, have to be furnished not
by the sugar cane, but the beet root /;
and there is no reason why our
farmers should not supply it.
Even if Cuba should presently be-
come a producer of sugar on large
scale, there would still be an am
Iple market for our native commodi-
Ity, owing to the rate at which our
demand for sugar is increasing.
In the last twenty years the con-
sumption of sugar has increased in
4 England, 80 per cent. in Germany
l59 per cent. ; and in the United
States 27S per cent.
\ Within the past few years the de
Ipartment of agriculture has supplied
100000 farmers in various parts o.
the United States with sugar bee
seeds for experiments as to soil
climate, rainfall, transportation IA
cilities, and other facts bearing up
on the question as to the sections o
the county where beet sugar is mos
likely to be successfully produced.
Already a number of factories are
in the process of erection, and it Is
well known that men with capita
stand ready to establish many NOR,
factories as soon as experiments anc
Iexperience shall determine wha
sections of the country are bes
adapted for practical beet sugar pro
duction. In general, it may be
said that any old soil that will pro-
duce Indian corn, wheat or potatoes
will under proper cultivation, pro-
duce a good crop of sugar beets.
The traffic manager of a railroad
having large mileage in Nebraska,
says:
"The coming crop in our section
is sugar beets. The soil proves
well adopted for them, and no 9TH
er crop that can be raised affords
anything like the profit. Farmers
made three times the money per
acre on sugar beets last year that
they made on wheat. There was
some difficulty at first in handling
the beets to advantage, but that has
been overcome. The lack of reiin-
cries and facilities for marketing
we're also a disadvantage for time,
but are being remedied. The sugar
refined from beets raised in Nebras-
ka cannot be told by ordinary peo-
from the best cane sugar. The
acreage devoted tobeets in Nebraska
this year will be much in excess Of
any previous year"
The Importance of the beet sugar
industry to the owners Of small
farms is shown in the fact that in
California one beet sugar factory
gives work to 420 families. The
average crop of beets to the acre is
from II to IA tons, and the farmer
is paid $4 per ton. His revenue
will average $50 per acre, while the
cost Of producing beets is $25 per
acre, leaving him net profit Of $25
per acre, a much larger sum than
ne can realize in the production of
wheat, corn and the ordinary farm
products.
The Deutsche Fucker Industrial,
a German trade journal devoted to
the interests of the German beet
sugar industry, in its issue Of March
II, estimates the coming sugar out
put for the current year as follows:
Germany, 1S3,500 metric tons
France, 10000 tons; Belgium, 81,
10 tons; Sweden, 10,200 tons;
Austria, "a $50 tons; Russia, TO-
900; Holland, l4,770 tons. Total
Az 800 tons.
Governor Black has signed bill
that provides for a yearly bonus Of
S25 900 to be paid out to beet sugar
manufacturers at a rate not exceed
ing one cent per pound for every lb.
of 80 per cent. crystalized sugar pre-
pared from beets grown within the
state of New York, and for which
the grower received not less than 50
per ton, provided that the sugar
manufacturer is not the grower.