The times. [volume] (Richmond, Va.) 1890-1903, 1897-08-22
THE FARMERS' SALVATION,
A German Chemist Says 1t Lies in Sugar
Beet Cultivation.

Beet Cultivation.
at think tho American farmer viii
find his salvation in the raising Of sugar
beets." said Mr. Paul C. Sukey to a
Journal representative at Ann Harbor
yesterday.
Mr.. sukey is a German chemist well
known in southern Michigan, where ne
mas lived for tho past seven or eight
wears. and for months has been giving
his whole attention to an investigation
OF the sugar beet industry. This pres
ent year no has spent some time IN Ger
many and Italy, where the culture Is OF
long standing, and he returns 10 ms
home with much data Of a scientific and
practical interest.
II am confident" said Mr.. Sukey yes
terday. chat in this immediate district
the beet could be raised adyantageously
but the farmer does not want 10 Desln
the cultivation of the vegetable until
there are signs at least that a factory
for the handling Of IT is 20 De erected III
the vicinity. The great drawback 10 inc
cultivation OF the beet IS in It's trans
'portatiOn TO the mills. However thaI
is neither here nor there, for as soon as
the capitalists are shown that the Deet
can be raised here they will not be long
Mn putting up the factories necessary 70
the extraction Of the sugar.
yet there is no branch OF FARMING
that requires so much intelligence as
does the cultivation Of sugar beets. Inc
operator must be a business man. else
he viii make great and glittering fall-
ura of his efforts TO better himself by
the raising Of the German vegetable. l
fear for the work Of attempting TO cult
vate the beets I'M America for this reason.
l fear that hundreds Of farmers viii think
the sugar beet a sort Of Klondike, ana
will rush into the business without any
practical knowledge OF IT.. II they DO
they win surely fail, and their failure
will keep out practical men who other-
wise might go into the cultivation or the
beet This is the great danger or the
industry in this country, where It Is
new and untried experiment. As for beet
land. any good barley land IS sufficient
10 produce a beet varying In percentage
Of sugar from IL 20 q, which latter Is
the almost average per cent in Germany
but there. you know, they are familiar
with all the branches of the business,
and have been employed IN il for years.
"Then, too" continued Mr. Sukey "tho
American farmer who plows six inches
thinks no IS doing a great thing. lie can't
pillow six inches and raise sugar beets.
He will have to go down from u TO IA
inches, and unless he does he might as
well give up trying 10 raise the beets at
all. for his efforts will be crowned with
failure. There must be a good sub-soil
TO the sugar beet land. a porous loan such
as II is I'm Iowa, where the fields may
be sown with corn year after year with
out the land ever becoming worn out.
Iowa Is the sugar beet State Of tho
Union, I'm my opinion. yet I do not doubt
they could be raised advantageOusly here
II means Of transporting the beets from
the winter cellars TO the mills We're pro-
vded.
III many farmers I'm a section 90 into
the sugar beet industry. the wise move
for them 10 make would be TO build their
own factory and have it operated on the
cooperative plan. IF this were done
I would say the farmer Of this country
would before long find himself better
off than he had ever hoped 10 be- As an
experiment only T. a few years ago, started
the cultivation OF sugar beets from the
best German seeds, I'm this section Of
Washtenaw county, and I must say I was
very successful. + Analysed my beTts
myself, and found them 20 contain
very large per cent of sugar, enough 10
make their general cultivation profitable
There was no mill. however. i'm this vcn-
ity at that time. and the cost Of trans
porting them 10 the only mill within
reasonable distance would have knocked
the profits completely out Of tho ven
ture. I did It simply TO satisfy myself
that they could be raised here, and 1
succeeded.
''rhe sugar beet industry Is the most
and logical branch OF farm
ing, for the reason that nothing IS lost.
The real sugar OF the beet comes from
the air through the leaves being form
ed, Of course. by the action OF the chem
icals Of the earth on the combinations
drawn from the atmosphere Then the
beet is pulled up and taken TO the mill
There It is shaved and the process OF
getting at the sugar is gone through with.
At the conclusion the farmer receives
back the beet shavings. which form the
very best food for cattle Then there
IS a I've formed I'm the process OF manufac-
ture that is n splendid fertilizer for beet
fields. The shavings fed the animals en-
ployed in the cultivation are eventually
thrown back on the fields as q fertilizer,
and thus the complete circle Of the sugar |
beet products Is made.
I'm Germany they understand this and |
every bit OF the refuse from the mills |
goes back 10 the fields That is why the |
cultivation Of the beet is so successful in |
that country The German sugar beet
raiser is a business man first and a farm
en- second. and ne allows nothing TO go |
10 waste. as the American farmer has |
fallen into tho habit of doing"
ln speaking Of tho industry rs prac- !
ticcd I'm foreign countries Mr.. Sukey said: |
"The best beet seeds come from Ger /
many These are the seeds that should |
be used I'm this country. They produce /
smooth perfect heets from IA 20 % inches |
In length. The French seeds are not so /
good. The beets raised from them are /
m formed and their per cent Of sugar /
is not so great AS for Germany, 1 am |
aware of one thing The German farmer |
To-day reads the American news in his |
paper as anXiOusly as though the coun- |
tries were at war. He is frightened al |
most 10 death i'm the thought that the |
sugar beet industry win be taken up In /
his country. He knows well that the /
valuable vegetables can be raised here. |
and in sufficient quantities TO drive him /
put of the field. and as n consequence /
be IS on the anxious seat most OF the |
lime. He fears night and day that his /
next mornings paper II he takes a daily |
Dr. his agricultural paper nc any rate
viii contain news 20 the effect that fac
tories are going up all over this country |
L would iniure him If such should prove /
10 be tho ease Tie knows the industry l
Fan be carried on here. and his greatest
surprise is that IL hasn't been taken mp. /
lust as his greatest fear IS that IL soon
will 10 Ana fhfn1r DO will T laIfeva