Mower County transcript., 1897-04-21
BEET SUGAR FACTS.

BEET SUGAR FACTS.
Statistics Showing the Profit of
Adding This to Our Pro
~ - ductiOns.
There is much information for
those identified with the sugar in
terests in report just issued by the
agricultural department at Washing
ton on the sugar beet. In reviewing
the cost Of manufacture, it says that
in lib factories reporting in Germany
the mean net profit for, each factory
was $50, ,A0 for the past year.
| The price reported paid for beets
is usually fictitious, the beet growers
ow ming the factories and preferring
to share in the general profits rather
than to charge a high price for the
beets. First-class beets rarely sell
for less than 5 a ton. @
The Western Beet Sugar company
of Watsonville, Cal, stated that in
the season of Isss-lss9 the cost Df
manufacturing sugar from the beets
amounting to $s0.sO per ton of sugar.
The. department holds now that,
with the best machinery and
economical processes, beet sugar can
be made in this country at a cost OF
! from 3 to cents per pound, when the
! price OF rich beets does not exceed S.
| a ton. From reliable data it is stated
| that in Europe the cost of erecting a
factory with the most modern
machinery uf capacity of at least
300 tons per day is about 5000, 900.
The report discountenances cheap
| manufacturing processes. and holds
out no reasonable hope to farmers of
successfully establishing a home beet
sugar factory. but predicts that the
cooperative factory m ethods prac-
ticed in Europe, in which beet grow
ing farmers hold part or a. majority OF
the stock, will eventually come into
use here. Of l1.672.s sl6 metric tons
of beets delivered to the German
factories in ls95-ls96, there were,
2,9e9, ,ON tons grown by shareholders.
Seven beet sugar factories are now
shown to. be in operation in this
country, and four others are building
or contem plated.
The increase in sugar consumption
/ for twenty-three years has been 27S
per cent in the United States, 142 in.
France, l53 in Germany, lO7 in
Austria, and 80 England-
In recent address at New Ulm,
Henry Wallace of Des Moines said sit
is conceded by all who have investi-
gated the subject that Northern
Iowa and Southern Minnesota are in
the very heart Of the sugar beet belt:
in other words, that they have the
mean summer temperature that en-
ables them to store sugar in the beet
plant.''
The Q. S. Agricultural department
has been sending out sugar beet seed
to most of the states in the union.
They are experimenting south about
as tar as the Caro]inas and Texas
Every effort has been made to pro-
cure frst-class seed. Most of the
work IS being done through the ex-
pertinent stations that GET the seed
from the department and send it out
with Instructions regarding the culti-
yation OF plants and provision for the
return OF samples to the stations in
the fall for analysis.
The Sugar Beet Journal says:
Zone producer near Norfolk
Nebraska, had so acres of beets
which yielded him $50 per acre
gross or $50 net. One enterprising
farmer put in 80 acres and contracted
for the care of them at $225O
per acre. The beet averaged $75 per
acre and in addition he had the tops
and shadows worth fully S. per acre
for feed. Numerous cases are cited
where farmers netted $35 to $50 per
acre for their beet lands after paying
all expenses. Seven acres averaged
20 tons per acre, 1873 per cent. sugar
and s3.5 purity of juice. Ten years
ago this land was valued at $50 per
acre, now it is worth nearer $4OO.
At beet-sugar meeting at Albert
Lea last week an expert, A. f. Postal,
of Chicago, explained in detail the
cost of raising beets, how to plant the
seed, etc. He argued that there is no
industry better suited to the farming
interests than the beet sugar in
| dustry. Beets grow to d great depth,
and can successfully stand a dry sea-
son. The beet requires close atten-
tion; it must be cultivated properly,
but it taken proper care of, there is
no crop, in Mr.. Postal's estimation,
taaf ia j. FL. IL