The Vermont watchman. [volume] (Montpelier, Vt.) 1883-1911, 1897-07-21
Beet Sugar--.Industry or Craze,

The making of sugar from beet roots
must undoubtedly be reckoned a serious
factor in the industrial world. First
undertaken on a large scale amid the
throes OF war, a century ago, it o o
became firmly established. attained
considerable dimensions, and effected
something like a revolution in the su-
gar trade. For to it we owe most of
the improvements in sugar-making
processes, and especially the now we'll
nigh universal refinement of the prod
uct to its purest and most attractive
form. But for B%onaparte's quarrel
with England the sugar of the general
use might still be muscavado. In later
years the beet-sugar industry has
that of cane. The one has been greatly
stimulated by bounty systems in France,
Germany and the United States, while
social disturbances and other influences
have much depressed the other. Two
years of war have almost destroyed the
cane-sugar industry of Cuba, and an
Imperial Commission is holding what
seems much like an ante-mortem in
quest upon that in the British West In
dies. AT the same time the beet-sugar
industry in the United States has been
greatly developed, and under the ener-
getic encouragement of the present Ad-
ministration bids fair to continue it's
growth at an accelerated rate.
There is little doubt that the indus
try can be made widely profitable.
The best beet roots contain about as
much sugar as does cane. The yield
of them to the acre is enormous. They
can be grown through a far wider eli
matte range of country than can cane,
and thus can be produced where indus
trial conditions and proximity to mar
ket are most favorable for profit. OF
all this there is nc reasonable doubt.
At the same time, much caution is to
be observed by all who would seek to
engage in the enterprise. There are
men now living who remember the dis
astrous m~ulberry-tree and silkworm
mania and other similar crazes that
have swept over this country. 1t will
not do to rush thus heedlessly into the
growing of sugar beets, for the result
might be even more ruinous han that
Of any previous craze. There are, no
doubt, places in this country where silk
culture might be conducted as success
fully as in France or Japan. 1t was
the indiscriminate attempt to do it in
all places, without regard to fitness
that brought ruin. There are probably
millions of acres of land in the United
States on which sugar beets can be
grown as successfully as in France OF
Germany; but there are also millions
of acres on which they cannot. That
is the first fact for the farmer to take
into consideration, and for the Agri.
cultural Department to make clear.
The sugar beet experiment was tried
in England, where common beets and
turnips have long been a leading and
most profitable crop. But it has failed
and the last of the beet-sugar factories
has closed it's doors. The rivalry OF
the Continental beet-sugar producers
who enjoy large government bounties
is named as a reason for this result
Perhaps it is n reason; but another
potent one is almost certainly to BIZ
found in the unfavorable climate o.
England. The summer is too shor'
and the weather too cool and damp tC
develop the fullest amount of sugar il
the beets. That is an example tina
may well be borne in mind here. Care,
full investigation and experiment car
alone determine the fitness of any re
gion for this crop; and these should BIZ
undertaken. There is a possibility ant
a probability of developing a vast ant
benefcent industry. There ought t.
be no danger of an insensate and dis
astrous craZe.-NeW York Tribune.