The watchman and southron. [volume] (Sumter, S.C.) 1881-1930, 1897-04-14
MONEY TN BEET SUGAR
Al Industry That Would
Help South Carolina.

SffOGnCGQ Will ddS dSoAsoSsS ~
State. and which il has now been
p-cved is suitable for the middle aud
lower counties. while the northern
portion of the State, with it's ample
water power. is going ahead building
cotton mills, the central and lower
portion should look for sncn new IN
dastries as are suited for their sur
roundings, and being heretofore a
strictIy agricultural community any
s.industry that will combine agricul-
snse and manufactnre is in the right
direction. Tobacco being money
gcrop which sells as readily for cash
3 81 cotton, has proved IN the past few
years quite successful But the en-
closed account of the success OF the
first beet augar factory in the South
shows j new resource, that is open
to The Southern States. or such OF
them as are wide enough awake TO
take advantage of it.
TO make plain the position OF this
fnaustry ia the year 1895 this coun-
ist IN ccgnsrmed i $40, IA tons of
sugar Of which only 324s506 tons
{ we're made at home. and ,625,2S8
IONS were imported from abroad, and
o siis q large share was the beet
s1rar from Europe. During the past
sS wear the productio of beet sugar 10
EsEurope m was i 8 over 1900 900 tons, Of
which Germany made l,615.ll tons.
France 667 1858 tons, Austria and
Hungary 791 .4o5 tons, Russia 1853.
48s tons, Belgium, Holland. etc J.
making the remainder
The new tariff bill now IN che
Senate places duty OF sugars not
above is Dutch standard in color OF
So one cent per pound, and above that
standard of one and seven eight
cents, This viii serve as bonus to
HAT extent to ali home producers OF
sugar.
Heretofore beet sugar has only
been produced in northern countries,
as shown BY the above lists. but the
/ facs that beets can be grown in New
Mexico, Which is on the same la1i
snde as this State, and with a climate
much hotter and dryer than ours.
blazes the way for rs if we choose to
follow.
The production of beet sngar in
this country is growing slowly but
steadily It is as follows 1887, 225
tons 1855. 1 $40 tons 1889, 2,400
IONS 1890, 2, 500 tons 1891, 800
TONS 1892. II. 600 tons 1858, l6,
900 tons 1894. 20. 600 tons 1895.
so. 900 toms
The following account, taken from
the Texas Farm and Ranch, and writ
ten By Mr.F E. Roesler, shows that
the price paid 10 New Mexico to the
farmers for beets was $3.50 per ton
in 1886, and on this basis they re-
ceiYed from $50 to 500 per acre, the
average being about S4S
The average cost in labor of well
worked beet crop is about $22 per
acre, leaving for rent of land and
profit $2l Compare this with tie
average yield of any crop produced
IN this State at present, with the ad-
ditional advantage of being money
crop, and the opening which pre-
sents iteelf to men Of enterprise, both
In growing the beets and in making
sugar, is at once apparent:
The first beet sugar factory of the
great Southwest. the new factory at
Eddy, New Mexico, OH the upper
Peeos River. has Just finished its first
run or sngar campaign It has con-
verted into hard cash little of the
soil. the water and almost perpetual
sunshine OF the Pecos Valley. With
the aid of the husbandman it has
brought about the conversion of a
few thousand pounds of minute sugar
beet seeds into about $4,000 tons of
sugar beets and with the further aid
of machinery and intelligent labor it
has converted these beets into about
40 carloads of sugar. 1t made
, available one of the great resources
of the country aud demonstrated be-
yond shadow of doubt that the
great Southwest eau and will pro-
duce its own sugar It has used up
the product of some 1900 to 1,400
acres Of sugar bests. the first. and
almost purely experimental crop Of
1896, and when this supply was ex
hausted it shut down to await the
coming Of the new crop of 1897,
which will begin to mature about the
first of September. It has demon
strated shat the sugar beet can be
proitably grown and manufactured
into sugar During its fret cam
paign it afforded good home market
for a new and profitable crop and
xI p,k rooor nnrloodo of GDo