Santa Fe new Mexican. [volume] (Santa Fe, N.M.) 1898-1951, 1899-08-31
SUGAR INDUSTRY.
The Conditions in New Mexico Sin
gularly Adapted to This Bust
ness,
THE FACTORY AT CARLSBAD,
In Various Localities Land and Water
Suitable for Sugar Beet Culture are
Found Michigan Secured Fac
tories With Bounties.

The beet sugar industry will in the
near future be one of the great re-
sources of New Mexico, which is one of
the few sections that will produce beets
of a phenomenally high percentage of
saccharine matter. The soil, the climate
and the water of New Mexico are supe-
rior to those of any other section for the
purpose of raising sugar beets. The
clear skies have much to do with in
creasing the sugar in the beets, and I'M
der proper conditions sugar beet grow
ing and beet sugar manufacture can be
made more profitable in this territory
I than anywhere else.
That not more progress has been
made in that line is due to the fact that
many other states pay bounties, and
that the greatest success in sugar beet
raising is attained where the average
acreage per farmer is not over five
acres. At Lehi, Utah, where the great
est financial success has been made thus
far in raising sugar beets, the average
acreage per farmer is only four acres.
A hundred farmers raising five acres
each will raise many more tons of bet
ter beets than one farmer trying to raise
500 acres of beets, and not able to give
the crop the attention and the care that
the small farmer does, for sugar beets
are really a garden crop. The dry fall
and winter of New Mexico, and the alb
sence of hard frosts will allow the beets
to remain under ground until needed by
the factory, thus doing away with the
expense of SLIDING, necessary in north
ern states.
There is profit in sugar beets for the
farmer. Beets bring $4.75 per ton at the
mill. The farmer can always make
contracts at the beginning Of every
planting season, thus guaranteeing him
a cash market not affected by fluctua-
tons in price. The cost of raising an
acre of sugar beets is not over $12, and
the cost of harvesting, loading and
freight should not be more than $1.50
per on. That leaves the farmer a profit
VI p-o W poo per acre.
The season for planting sugar beets
in New Mexico extends from April / to
July l, and is longer than anywhere
else. Thus if the first planting for some
unforeseen reason is unsuccessful, an
other attempt can be made. The seed is
generally furnished by the factories.
The harvest commences November 1,
and with a full crop continues until
March /, thus employing the farmer
during the months in which he is gener-
ally idle.
1t is only since 1887 that the beet SUI
gar industry has received any extended
attention in the United States, but in
Germany and elsewhere it has been a
great success much longer than that. In
1887, 10000 tons of beets were raised in
this country, but at the present day the
factories in the United States produce
100000 tons of refined sugar annually
from 1000, 900 tons of sugar beets. The
factories work to their full capacity
about 100 days each year.
1t is in Michigan where the most sue
cess thus far has been attained with
securing new factories. At Lehi, Utah,
there is a factory hat pays annual div
idends of 40 per cent. In New Mexico
beets with a very high, in fact, the
highest per cent of %saccharine matter
ever secured, have been raised right
around Santa Fe. In the Pecos valley
a sugar factory has been operating for
three years, and it has demonstrated
that sugar beet raising can be made a
financial success and the manufacture
of beet sugar can be made profitable if
a sufficient number of farmers UNDER
take the raising of sugar beets. It was
in 1891 that a number of samples of SUI
gar beets grown in the Pecos valley
were sent to Washington, D. c., to the
of agriculture, for analysis,
and were found to contain an average
IA to % per cent of sugar. In 1896
a sugar factory was erected at Carls-
bad with a capacity of 200 tons per day,
and capable of producing 1900, 900
pounds of white granulated sugar, in
to inferior grades and mo-
lasses. The factory during a four |
months run pays out $25, 900 in wages
and $4,000 for beets to farmers, to say
nothing of the money paid for freights,
coal and other necessities. Not only the
beet can be raised successfully in
vicinity, but fuel, limestone and
water are cheap in this locality, and in
luality superior to anything in that line
'ound in most other districts where SUI
gar beet raising has been made a sue
cess. The day is not far distant, there
fore, when these natural advantages
will outweigh the advantage of bounties
oaid by other districts, and New Mex
co will become one of the leading SUI
gar producers of the United States.