Arizona republican., 1901-10-27
BEET SUGAR FACTORIES
Proving great Success in LaGrande
 and Waverly, Oregon.

have been experimenting for the last three or four years with the beet SUI gar industry. In other words these towns have had factories in operation for that long and they have met with some discoura gements but il has been demonstrated that the greatest dis were the inability of the factory people to interest enough grow CTS in beet production and the ignor ance of the growers of proper methods of beet culture. The enterprise was also handicapped by climatic conditions that do not exist here such as the un reiiab bility of ranufall and occasional severe frosts. But with all these draw backs the enterprise in both places has proved q succes and the sugar beet business has become established the most profitable industry 10 the great est number of people. In view of the fact that q similar enterprise is soon to be inaugurated here il is to be hop ed that every farmer will read the fol- lowing excerpts from long article on the La Grande and Waverly districts published recently in the Portland Ore Eonian:
 Harvesting Of sugar beets has begun. The factory at this place is nearly ready to start up. and there will be enough beets on hand by tomorrow for
 
 tons of beets are in the receiving bins. The machinery of the plant has been undeT-g going repairs for some time. k will be kept going about seven weeks. and will reduce approximately $50 tons of beets per day.
 The industry will show much pro- gress this year. There will be a larga crop of beets. between 1000 and 1s.- GOO tons. This is so much better a pros pect than the realizations of former years have been as to banish the dis couragement of other seasons.
 The Northwest has two factories fcr extracting sugar from beets. The work of producing sugar has gone fa' enough. with the good assurance this season extends to a full yield of beets. to open to the imagination a future scene of great activity in this industry. The factories at La Grande and Wa Verly. after several years of patient waiting at last have something to work .on. Heretofore they have operated only to a fraction of their capacity. and therefore have not been profitable.
 A steauy gain in the production per acre is noted. This has been brought about by better understanding of th,. methods of growing beets and of the adaptation of those methods to local conditions of climate and soil It has been demonstrated that beets can be made to turn out remuneratively for the farmer. more so than growing of wheat or of any other crop. One fa:'- mer. J. NJ. Caviness, who may be talk en as q representative of the class that conducts agriculture with conspicuous enterprise. netted little over S36 per acre last season from 1l0 acres. From that acreage of land he harvested an
 z~ of f1 rn -ffa and received from the factory S4.5O per ton. He figures from deduction of tho cost of planting and cultivating the beets. of hauling them to the factory and repairing his wagons, that h. cleared from S3i to s26 per acre on his investment.
 Waverly furnishes just as striking examples of success. Several farmers in that district last year earned above all expenses from -S25 to S35 per acre. As might be expected few farmers have not made a success of beetgrow- ing. fact due perhaps to their own thriftiness or lack of if.
 People of this district and of Waver- ly section have in general come to look upon beetgrowing as more than ten tative enterprise. It has come to stay and to develop. and it opens ric.l store for the future. II does this by re lieving land from intensive farming such as the growing of wheat. But it does so more by engaging farmers in the production of an article of food which has worldwide consumption. and which the world absorbs with an avidity ever on the increase. and at a rate that taxes ali the facilities of pro duction to supply.
 Cultivation of sugar beets is in d sense gardening. but it is gardening that can be expanded faS beyond the limit that the word commonly implies Ii Is an industry that disdains to be carried on on the scale Of the ordinary vegetable garden. The old idea, if it ever actually prevailed. that a man must farm beets on the family scale in order to do- it profitably. employing only his wife and children, is an ex- ploded one. The farmer whose name is given in this article as an example of successful growers, hires his labor. in all the stages of beet culture. The idea is negatived also at Waverly and indeed everywhere beetgrowing is car ried on in an extensive way.
 Any system of agriculture that re lieves soil from the exhausting drains Of continued wheatraising. and affords as profitable and more profitable sub stitute. is welcomed by farmers. The sugar factories at Waverly and La Grande afford this substitute, it is a credit to their conservatism. and hart. ly q reproach to their intelligence, since they promptly accepted the evidence from year to year of it's worth and have gradually been adjusting them selves to it. A more rapid change would perhaps not be economic or de sirable. IL has been proved conclu- sively that beets offer the means of recuperating wheat lands. Moreover, beets do not take from the soil in the same proportion as does wheat In the past four years it has been the expert ence of farmers that the longer land is devoted to sugar bcets, the better the beets become. How long this will con tinue is a matter of conjecture. But fhis fanfs ma lrnS r1n tnr,t thnt Innt l.,n nd