The Elbert County tribune., 1902-12-04

the mill, which is close at hand, they
are ready for business. II may be well
to say in passing that these raw beets are
sweet to the taste; they are really what
they are professed to be, sugar beets.
When these beets enter the building
ries the beets up 65 feet, to the top of
the building. Here the process Of slicing
begins. 1t is not really slicing, but is
rather more cutting in strings, for in
this way they are made more available
for the other processes to follow. After
being sliced they are carried to tanks
which are called diffusion tanks. From
there they go to the evaporation tanks,
and through various other processes de-
signed to get every particle Of saccharine
matter that is in them.
In one Of the processes lime is used to
create corbonic acid gas, which is used in
clarifying. The chemical processes which
are used are well known, and are being
bettered a little each year. But they
have to be very exact, for any mistakes
that might be made would be very costly.
When the sugar comes out 1t has
slightly blue tinge. Naturally, 1t is
yellow, but the trade demands sugar
that is blue, and it is the business Of the
people to furnish what the trade wants,
even though it may be necessary, as it
is in all factories, to use some indigo.
A. h. MI rrtth xrh, ,,b
the business is carried on, it may be
mentioned that the water after being
used in the making Of sugar is sampled
several times daily, in order to ascertain
how much, II any, Of the product is get
ting away. II they find over one-six-
teenth Of one per cent Of sugar in the
water, they take even more precautions
than ever.
Besides the men employed in the fac
tory, there are sixteen Office employees.
just at present the company is building
another large storage warehouse for
the sugar. 1t is all put up in bags, and
this new warehouse, which will be 90 by
285 feet, is expected to hold 10000 bags
of sugar. The plan apparently is to
hold large amount Of sugar in reserve,
and II the market is not favorable at any
particular time, to wait until prices are
higher. ~
The method Of paying the farmers for
their product is as follows As soon as
load comes up it is weighed, and then
a sample basket of beets is taken from
the load. This is analysed, and the
whole load is paid for on the basis Of that
sample. The farmers average about
four dollars per ton for their beets. The
beet crop can be handled with the other
/ crops that are raised in that vicinity.
The beets go in early, and are not gath
cred until after the melon season is
over. The main thing is the thinning
and to give them water when needful.
The aim is to keep the best plants about
six inches apart, SO that they can have
plenty Of room to grow.
In the last year or SO the sugar beet
business has developed valuable by
product, that is the pulp. 1t was for
merly the custom to throw this on q
dusap some distance from the factory,
and it accumulated very rapidly. Now,
however, a good deal Of it is being sold
TO cattlemen, who feed it. James A.
Lockhart OF Colorado Springs is using it
for six thousand head. He has little
car line which runs from the Rocky Ford
factory out to his feeding pen. Mules
haul the beet pulp in cars out to the
pens, and it is then fed to the cattle in
connection with bran, chop feed, and
such other material as the feeders may
find necessary. The cattle like il, espec-
tally in winter, because it holds its heat.
Other experiments are going on at the
State Agricultural college and in various
portions Of the state. 1t reported that
cattle do well on the pulp alone, and that
milch COWS show no diminution in their
product. 1t is being fed to lambs with
good results, and the farmers Of Mont
rose are raising sugar beets for their
hogs. They declare it makes fine pork,
equal in flavor to the famous "peach or
chard pork" Of the south.
So, then, it is apparent that the rails
ing OF sugar beets Is an industry that is
entirely in its infancy thus far, and it is
already proving Of immense value, not
only for sugar, but for the by-product as
well. With plenty Of land and plenty Of
water, and n market for the sugar, Colo
RADIO will have an industry that will sur
prise and astound the generations yet to
I OxI< l. ~. -~.1