Gilpin observer., 1902-05-01
THE SUGAR BEET WILL COLONIZE COLORADO
AND WILL ADD MILLIONS TO ITS WEALTH

first year. Thus, instead Of part of the
land lying idle, every forty acres will
have located upon 1t family, and each
tract will commence TO produce at
once. Instead, SO profitable has the in
tensive cultivation become, that many
families nre again subdividing their
farms, preferring to work upon twenty
acres, and sell the ether twenty. This
means, of course, large increase in
population. 1t means, moreover, an in
crease In social facilities, the building
OF churches and schools. Instead of an
Isolated farm, with the housewife I'M
able to meet and talk with others of
her kind, often dying of sheer loneli-
ness, we have a compact social COM
munity.
''As to the matter of the price which
the farmer will get for his bceIs in the
future, my own Judgment is that, in
stead of there being any chance that
his revenue will lessen, he will have
every reason to expect an increase in
the price of his beets. We have here,
under irrigation, 4 condition peculiarly
applicable to sugar beet culture. in
raising sugar beets to obtain a maxi
mum of siccharine contents, 1t is as
important that water be kept off the
beets at the proper time, as it Is that
they get water when they do need it.
1t Is not desirable that water be ap-
piled much after the 18th of August
Now, the open, dry falls, with the cool
nights which are characteristic of this
climate, provide exactly the ideal CON
ditions for the growing of sugar beets,
and the Colorado farmer may plant his
crop with certainty that he will be
able to harvest beets of the first quail
ty and the highest value.
There is another element which
promises 10 materially increase the
value of the Colorado beets. | say
promises, for it has not reached the
stage of absolute certainty yet, but ii
promises very favorably-and that is
this: 1t seems that in Colorado the su-
gar factories will be able to do double
work. The beets that are raised in
more humid regions, 1t has been found.
cannot be kept more than ninety
days. After that time they are likely
either TO wither or to sour. and become
worthless for sugar making. So that
in planning n factory the campaign
as 1t is called. is placed at ninety ,Or
100 days. If we build 1.OO0-ton fac
tory that Is, n factory TO handle 1,000
tons of beets n day, we expect il to
handle 100 times 1000 tons, or 100000
tons of beets. 1t has been found that
here in Colorado, in the Arkansas val
ley. anyway, the farmers can place
their beets in pits or silos in the fields
and cover them up from the air, and
they keep this way until late in Feb
ruary without material loss in value
Now that means that a factory which
in the East would be able to handle
100000 tons of beets in 100 days in
Colorado can handle 100000 tons of
beets in 200 days-that the same in
vestment will do exactly twice as
much work. After a while | sbelieve
that the farmer will get onto these con-
dftions. He knows what his beets sell
for. and what sugar is worth-these
facts cannot be covered up. II the fac
tory ON the same Investment can do ex-
actly double the work. i do not believe
that the farmer will be so obtuse as
not to require little more for his
beets. and the value of his land will be
very much enhanced.
These ideal conditions which have
spoken of in Colorado are not shared
by all other states. Utah has had Il
factory for fifteen years. at lehi. but