Vernon County censor. [volume] (Viroqua, Wis.) 1865-1955, 1903-04-15
PRODUCTIVE AND MONEY ENTERPRISE.
Thoughtful Business Man Discusses the Establish
ment Of Beet Sugar Mandatory.

1t is not generally known that the /
growing Of sugar beets and the manu-
of sugar from beet5 is being |
done so near by. The fact is however. |
that at Menomonee Falls place Of 7S7 |
situated in the northeast |
corner Of WaukeshQ county, Wis. a |
large factory has been in operation for |
. ,verai years, making sugar from beets |
raised by the farmers of the surround |
ing country in Waukesha, Milwaukee, |
OZaukee and Washington counties, also |
in the vicinity of Watertown, James |
vile, Kaukauna, Green Bay, Chippewa, |
Falls and Dorchester the farmers have |
taken great interest in the industry an6 !
have been growing beets and shipping
them to the factories. In Chippewa !
county the farmers have taken such in |
terest in it that a factory for making |
sugar from beets will be erected this
year at Chippewa Falls at a cost of
5000, 900, with daily capacity Of 600
tons per day. Another factory will
soon be located at GAINESVILLE
In this connectio: the president of
the company at Menomonee Falls says:
Agents Of our company have been
spending some time at GAINESVILLE lately.
The Larmers in that section seem greatly
interested and the prospects for large
acreage there the coming summer are
very good. While it has only been few
months since Rock county people began
to take an interest in beet culture, and
although they are nearly year behind
other localities which are seeking the
location of mills, they have made rapid
progress and large number of the far
mers within radius Of twenty miles
from GAINESVILLE will grow from one to
five acres of beots this year. We have
been obliged in making contracts for
this years crop to limit the farmers in
that section to five acres. This Is done
so that the plant at Menomonee Falls
night not become overcrowded with
beets next fall We aim to take care of
all beets grown in the state and we
would rather have a farmer grow one
acre than five and at the same time in
crease the number of growers. 1t is in
other words, a campaign of instruction.
The new mill which the Michigan CAPT
talists are erecting at Marinette, Wis,
will have capacity of 1000 tons daily
and will cost when completed this sum-
mer fully $780, 000 This will take all
the beets grown in this section, coming
into Wisconsin to secure large acreage
Last season there were sixteen mills in
operation in Michigan, and at present
five more are under course of construc-
ton. Michigan capitalists will be in
terested with us in the new plants to be
built at Chippewa Falls and Janesville
but they are III no way connected with
the plant of the Wisconsin Sugar Co,
M IN = o1I
At st. Louis Park, Minnesota, short
distance from Minneapolis, large sugar
factory has been in operation for sew
eral years. The industry is not confined
to any one location. Wherever the far
mers take hold of it and grow sugar beets
factories spring up. The industry is
developing very rapidly in the United
States. There were only four factories
in the United States in 1890, which pro-
duced that year 5000 tons. Eleven years
later, in 1901, there were forty.five fac
tories which produced 1874, 606 tons.
Twenty to thirty factories more will be
ready for operations by the end of this
year.
Secretary Wilson of the agricultural
department at Washington says
When we get the beet sugar industry
fairly going in this country it will be
found that the pulp, the residue of the
beet after the juice has been squeezed
out, is q very valuable by-product Its
value is not to be measured alone by the
actual money received for it, but by the
opportunity and encouragement it offers
to dairying, stock breeding and feeding
The people Of this country have not yet
begun to appreciate the usefulness of
sugar beet pulp. The farmers are be-
ginning to use it for feeding purposes
and some of the sugar beet companies
are buying cattle to fatten with it, as
the distillers do with their refuse. Pretty
soon stockmen and dairymen will begin
be realize its value as fodder and it will
prove to be valuable hy-product
For low grade eets the farmers now
get an average of 81 so per ton de-
livered at factory and an increase for
each additional per cent of sugar. It is
therefore, profitable to have factory
near by-nearer the better. In this
country at the ptesent time, the aver
age yield is ten tons per acre. On well
conducted farms twenty tons per acre
are frequently made. The possible cop
is over 40 tons to the acre when full
crop is grown. Secretary Wilson SAYS:
When our farmers have learned how
to produce a fifteen ton average to the
acre of beets yielding sixteen md seven
teen per cent sugar and to fatten stock
for market with the pulp, no one out
side of the United States, not even Cuba,
can compete with US. There is no dan
ger of over-production in this industry.
To supply the sugar consumers in the
United States will require 500 factories
with daily capacity of 600 tons each.
Some years ago the agricultural depa1 =
ment of the University made expert
ments in growing beets in different sec
tions of the state. The result of this
experiment was that Vernon county
produced heets which yielded the lai-
gest per cent of sugar. 1t being ne rly
seventeen per cent. The avera.e in
this country is fourteen and fifteen per
cent.
Who will be the first in this county to
start this industry? How many of you
progressive farmers will agree to grow
one or two acres this year? A crop of
twenty or twenty five acres is enough
TO find ont the value of the industry and
to show that good sugar beet crops can
be raised. To use the right kind of
seed is important 1t should therefore,
be procured from the sugar factory.
The business men of Viroqua, the Vir-
oqua Board of Trade would undoubted-
ly lend every assistance within their
power to promote so good and so great
an industry,
Good for Children
rN'aa-ant IN ~