Democratic messenger. [volume] (Snow Hill, Md.) 1869-1973, 1903-05-23
CHEAP SUGAR IN SIGHT.
Government Experts TRYING
to Get it +. Down to Two
Cents a Pound. Improve
ment i'll Beet Crops.

Beet sugar at two cents pound. This
is the pace set for agricul.urists in this
country by the Governments experts.
At the present time sugar sells for
fraction over four and a half cents per
pound To reduce the selling price to
two cents means the cost of growing.
and the cost of manufacturing processes
must be cheapened and the beet yield
per acre increased. The field labor and
the yield per acre can fortunately both
he attacked at the same time. To pro.
duce an ideal beet by cross breeding
plant selection and similar lines of i'm
provement is a comparatively certain
operation, The Governments experts
have already done much more wonder
full and less probable things in the mat
ter of plant modification. The seedless
navel orange might be mentioned as
one such achievement. Drought resis-
taut wheat is another.
Beet growing is declared to be one of
the most profitable agricultural indus
tries that the American farmer can un-
dertake 1t mas its difficulties however,
and is bv no means universal crop.
Labor is an importa ut factor in the total
cost of production. Unless an abundance
of cheap labor can be depended upon at
the right moment the chances of success
are not very great Sugar beets require
about as much care as truck gardening.
The careful labor is necessitated i'll
large measure by the peculiar character
of the beet seed This is known as n
'.beet ball 1t consists of group of
from one to six seeds. each entirely sep
arate and disconnected from the others
but all encased i'll an Irregular shaped
woody covering about the size of
French pea. These beet balls are
drilled in rows. and upon termination u
group of seedlings appear, correspond
ing to the number of seeds in the ball.
1t is the labor of thinning out the super
fuous plants and keeping down the
weeds that makes the crop so expensive
to grow The field laborers get down
en- their hands and knees and carefully
pull up by hand all the plants except
the most thrifty one found every eight
inches If all the seedlings were allow
ed To mature the crop would be very
small and of low sugar content. not
withstanding the use of high standard
seed.
Truman G Palmer, one of the De.
partment experts. recently suggested
the possibility of producing a single
germ beet ball aud experiments are now
under way looking to this end. This
seems a comparatively easy matter to
the initiated. The first step is the Sc
lection of single = RIM seed already in
existence and then to plant aud grow
these carefully selecting seed of the
plants that most nearly approach the
ideal desired until the characteristics
are found. When this is achieved the
reduction i'll the price of production is a
logical consequence The seed can be
planted by machinery at proper dis
tance apart To secure the best results;
thinning will hardly be necessary and
pulling and topping can be done by ma
chinery; wedding can be done with IL hoe
instead of by hand. and the tonnage
per acre can be increased. as the re-
manning beets will not be injured by
careless thinning or not thinning at
the proper time, work dependent on the
amount of available labor
1t is to be presumed that the Govern
ment will secure. along with the single
germ seed, IA beet that will be of average
two pound size and of high sugar con-
tent. Granted that these improvements
can be made those versed in the indus
try are able to figure economies that
will bring the price of granulated sugar
down 10 two cents per pound.