The Glenwood post., 1905-05-06
VAST FORTUNES
MADE IN BEfTS
Acreage Doubled and In Some Lo.
CdIitieS QuddrupIed Factories
Building and tnIarains
in the State
FARMERS RUSHING FOR CONTRACTS

acreage 10 ne devoted 10 raising sugar
beets will be in seed In some locali
ties the seed is already in the ground
and reports are beginning to come in.
1t should not be long before it will be
possible to estimate approximately the
amount of land to be given over to
beet culture.
That the acreage will be unprece-
dentedly large is certainty. The
reason for it is that the farmer has
found it profitable and the factories
find an immense quantity of imported
sugar to displace which they can do
at profit and, of course. they make
money. The beet is sure crop and
the prices are fixed and the beets sold
before the seed is sown The beet
seems to be hardy, as the following
incident will prove:
A farmer in northern Colorado near
Fort Collins, devoted considerable
land to the sugar beet When the tops
were well above ground severe hail
storm cut the tops as clean as though
they had been cut to the ground with
II mower, and he feared his crop was
a total loss. But new tops sprung up
and crop of such proportions was
garnered that he was inclined to think
the cutting off of the tops was bcne.
fit.
Around Delta, on the western slope,
beet planting has begun and returns
show that this year $ crop will be the
largest in the history of the county.
Last year was the first to see beets
grown there, the acres planted to
beets numbering 700. This year there
are 3, 600 acres devoted to the new in.
dustry, and it is altogether likely that
there will be much larger acreage
next year and that Delta will have
her own factory and will not be re-
stricted in her acreage because of de-
pendence upon the Grand Junction
factory, the one nearest to Delta.
Planting of beets is being rushed
by the farmers in the Fort Collins
district. The factories at Greeley and
''oheS' 'ohh ihNo IClhsCu " dSCtpJ any
additional acreage and the local fac
tory has about all it cares to handle,
10, 600 acres having been signed by the
farmers. If the crop this year is as
good as last this acreage should yield
$50, 900 tons of beets, worth $3.50, 600.
This means an average of f75 gross
per acre for the farmers.
The Lougmont sugar factory has
recently been refusing to take any
more beet acreage contracts, as Z, 500
acres have already been contracted
for. and this amount will run the fac
tory throughout the season to the in
creased capacity of /, 200 tons per day.
This condition is a noteworthy one,
from the fact that only year ago
great difficulty was experienced in the
getting sufficient acreage to run the
plant to even its original capacity of
only 800 tons. The causes for this
change seems to be the comparative
freedom from injury by hail which
the crop enjoys and the fact that the
price is definitely fixed at IS per ton.
A fair farmer knows that he is as
sured above $50 an acre profit from
beet crop. so he hesitates about as
suming the additional risks of other
crops.
Large numbers of men are now
being sent into northern Colorado to
work in the sugar beet fields for the
coming season. Flowing and prepar-
ing for planting are now under way,
and on account of the liberal moisture
which has prevailed this spring the
land is in better shape for large
crop than ever before
Charles Boettcher, of the Great
Western Sugar company, estimates
that there will be in the neighborhood
of 80, 600 acres under cultivation for
sugar beets in the northern fields this
summer, and that nearly 20, 600 men
will be employed in the fields.
In the Arkansas valley the raising
of beets is spreading with as great
rapidity as it is in northern Colorado
A circular issued by the American
Beet Sugar company contains the fol
lowing interesting facts concerning
beets in the valley:
In the past five years the develop
ment and growth of the Arkansas val
ley has been enormous but great as it
has been, there is still room for great.
er development
During our first campaign, which
opened October 10 and closed Decem.
ber ., 1900, the factory sliced Al, $3.50
tons OF beets. The campaign of 1901
was longer; we started on October 9,
ana closed January 10, 1902, and sliced
93, s5l tons of peets, or more than
double the tonnage of the first year.
When we came to this valley and
built our Rocky Ford factory in the
fall of 1899, we made the statement