Los Angeles herald., 1906-04-01
.CHINO'S SUGAR BEETS
KEEP THOUSANDS BUSY
Fertile Valley Adding Millions to the Wealth of
California Through Culture of Sweet Roots
Big Factory Uses 100000 Pounds of
Beets Daily During Season

has been replaced Dy rlDrlne, Done
black and sulphurets, but the hen led
the way and she should have tablet
on every sugar factory In the land.
There is an impression that sugar
made from beets is different in some
ways from cane sugar in chemical con-
struction or sweetening power.
The writer heard a woman declare
that eating anything with beet sugar
in it always made her sick. In fact,
they are similar in all respects and ex-
perts cannot name either kind with
certainty.
Some persons who know sugar claim
that the granules of beet sugar have,
under the microscope, more glossy
surface than cane sugar, but this con-
clusion may have been reached by
comparing new beet sugar with old
cane sugar.
Sugar Is Sugar
The lingering traces of the different
chemical processes may be found by
analysis, but so far as its weight and
taste and usefulness are concerned,
sugar Is sugar. There is said to be
some sugar made which Is not as
sweet as some other sugar, but the
allegation has been denied. This APP
pears to be one Of the missiles used in
the battle of the sugar giants and can
not be followed to a conclusion In this
article.
What is sugar beet, and why can
1t not be raised everywhere?
Many conceive that the ordinary
garden beet is grown in fields and
the red Juice squeezed out and boiled
down to sugar. Not so.
The sugar beet Is not red, but white,
and the root bears little appearance
of relationship with the red table beet.
All beets are species of the order
Chino podraceae, which contains more
than $50 varieties of plants. The edible
beets, both red and white, are includ-
ed III the species Beta Vulgaris or
garden beets.
Botanists are not all agreed in NAM
ing the different varieties. Some claim
distinction for the white garden beet
and call it Beta Cycla, but this is not
the kind that produces sugar.
The sweet, or sugar beet, probably
originated in the south of Europe and
was brought to greatest perfection in
Germany where special attention has
been given to it's development and the
manufacture of beet sugar. This beet
belongs to the variety known as the
Mangold or mangel-wurzel.
In field cultivation they are some
times grown to three or four pounds
weight, and in the best soil for the
purpose beets have been raised contain
ing 80 per cent of sugar.
All Lands Not Suited
Land that will produce good crops
of fruit, corn, wheat or potatoes is not
always suitable for sugar beets. Some
land which will yield bountiful crops
of large, fine beets fails to put the
sugar in them, and they are fit only for
cattle food.
Only by trying experimental crops
can it be determined that land is suita-
bit for beets.
Experiments were made at different
places in the Chino valley, and it was
found that beets raised here were rich
in sugar. Sixteen years of cultivation
has not reduced Its productiveness,
either in the quantity or quality of
beets.
The cost of raising beets on the
smaller farms of 10 to 100 acres Is not
easily determined The size and sugar
percentage of the roots are controlled
mostly by climatic conditions, and few
farmers keep such records as would en-
able them to know the exact cost OF
their crops. 1t has been roughly es-
timated that the cost varies from 81
to $3.50 per ton, or about $40 per acre,
according to the yield. The selling
price depends on the percentage of
sugar contained in them. Beets con-
tanning Is per cent of sacharine or
more average about 81 per ton.
This year they will receive $3.50 for
beets containing Is per cent sugar and
80 cents for each 1 per cent higher.
Average on Chino land about 16 per
cent