The Birmingham age-herald., 1909-07-26
HOW BEET SUGAR IS MANUFA FACTURED Factories Increase from Six to
 Sixty-four BECOMES BIG INDUSTRY Acreage and Value of the Crop Enlarge With Multiplication of Mills to Utilize the Product-Great
 Possibilities.

. From the Louisville Courier-Journal In 1896 there were six beet sugar fac tories in operation and one building, hay ing altogether a capacity for slicing 400O tons of beets daily. In 1898 there were 64 factories, with a total capacity of 5O,O00 i tons of beets daily, more than 12-fold increase
 From 1898 to 1906 our production of beet sugar grew from 5000 tons to 4S4,000 tons, an increase of more than 1S-fold in eight years. In 1896 41,0OO acres of beets were harvested, In 1906 376.oO0 acres. or more than nine times as great an area, says bulletin of the Department of Agricu1- ture
 The price of beets like prices of other farm crops has risen steadily. In 1896 the factories paid S4.10 ton; now they have to pay .35. In 1898 the farmers had 364- GOO tons of beets to sell to the factories, for which they received $1.564000. In 1906, just eight years later, they had 4.236 900 tons of beets to sell. and receive for them s21, ,604 GOO, 12-fold increase in money re- turns
 The total amount paid out by factories for beets during the last 12 years amounts to $121, 000,000. The total capital invested In beet sugar plants in this country Is about s70000,0o0, and this does not include investments made by factory owners in farm lands, irrigation works, etc.
 Pay $121 100000 for Beets.
 Among other things, the Senate called on the Secretary of Agriculture to state how much beet sugar can be produced in the United States. The secretary replied that we have demonstrated conditions of soil and climate favorable to beet culture in an area of at least 274,00O, GOO acres. and that it will only take one acre out of n n we now import from foreign sources. He estimates that if the sugar beet were grown throughout those portions of the United States adapted by nature and with the aid of irrigation to it's culture, with a system of rotation including the culti- vation of the beet every fourth year. 15, 100000 tons of beet sugar could be pro- duced in the United States annually, or more than the worlds total production of sugar at the present time"
 Factories in 16 States.
 Beet sugar factories are now in suc- cessful operation In 16 states. Colorado leads all other states engaged in the in dustry. having IS factories. In 1907 these produced 169,000 tons of sugar. or enough if 1t had been passed around, to give all the people in the United States four pounds apiece. California and Michigan followed Colorado at a respectable dis tance in the race for second place. Mich igan has the same number of factories as Colorado, but their product is consid- erably smaller. California has only nine plants, but some of the latter are very large From year to year the production of sugar Is about the same in the two states Utah has five factories, and they are strong producers, Idaho and Wiscon- sin follow with four each, and there are ten states with one factory each. The most eastern factory Is that at Lyons, N. Y. Hamilton City, Cal, has the most western factory; Los AlaInitos, the most southern, and Billings, Mont, the most northern The largest factory l in the Un ed States and one of the larg- est in the world, is the one at Spreckles, Cal, which Is able to slice 3000 tons of l beets in day, or 100 carloads of 30 tons | each. The oldest successful factory in | the United States is the one at Alvarado, l Cal, which was established in 1879, and has been making beet sugar for 30 years.