The Salt Lake tribune. [volume] (Salt Lake City, Utah) 1890-current, 1911-04-11
SUGAR-BEET CULTURE.


tors which serves to keep the beet su'
gar question strongly before the public
in this region. 1t is a fine improve
ment, and the whole State will be glad
to see this factory put in. The expec-
tation is, that it will be ready for OPP
Grafton by the time the sugar beets are
ready to harvest. Sufficient contracts
have been made with the farmers for
beets to keep the factory busy for its
season IS run, at the usual price of $3.50
per ton.
The other factor which keeps the beet
sugar industry always before the public
in this region is the price which the
factory companies pay to the farmers
for their beets. 1t is we'll known fact
that in the first years of beetsugar
making by the early factories in this
State, the farmers could get hundred
pounds of sugar for the $3.50 that they
got per ton for their beets Now they
receive but seventy-fve pounds of sugar
for their ton of beets. That is, sugar
used to cost $3.50 per hundred, now 1T
costs $500. The farmers have been in
sisting right along that the price of
beets per ton should coincide with the
price of sugar per hundred. This ap-
| pears reasonable, inasmuch as the fac
tories themselves fixed that as the rate
in the first place that they would pay,
and such Improvements have been made
in the process of manufacturing sugar
a. tlo1 4
| though the farmers should receive a
greater rather than less ratio than at
the first.
| The production of beet sugar in this
country has progressed at tremendous
rate, AS shown in The Tribune dis
patches on Sunday, in its special wire
service, the total of the product of
beet sugar has risen from LOO tons
to upwards Of 100000 tons, in three
decades. The production of cane sugar
has risen from 16l 800 tons, to 334, 100
tons The whole product of sugar from
both beets and cane in this country has
risen from a little over 100000 tons in
1879 to $50, 500 tons in 1909. Great as
this increase is. however, it is far be-
hind the increase in the country's de-
mand for sugar. We still import more
than three fourths of the sugar that we
consume. The quantity of sugar i'm
ported increased from 9l4, 900 tons in
1879 to 2,SS7, 100 tons in 1909 SO that
the increase of 100000 tons in the local
production compares with 100000 tons
increase in sugar imported.
1t is plain case, therefore, that even
though the sugar product of this coun
try should increase to three times its
present quantity, it would still fail to
keep up with the increased demand for
sugar. We keep on importing more and
more sugar all the time in spite Of the
magnificent increase IN home sugar
product.
Thirty years ago the product of cane
sugar was double that of beet sugar
n wv the items are practically reversed,
and the gain Of beet sugar will no doubt
be more and more from henceforward
The great deslderatum in beet sugar
raising is TO have the proper seed, the
single terminating fecunditv. This has
been pretty we'll arranged for at the
Government seed propagating station
near the Warm Springs in Utah county.
The further effort in the line of improv
ing the beet sugar product is TO in
crease the saccharine quality of the
beet Strenuous efforts are making in
this direction all the time. There Is
marked difference in the sugar-maE
ing qualities of beets between some &?
the different localities in Utah; we be
lievo the Bear River Valley. which mar,
kets it's product at the Garland factory.
leads the State in the sugar producing
quality of its beets, The State of Utah
ranks well up in this direction as a
whole. but there is always earnest effort
to improve. Every point of percentage
gained in saccharjne quality is SO much
beets of, say seventeen per cent sac |
charine quality than to raise beets of |
twelve per cent. The beet raisers of
Utah are fully aware of the advantage !
in raising beets of high saccharine quail |
itv But the basis of pay for beets
and has not been based on scientific |
principles, as rule 1t would be the
proper, the scientific, way, for the fac
tories to establish set charge for the |
minimum saccharine quality of beet
which they will receive, and then to
pay 50 much additional for every added
per cent of sugar that the beets pro-
duce. This would nccessitate the keep
ing apart of the beets from the differ
ent producers, but the question is.
whether it would not be advantageous
TO the factories as well as the beet rails.
ers to have this done, and whether it