The Washington herald., 1911-12-17

| later, in 1901. n Prussian chemist put
| up a sugar factory in SiIesia. 1t was
the only one in the world. NapOleOn's
notice to the chamber of commerce IN
Paris was followed by an appropriation
of 100000 for the establishment Of
schools to teach young men how to
manufacture beet sugar and an order to
| the French farmers that they imme-
diately plant $1,000 acres to sugar
| beets. The following ycar-1S12-the
| planting area was increased to $50, 900
acres, by imperial direction. Within
two years. France had 334 factories and
was producing 100000 pounds of
sugar annually.
Where beet Sugar Is Made.
Prussia discovered the process of
making sugar oIt OF heets, but France
under Napoleon. as has been said. de-
velOped the industry. The United
States, with millions OF acres of beet
lands and with eager capital searching
for investment. waited until 1879 be-
fore ii built it's first factory. There are
siXty-seven factories now in operation
in the States of Ohio, Michigan, IIli-
nOis, Wisconsin. Minnesota, Iowa. Ne
braska. Colorado. Kansas. Montana,
Arizona, Idaho. Utah, Washington
Oregon, and California. The sugar. as
a rule, is sold in the West. The East
ern markets are mostly supplied by
;he cane sugar reineries along the At
lantic seaboard. the raw sugar coming
from Cuba. Porto Rico, lava, and else
where. The cane sugar refineries on
the Pacific Coast obtain their raw ma
terial from Hawaii and the Philippines
Great Britain and the United States
use both kinds of sugar. Continental
Europe uses beet sugar almost entirely
7. t.. 49, So, -,-sz.
situated mainly in France, Germany,
Austria, and Russia.
The French, driven to grow beets
found that the fields planted greatly
increased thereafter in yield when sown
in wheat, barley, rye, oats, and pota-
toes. Scientific agriculturists were ready
with an explanation. France had been
plowing a four-inch furrow. The roots
of grain plants could penetrate the earth
no farther. Beets, however. pushed their
way downward throwing off rootIets
that remained in the ground at harvest.
The roOtlets, decaying, left interstices
for the roots of the cereals that We're
planted the next year. Thus wheat and
other grains obtained nutriment from
depth practically double the depth of the
usual furrOW. There was a lesson in that
simple but important discovery, and
farmers all over Europe began to follow
the elementary principle laid down by
Cato. In time the principle of deep plow-
ing found its way to America, and now
Secretary Wilson, of the Agricultural
Department, has his agents preaching it
all over the country.
Also. II was learned that beetS had to
be diligently cultivated. The weeds be-
ing cut down, the strength of the soil
went into the plants. which remained
standing. And the next year. the field
having been kept clean, the growth of
weeds WIS much reduced. Likewise it
became the practice to sow field to
beets once in four years and to plant
1t to other crops by a system of rota-
tion, in order to increase the soil fer
tility. That too, is a European revela-
ton.
Wheat in France and Germany.
France sows 100000 acres in wheat
and produces 10000 bushels on that
area. The same acreage in Minnesota,
North Dakota, and Kansas grows 1885,
900, 900 bushels. The yield in France is
20 80 bushels to the acre; in the States
named it is II 7-16 bushels. Germany, on
$500 900 acres, harvests 145 00O, 900 bushels
of wheat; Kansas, on 100000 acres, har-
vests $4,000, 900 bushels. ''It is all a mat
ter of beets," Mr.. Duval declares conf
IDENTIFY.
"one phase Of our all too prevalent
vulgar boastfulness.' says Freeman G.
Palmer, secretary of the American Beet
Sugar Association, would be cured If we
but realized that Europe, without Rus
sia, occupying but 45 per cent of our sur
face area, tills double the number of
acres of wheat, rye, barley, oats, and
potatoes that we. till, and from that
double area devoted TO these five crops
their farmers harvest four times the num-
Der of bushels our formers harvest; that
of these five crops Europe produces more
bushels per capita for their 800. 900. 900 peo-
pie than we do for our s0,000.00O people,
and that during the past thirty years Eu-
rope has increased her acreage yield
of these five crops rs per cent, while We
have increased ours but per cent. 1t is
all matter OF sugar beets," repeated
Mr.. Palmer.
''Beets, however, are an expensive crop
when compared with some other crops"
Mr.. Duval said to me. The plowing
must be deep. the soil must be carefully
narrowed, and the seed must be drilled.
Later, the cultivation must be thorough
The American farmer wants to do his
work with machinery. Beets require con-
siderable hand labor. The beet ball, or
seed, throws on dozen sprouts. All
but one, when they come up, must be