The Telegraph-courier. [volume] (Kenosha, Wis.) 1888-1946, 1912-05-09
Growing of Sugar Beets Be-
coming One Of the Big
State Industries.
FACTORIES ARE ENLARGED
Crop is Proving a Valuable One to tie
Farmers in Many Counties Of State
and More Land is Being Given to the
Crop Each Year.

What the beet sugar industry means
to Wisconsin may partly be under
stood when it is known that approx
mately 10000 acres are devoted to the
culture of sugar beets and that the
records Of those engaged in the manu-
factre Of sugar indicate that Wiscon-
sin farmers in 1911 received total of
100000 for their crop and the acre
age is continually increasing. Beef
sugar was discovered in 1774 by Mar
graf, a German chemist, and partial
ly developed by Achard, another Of mis-
kindred, who erected the first factory
in 1901. However, it took war to
bring out the possibilities of this in
dustry, and the commercial qanufact4
ure of beet sugar received Its first
impulse by the English blockade Of
French ports during the war with Ma
poleon when shut off from the source
Of cane sugar. Napoleon offered sub
stantial purses for the successful ex-
traction of sugar from beets, and so
excellent a product was manufactured
that the French and Germans deter
mined no longer to depend upon tropi-
cal countries for sugar Indeed, the
industry in both countries thereafter
was mothered by the payment Of
bounties on every pound produced.
So much for history.
With an average of rs pounds per
capita, this country consumes double
the amount used in France and Ger
many, and we are exceeded only by
Great Britain, and that because of the
extensive manufacture and expectation
of jelly and similar products.
The area most desired for The pro
ftable production of sugar ,beets in
this country is somewhat limited, but
Wisconsin s climate and soil places her
in the midst of the most profitable
producing districts. 1t is claimed that
sixty years ago less than per cent of
the worlds sugar was produced from
beets, but today this is our greatest
source of supply, and several hundred
million pounds are annually produced
in this country The woody and pithy
beet Of Napoleon's day, having only
nominal amount of sugar, has been
supplanted by one whose sugar content
frequently runs as high as II per cent
and this because of superior beet cul-
ture by the Germans, who supply US
with seed, though Wisconsin has re-
solved hereafter to grow her own seed,
and valuable experiments are being
conducted by our agricultural college
to secure strains superior to the inn
ported product.
Wisconsin has six beet sugar fac
tories, located at Menomonee Falls,
Madison, GAINESVILLE, Chippewa Falls,
Riverdale, H., and Menomonee, Mich,
in the upper peninsula, the last two be-
longing to us except for a little mat
ter Of political geography due to
clever congressional vote swapping in
AS, when this state was created, the
greater portion Of beets used by the
last named factories being produced
in Wisconsin.
The production of sugar beets is Pc
cuIarly adapted to such conditions as
are found in upper Wisconsin, region
well suited to the production lof all
root crops, the beets raised in this SEE
ton being almost invariably of high
sugar content as result Of cool
nights and bright, sunshiny days. A
good average net production per acre
viii be about $50, and its value as part
Of an ideal system Of crop rotation is
especially noticeable in the part which
il plays in European agriculture. The
culture OF this crop, acting as SOFT
pulverizer aad weed destroyer, besides
adding humus to the soil by it's cord
like system of roots, has established its
worth in Modern farm practice in Wis
consin, and despite attempts to dis
parage the value Of the beet sugar, the
Z FACT remains that cane sugar and that
produced from beets are physically
and chemically the same thing, even
as the snow which falls on one side
Of a house is the same as that falling
on the other, the crystals of beet SUI
gar and cane being almost Uniform.
Space forbids mentioning the interest
ing process of sugar extraction from
beets; the slicing into little V-shaped
cossetts, the passage through success
sive tanks Of diffusion batteries filed
with hot water, until the resulting Ii
quid is almost as black as ink, while
the refuse is finally tossed aside in the
form Of pulp and the remaining liquid
undergoes its process Of Qualification
and boiling, until its emerges, first a
sirnp and upon treatment BY centrifu-
gal force in large tanks. IN the end