Daily independent. [volume] (Elko, Nev.) 188?-1915, 1913-06-12
NEVADA FARMS
GREAT CHANCE.
Cultivation Of Sugar Beets
Would Open Wider Markets.
PRESENTED TO SENATORS.

Results at Truekee- Carson Develop
ment Farm Show That Sugar Beets,
Most Valuable Crop, Would Remove
Handicap of Transportation to East
ern Markets and Increase Other Crop
Yields.
That the most profitable yields of
Nevada's farms are capable of COM
peting profitably for the most distant
markets is the most significant fact
which has been brought to light by the
recent report of the Truckee-Carson
experiment farm. 1t is one OF ire
mendous Importance to the state. The
ability of what in the past have been
regarded as waste lands to grow good
crops under irrigation has, of course.
already been established. But because
of Nevada's distance from the great
markets of the Atlantic seaboard and
its limited transportation service the
difficulty has been to market them
over any extended area. Now. how
ever, this may all be changed.
The medium which Is to remove
from Nevada's farm products the
handicap of distance has been discov-
cred in the sugar beet, which, If its
growth be encouraged, promises to rev.
olutionize the agricultural history of
the state. The report of the expert
ment farm shows that of all the staple
crops grown this outranked all others
yielding n maximum of S147.77 an acre
In farm value and an average of
S53.93. In other words, Nevada can
grow sugar beets on her reclaimed
lands and grow them with big profit.
So significant is this apparently sim
pie fact, not only for Nevada, but for
the entire west as we'll, meaning as it
does millions of additional farm wealth
to this state alone. that it has caused
an economist who has given much
study to this matter to call its impor-
lance to the attention of Senator Fran
els G. Newlands and other western
senators in a striking letter.
1.-THE last census says this author
ity. showed that the eleven western
most states had increased 66.33 per
cent in population within the last
decade as compared with the average
increase Of zig per cent for the entire
country.
THE one great problem in connec-
is transportation to the great consum
ing centers of the east. Local con-
sumption of general farm and garden
products must necessarily be limited
for many years except In the vicinity
| of the large Pacific cities. An export
crop must therefore be produced-one
| that will find ready market at desti-
nation.
1.-THE one great staple for which there
! is a constantly expanding market Is
sugar. The United States imports at
the present time nearly 100000 tons
of sugar per annum from foreign coun.
tries, practically all from Cuba. Sugar
is staple for Which there is always
market, and If necessary it can be
stored for long periods with little de-
terioratiOu. Furthermore, beet sugar
Is finished product, representing only
about Is per cent of the weight of the
raw material from which 1t is produc-
ed, whereas, In the case Of fruit, alfalfa
and grain crops, high freight charges
to the eastern markets must be paid
on the ENTIRE weight Of the commo-
dity just as it comes from the orchard
| or the field.
at has been demonstrated by years
Of experience that no section Of the
United States-in fact, no country In
the worlds better adapted to the cul-
| dvation Of the sugar beet than are the
irrigated lands Of the west. The pro-
ductlon Of sugar beets under irrigation
for the first time in the worlds history
was commenced In Utah I'm 1901, and
so successful has 1t been done that 20
per cent Of the total beet sugar output
of the United States Is now produced
| In the western states under irrigation.
ut has been demonstrated also that
the cultivation of sugar beets I'm rota-
ton with alfalfa and grain crops in
creases the yield of the latter to such
| an extent as to make the production OF
cereals profitable even with the high
cost of irrigation.
'In order that the beet sugar indus.
try may expand and become a greater
factor in the development of the west.
new factories must be built. The beet
growers themselves, as rule, are
pioneers, and whatever capital they
possess Is required in the Improvement
| of their lands. Outside capital cannot
be secured for the erection of large
factories after free sugar has given
the eastern reflner monopolistic con-
troll of market conditions. The inevi-
table result will be not only the aban.
Comment Of many Of the present fac.
tories, but 1t will bo the deatbknell