The Jasper weekly courier. [volume] (Jasper, Ind.) 1858-1922, 1913-08-29
OFFERS GREAT
T OR INDIANA
Larger Yields of All Crops
Following Beet Culture
Boost Value of
Farm Lands.

the yield OF wheat, oats and Other
cereals grown in the Intervening year:
is increased from 30 to 50 per cent
Records collected from American farm
ers In sections where beet culture has
been followed for a number of years
show that the yield of other crops
grown in rotation with beets has in
creased an average OF fl per cent
The yield of wheat on these lands ad
Vanced from 26.9 bushels per acre to
All. Corn went up from 416 bushels
10 5o.l and oats from 400 to coo
bushels. The effect of the deep plow-
Ing and thorough cultivation required
| by sugar beets in boosting the yields
OF the other crops grown in successive
years is all the more striking. as the
yields obtained by these farmers be-
fore beginning sugar beet cultivation
were well above the averages Apply
Ing this rate of increase to Indiana
farms would mean that the agricul-
tural wealth of the state would be in
creased $25,OOO,000 a year by the gen
eral adoption of sugar beet growing.
Not only does the establishment of
the sugar beet industry add directly
to the wealth of the state from fhe
money it brings In or keeps at home
and indirectly through the increase of
other farm crops grown in rotation
with beets, but it also adds greatly to
the market value of farm lands.
In Michigan, where the sugar beet in
dustry has reached such proportions
that the state produces all Its own
sugar and ships q considerable amount
TO other markets, its effect upon farm
values and business prosperity in the
sections surrounding the factories Is
clearly marked. Many of the farms in
these districts were heavily mortgaged
ten years ago. The mortgages have
been paid off so rapidly that today al
most the only farms in the sugar coun-
try that are not debt free are those
that have been bought in the past few
years by newcomers who want to share
In the prosperity that accompanies this
crop. Bank deposits have gone I'D
The sellers of agricultural implements,
lines tell Of improved sales and report
that collections of bills are made with
much greater promptness wherever the
sugar industry has been introduced.
G. A. Dugan, banker of Decatur,
who has watched the development of
the industry there, keeping careful rec.
ord of business transactions in the city.
has estimated that the value of land in |
the city and on the surrounding farms |
for distance Of several miles has riS- |
en- nearly % per cent since the fac
t0rys establishment This is not sur
prising in view of the fact that in ev-
cry case where the beet sugar industry |
has been established in any part of the |
country q gain of from 50 to 100 per
cent has taken place in land values /
within three or four years. When the
beet sugar factory at PauldinS. O., not
far from Decatur, was started two
years ago the same upward tendency
OF land prices was observed, and it
has been found that the increase since
that time has totaled more than So
100000 In Paulding county alone
The adjoining state Of Michigan.
whose soil produces beets in no way
superior to those Of Indiana, now has
seventeen beet sugar factories. Indiana
could support no less than 1875 if all
the available land were used for the
crop only one year In four. While this
dgure represents a distant possibility
there Is no reason why the state should
not have from fifteen TO twenty-five
such establishments. Taking the low
EST figure, fifteen factories would
mean that when they were we'll under
way the state would have yearly in
come Of $15,000000 a year for sugar
alone. OF this huge sum SS,500,00O
would go directly to the farmers for
their 6eets, S1,5CG,O0O 'wouId go to the
1000 or 5000 workmen who would be
given employment and the greater part
IF the remainder would stay within the
state. The increase in land values
yonld be almost too great to estimate
not less than 100000.
From the results obtained in the pro
iuction of beet sugar in Adams county
md surrounding sections and from
ests In growing beets in other parts
II the state, which show that Indiana
an produce as high n grade of sugar
,eets as any state in the country. there
S no doubt that If the policy of grow
ne within the United States the sugar
o feed the American people continues
o receive the encouragement Of the
ederal- government as it has in the
'ast fifteen years. Indiana will take a
eadiDg part I'm the sugar beet industry .
nd through it will add millions of dol :
ars 10 her annual wealth. That the
Ipbuilding of this industry is impor- :
ant TO the consumers as well as TO the :
PRODUCERS OF the state was shown plain
= enough In 1911 when the price OF
ugar. which had gone skyrocketing up :
o 10 cents pound and was being held
t 1913 10 sT.5e per hundred pounds
wholesale by the trust and other refin-
rs, came tumbling down to its normal