The Carlisle independent., 1920-08-12
BEET GROWERS WOULD HAVE
 SUGAR MILLS

Keen interest is being evidenced by sugar-beet. growers in various sections of the country in the possibility of pro- ducfng their own sugar on the farm by some simple process or of estab- fishing and operating their own sugar mills. Owing to the scarcity and high price of sugar numerous inquiries on the subject are being received by the Bureau of Plant Industry of the Uni ted States Department of Agriculture.
 According to specialists of the bu- reau who have made a close study of all phases of beet-sugar production, there are several fundamental fea- lures to be taken into consideration in the establishment and operation of sugar mills. in the first place, no sim pie or inexpensive method of making sugar from beets on home or small scale has been devised. Therefore a fully equipped sugar mill is necessary in producing sugar from beets. The smallest beet-sugar mill, say the bu- reau specialists, to be successful should slice not less than 800 tons of beets day for a period of 100 days each year. Since the average yield of beets in the United States is 10 tons per acre, not less than 5000 acres of beets must be grown annually for each mill of this size. A smaller acre age would probably cause the mill to operate at loss under normal condi- tions. There is almost always Llrg- CT or smaller loss of beet acreage dur ing the season in every community where beets are grown, hence in order to bring 5000 acres of beets to matur- ity it would be wise to plant about B. 800 acres. In order to insure the pro- duction of from 5000 to 5000 acres of beets annually in given beet area there should be available in that area at least from fifteen to twenty thou sand acres of good beet land, so that proper crop rotation can be practiced. This acreage should be so located that from 25 per cent to 50 per cent of the beets grown can be delivered at the sugar mills by wagons, and the re- mainderof the beets should have freight haul of less than 100 miles, in order to avoid heavy freight charges.
 The construction and equipment of a mill of 800 tons slicing capacity would cost under present conditions approximately S750,000 This is about 50 per cent above prewar costs owing to the increased price of materials and the higher scale of wages. In addi tion to the initial cost of the mill ap- proximately S500,000 of working cap ital would be required in cash for overhead expenses until returns can be expected from the sale of the sugar
 Probably the most important of the other items to be taken into account in the operation of beet-sugar mill is that of a supply of sugar-beet seed. A 500-ton mill would require about 100000 pounds of seed annually to in- sure the production of suffi ,ient beets for 100-day run. Sugar-beet seed of good quality has been produced in the United States each year for sew eral years, and those who are consid- ering the erection of beet-sugar mills should look into the possibilities of producing their own seed. This mini mum-sized mill would require in addi- tion to it's permanent employees about 300 workmen for the operating period and good supply of pure water, high grade lime rock, and plenty of coal for fuel, besides numerous other sup plies.