INTRODUCTION. Xxi 



only, but if a report could be received from all the towns, 

 and be received iu season to be available for the agricultural 

 report of the following year, great benefits might come from 

 it. The amendments I would suggest in the present law are, 

 that all returns should be forwarded to the Secretary of State 

 on or before July 1, of each year, and that unless such re- 

 turns were so made, a penalty be inflicted upon delinquent 

 officers that would insure the carrying out of its provisions. 



The year has witnessed the successful starting of the factory 

 of the Maine Beet Sugar Companj^ at Portland, and the 

 building of its dry-house for dr3'ing the sugar beets, at 

 Presque Isle. The factory started October 21, and turned 

 out 94,000 lbs. of standard granulated sugar, made from 

 beets grown in Maine. The factory was in operation about 

 fifteen days, working from seventy to one hundred tons a 

 day. Had sufficient beets been grown to have kept the 

 factory at work one hundred days instead of fifteen — it would 

 have been a positive success. It is a success even now up to 

 this one point ; the machinery necessary for making beet 

 sugar has been fitted up by the Company at a cost of some 

 $15,000 ; they have demonstrated that sugar can be made 

 from beets grown in Maine. Will the farmers of the State 

 now aid the enterprise by growing beets enough the coming- 

 season to keep the fiictory in operation one hundred days? 

 If so, the success of the enterprise is not problematical or 

 doubtful, but is assured. It will depend entirely upon the 

 growing of sufficient ])eets — this is all. The results of the 

 present year, under the most unfavorable circumstances, show 

 that farmers can realize from $80 to $120 per acre, cash, for 

 the crop, or more than the average obtained from corn grown 

 for canning purposes. One matter that has not yet come into 

 the discussion of this subject is that of the disposition of the 

 pulp. This is a most valuable feeding stuff" for cows, horses, 

 hogs or sheep — more valuable in fact than the beets them- 

 selves, because it is cut ready to be fed with hay or straw in 

 the form of chopped feed ; it has parted with most of its 

 water, and the same weight is four times richer in nitrogenous 



