16 TRANSACTIONS OF THE 



the neighborhood was most successful; that year the farmers there raised 

 from thirty to forty tons to the acre, of the very best quality, and there are 

 thousands of acres in this State equally susceptible to the growth of this 

 product. 



Superintendent Dyer, of the Standard Sugar Refinery, referring to this 

 subject in a letter to the Secretary of the Board, at the time of Professor 

 Wilev's visit, said: 



I will state that this is the sixth campaign of the Standard Sugar Refinery; that we 

 have never failed to earn fair interest on our investment during the six years we have 

 been in operation ; that the stock of our company is to-day worth par, and none can be 

 bought at that rate, that I know of ; that California produces as good beets as are pro- 

 duced in any country ; that we obtain as large percentage of white refined sugar in less 

 than thirty-six hours from the time the beets are received in the refinery than is obtained 

 in Europe in crude sugar in one year ; that beets can be raised per ton on this coast as 

 cheaply as in Germany or France, and are as rich in saccharine; that we have a longer 

 season for planting, harvesting, and manufacturing, than in either of those countries; 

 that we have already worked the present season six thousand or seven thousand tons of 

 beets, and have at this writing about twenty thousand tons stored in our yards and sheds; 

 that these beets will produce over four million pounds of white, refined sugar, being a 

 yield of from three thousand to six thousand pounds of sugar per acre, exceeding the 

 average yield of the best cane lands in the world; that we are manufacturing this sugar 

 at a cost of about 5 cents a pound, laid down in San Francisco in barrels ; that with im- 

 proved machinery the cost of manufacture could be reduced fully 1 cent a pound; that 

 all that is required to produce all the sugar consumed in the United States, on the Pacific 

 Coast, is capital, enterprise, and technical skill. 



The statements in this letter were fully indorsed by Professor Wiley, 

 who was warm in his praises of our climate and soil. He said he was 

 positive that the time would come when sugar-beet growing would be one 

 of the leading agricultural industries of our State; and this prediction 

 promises to be fulfilled, as new life has been given this industry through 

 the enterprise of Mr. Claus Spreckels, the leading manufacturer of sugar 

 in California, whereby another commodity can be added to our variety of 

 crops, so that rotation may be had with benefit to the land and producer 

 as well. 



The meager facilities and bad management of many experiments here- 

 tofore made in the manufacture of sugar fr6m this agricultural product, 

 has so retarded the industry as to confine the growing of beets to almost 

 one locality, where the factory would be inadequate to make use of any 

 increased yield. 



The recently discovered improvements in the machinery for manufactur- 

 ing sugar from beets has given this industry an impetus that will be thor- 

 oughly appreciated by the farming community of the State. Create the 

 demand for all kinds of agricultural products, say they, and we will insure 

 the supply in such quantity as needed, relying upon the soil of our State 

 for its production. 



We publish herein the circular issued by Mr. Spreckels, upon the subject 

 of beet culture, which will be of interest to those who desire to add this 

 product to their resources. 



FRUIT GROWING AND SHIPPING. 



The past season has proved a very satisfactor}^ one to the average fruit 

 grower. Less dependence has been placed on local markets as the con- 

 sumers of large quantities in a green state, and more has been shipped East, 

 or dried, than in any previous year. 



According to figures furnished us by the railroad company, some one 

 thousand seven hundred cars of green deciduous fruits have been trans- 

 ported by them during the shipping season. It is a matter of surprise to 



