156 Transactions of the 



sugar bearing beets. A quantity of the seed was planted, and with the 

 beets grown therefrom the first beet sugar ever made in California was 

 produced in the factory of the Sacramento Valley Beet Sugar Company, 

 and a sample thereof exhibited at the Fair of the State Agricultural 

 Society in the year eighteen hundred and seventy. 



During this year, some sixty acres of beets were planted on the 

 ground of this company, and in June steps were taken to get machinery 

 in operation in time to make sugar when the beet crop was fully 

 matured. There was, however, considerable delay in getting the machi- 

 nery, and before it could be finished and put up in complete working 

 order, the beet crop had commenced a second growth, and they had lost 

 a large proportion of their sugar properties. The result has been that 

 the percentage of yield in sugar has not been so satisfactory as could be 

 desired and as was expected while the beets were growing. 



The company are making ju'eparations for sowing a large breadth of 

 land the coming season, and are confident of producing results that will 

 be satisfactory to the stockholders, and be the means of establishing an 

 industry in California of the utmost importance. These facts are sub- 

 mitted to your committee, and we solicit at your hands the bestowal of 

 the gold medal offered by the State Agricultural Society for the most 

 important exhibit in the department to which beet sugar belongs. We 

 ask for this gold medal upon the following grounds: 



First — The Sacramento Valley Beet Sugar Company was the first 

 company to organize in the State for the manufacture of beet sugar. 



Second — This company has been expending large amounts to get the 

 best information available in this country and Europe, and have made 

 experiments in beet culture in California, the results of which will be of 

 great importance to those who prosecute the business hereafter. 



Third — This company are the pioneers in an industry that is destined 

 to become one of vast importance to California, and in which a large 

 amount of capital will eventually be invested. 



All of which is respectfully submitted. 



W. E. BBOWX, 

 President of the Sacramento Valley Beet Sugar Companj*. 



SUPPLEMENTAL STATEMENT. 



Gentlemen: We have been making several practical tests in the matter 

 of making sugar from beets grown upon our lands near Brighton. The 

 results convince us that the second growth which the beets have taken 

 within the last six weeks has very materially reduced the quantity of 

 sugar contained in them. In the manufacture of some thousand pounds 

 of sugar we find that the yield of sugar and syrup has been but about 

 eight per cent of the beets used, the same being weighed after the shank 

 or waste was trimmed off. As but about sixty per cent of this result 

 would be sugar, it will be seen that the yield of sugar would be but four 

 to five per cent of the weight of trimmed beets; whereas, with proper 

 cultivation, they should yield at least eight per cent of sugar. 



Some portions of our machinery are capable of running through thirty 

 tons of beets in twenty-four hours, and if we should increase the other 

 portions to an equal capacity, and had beets that would yield eight per 

 cent of sugar, we should undoubtedly arrive at results something like 

 the following: 



