VALUE OF BEET-PULP. 391 



• 



The German farmer considers one ton of sugar-beet root 

 worth to him, for feeding purposes, from four dollars to four 

 dollars and fifty cents. He sells at from five dollars to five 

 dollars and forty cents per ton to the beet-sugar manufac- 

 turer, besides which one-half of the refuse pulp is returned 

 for feeding his stock. This refuse matter amounts to one- 

 fifth of the weight of the roots, in case the pulp has passed 

 through the press for the separation of the juice : its feedhig 

 value is considered equal to that of the fresh roots. 



Not unfrequently, separate contracts are made for furnish- 

 ing small beets not exceeding two pounds in weight. The 

 sugar-beet cultivation usually becomes a prominent feature 

 of agricultural industry in the vicinity of beet-sugar fac- 

 tories; for although the manufacturer of sugar is, as a 

 general rule, to some extent at least, a producer of beets, he 

 rarely limits himself to the amount of his own produce. He 

 finds it profitable to purchase a certain quantity, if for no 

 other reason, in order to be enabled to cultivate his own 

 lands on a liberal system of rotation. He also frequently 

 retains one-half of the press-cake, and other refuse resulting 

 from the working of an additional amount of beet-roots, for 

 stock-feeding and manuring purposes. 



Recent extensive and careful experiments with the culti- 

 vation of the sugar-beet in the Connecticut-river Valley, 

 and other parts of New England, have produced excellent 

 results. From twenty to thirty tons of roots, containing in 

 their juice as high as thirteen per cent of cane-sugar, have 

 been obtained per acre, at a cost of from forty-five to fifty 

 dollars for cultivation. 



The roots sold, in many instances, at five and more dollars 

 per ton. The farmers of Worcester County sold to the 

 Maine Beet-Sugar Company the long ton of unwashed sugar- 

 beets for five dollars at the nearest railroad depot, and 

 received back the pulp at two dollars per ton. 



yield on an average (fifty-two kilogrammes) 114.4 pounds of sugar in the form 

 in which it is taxed. — "Walkhoff. 



Recent reliable private communications coming from different sections of 

 Germany state the expenses for the production of sugar-beet roots, when in 

 the pits, in one case at forty-six dollars, and in another at fifty-nine dollars and 

 a half per acre. Land rent in both cases was equal, and amounted to twelve 

 dollars and a half per acre. Manure in the first case amounted to nearly one- 

 half, in the second case to but one-third, of all expenses. The price of laboi 

 caused the difference. 



