390 STATE BOARD OF AGRICULTURE. 



visit to iHH't jiiowci's in tlie vni-ious sections of the State, and to the- 

 factories wliei-e the beets were delivered, makes me positive that the 

 average vieUl for the Slate of acres liarvesled in 1S!)!> did not exceed 

 seven tons, I qnestion whether it exceeded six. In. sandy localities 

 man.\" acres were jtlowed nj* witliont loss farthei- tlian the seed, as the 

 fields were ntilized for other crops. This failure h.y reason of the ad- 

 verse season has made the farmers hesitate about raisinji: beets this 

 year, has covered the whole ])roposition with a dark cloud and made 

 the attitude of the farmers as a class, while not hostile, (;ertainly not 

 encouraj'in'i:, and the factories found it diflicult to secure sufticient 

 acreajje for a full camjtaij^n in liMM). 



A second result of the adverse season has been a pressure upon the 

 factories for a higher price foi' the beets and for other concessions. 

 To this ])ressure the factories have yielded. The price, this season, 

 will be 14.50 i)er ton for 12 per cent beets, with an addition of 33 1-3 

 cents for each per cent of sugar in the beets over 12. Some factories 

 are paying the freight on the beets to the factories. In some cases 

 the beets are unloaded free of cost, and in others the beets are received 

 at any time, and the farmers are not forced to i»it them, with all the 

 labor and cost attendant upon that operation. 



The beet growers about Bay Tity have organized an association for 

 mutual instruction in the art of growing beets economically, and for 

 the further purpose of securing better prices for their products. The 

 association was formed in the late summer of 1800, and has held fre- 

 quent meetings through the winter and early sj)ring. I cannot give 

 the present actual membership, but am confident that over fifty per 

 cent of the growers tributary to the three factories are affiliated with it. 

 Similar organizations are found at Kalamazoo for the western part of 

 the State. In some of the factories the growers will nominate the tare 

 men and ])ossibly have some voice in the selection of the weighman 

 and beet tester, thus entirely removing all grounds for susjticion except 

 in the single factor of determining marc. 



The work of these associations cannot fail to be of some educational 

 value to the members, and it is education of which the growlers stand 

 most in need. The growing of beets demands far more careful methods 

 of husbandry than those to which our farmers have been accustomed. 

 It requires better cultivation, better fertilization, and exi>enditure of 

 more money ])er aci-e. It tlius broadens the mind and the methods of 

 the farmers. 



One of the main arguments at the outset against undertaking to make 

 sugar from beets in Michigan was that the period between beet harvest 

 and the final freeze ;!p in the fall was too short. California and Ne- 

 braska had given little data as to either the possibilities of working up 

 frozen beets or the cost of burying in ])its, and thus protecting against 

 frost. Our factories have had little trouble in w^orking up frozen beets, 

 but the cost of pitting and later removing from the pit and hauling to 

 cars or factories has been a serious burden on the farmer. Owing to 

 the limited capacity of the beet sheds which any factory can possibly 

 construct, and the great bulkiness of the crop, it seems inevitable that 

 the farmer must deliver his product in installments, as called for by 

 the factories. To retain them safely they must be buried, as once freez- 

 ing and thawing ruins the roots. The dread of this job of first cover- 



