CULTURE OF THE SUGAR BEET. 277 



number of hands who, after all of the beets have been disposed of, would have to look 

 for employment elsewhere. While at the time between the clearing of the beet land 

 and the harvesting of the beets the regular harvest of the cereals might give employ- 

 ment to the beet hands, would the forests of Minnesota or other industry dispose of 

 the laboring hands during winter and early spring, until the beet field again might 

 need them ? Sugar beets should not be attended to only when the other work of the 

 farm is done and there is nothiug else to do ; but should be worked when they need 

 working. Without independent labor at the proper time, their cultivation always 

 proves a failure. So also should the manufacture of sugar begin when the beets are 

 ripe and contain most sugar, and it should be continued energetically as long as any 

 beets are left, in order to dispose of the whole crop before too much sugar is lost, for 

 every day after the beets are ripe they grow poorer in sugar. Therefore laboring hands 

 must be at disposal at any time when they are wanted, independent of other work 

 that might need them. 



In the factory, the high rate of labor in the Northwest would add considerably to 

 the expenses ; while in the beet field where, in Denmark, female hands are employed 

 in a great measure, the labor would probably be three times higher in Minnesota than 

 in the old country, the manufacturing-labor expenses would, no doubt, be twice as high 

 in Minnesota as in Denmark. In the latter country the labor expenses in the factory 

 amount to $1.15 per ton of beets or about .72 cent per pound of sugar. 



4. Other expenses. — Quite different is the case with regard to other expenses than 

 Laboring. The cheapness of the land in the Northwest as compared with rich land in 

 the old country will, no doubt, do much towards reducing the expenses of the grow- 

 ing of beets in Minnesota. In Denmark the rent for rich land amounts to $7 to $8 

 an acre. In Germany as much as $16 per acre is paid yearly for a rentage lasting ten 

 or twenty years. In the Northwest, improved land could probably be had for less than 

 half the rent in Denmark. 



In the factory coal plays a prominent part among the expenses other than labor. In 

 Denmark this item amounts to $1.20 per ton of beets or .75 cent per pound of sugar — 

 the price for coal being $6 per ton. This price being reduced to $2 per ton, the expense 

 for fuel would be 40 cents per ton of beets or .25 cent per pound of sugar only. 



5. Duty. — In the old country the duty paid to the government by the manufacturers 

 makes a heavy reduction of the profit realized by the production. In Germany the 

 duty is laid on the beets, being raised gradually from 1836, when it was only £ silver 

 groschen per hundredweight (11 cents per ton) of beets, to the present time, when it 

 amounts to 9 silver groschen per 100 pounds ($4 per ton). This is, in a great measure, 

 the reason why in Germany the manufacture of beet sugar is developed to such ad- 

 mirable perfection as is the case. The more sugar that could be gained from the beets, 

 the less the duty drew on the profit of the manufacturer, for the duty on 1 ton of beets 

 remained the same whether 6 or 10 per cent, of sugar were extracted. All the efforts of 

 the farmer and the manufacturer had the aim to produce much sugar from a certain 

 weight of beets, not to produce much sugar from an acre of land. Therefore the 

 quantitative yield of beets was neglected, while beets were produced which yielded 

 as much as 10 per cent, of sugar. 



In Sweden the same system is adopted. In Belgium and partly in Holland the duty 

 is calculated on the basis of the quantity and richness of the juice extracted from the 

 beets. In France and in Denmark the duty is laid on the sugar produced. For this 

 reason it is in these countries the aim of the producer to get the largest yield of sugar 

 from an acre, only provided that it can be profitably extracted. Therefore the yield 

 of beets is larger, but their contents of sugar less than in Germany. In Denmark the 

 duty is equal to that on imported sugar, amounting to 2.16 cents per pound of raw 

 sugar (below No. 18 Dutch standard) or about $3.45 per ton of beets. The duty in this 

 country being about 3.5 cents for average raw sugar, this item would amount to $5.60 

 per ton of beets in favor of the manufacturer, provided 8 per cent, of raw sugar can be 

 extracted (besides the molasses). 



