2 The Sugar-Beet in America 



The key to successful beet-sugar manufacturing is a 

 supply of good beets at a reasonable price. The actual 

 making of sugar can be conducted about as well in one 

 place as in another if the beets are available. The growth 

 of the industry, therefore, depends on an extension of the 

 beet-producing area and on perfecting the methods of 

 growing beets in sections where they are now produced. 



Those persons familiar with the conditions necessary 

 to beet production, and those acquainted with American 

 geography, are convinced that only a small part of the 

 land well adapted to beets is at present planted to the 

 crop. Figure 1, which shows the relative number of 

 sugar factories in Europe and in the United States, in- 

 dicates that in America the area devoted to beets may 

 be increased many times before it will reach the limits 

 that have been found profitable in Europe. Reference to 

 Chapter IV, wherein the conditions for raising beets are 

 considered in detail, will show that many parts of the 

 United States are well adapted to the production of sugar- 

 beets. Now that the industry is well started, it seems 

 probable that it will grow rapidly in the next few years. 



This growth will be fortunate for American agriculture, 

 which needs stimulation of more intensive methods. Ex- 

 perience has shown that wherever a beet-sugar factory 

 has been established in a community, the price of all 

 farming land has risen. This has resulted not alone 

 because beets themselves make a profitable crop, but 

 because raising them promotes better farming and con- 

 sequently a higher return to each acre of land. The deep 

 plowing and the thorough tillage, so indispensable to beet- 

 culture, increase the yield of subsequent crops on the same 



