THE FUTURE OF THE AMERICAN SUGAR INDUSTRY, 



BY W- C. FITZSIMMONS. 



A PPROXIMATELY 280,000 tons of sugar were 

 f\ produced in the United States last year, of 

 which about 22,000 tons came from beets and 

 the remainder from cane. Nearly all the cane 

 sugar was produced in Louisiana, and the greater 

 part of the beet sugar was produced in California. 

 There are three beet sugar factories in the latter 

 State with a prospect that another will be erected dur- 

 ing the present year. The largest of these establish- 

 ments is at Watsonville, in Santa Cruz county, and is 

 at present the largest in the United States. During 

 the past season the out-turn from this factory 

 amounted to 1,798% tons of sugar, besides a large 

 quantity of syrup. To produce this quantity of 

 sugar and syrup 65,396}^ tons of beets were used, 

 which were grown in the neighborhood and sold at 

 the factory for a uniform price of $5 per ton. The 

 average yield of beets per acre was rather over 

 twelve tons, and the total cost of producing the crop 

 not far from $20 per acre. So well pleased are the 

 farmers with the last season's outcome that a greatly 

 increased acreage of beets has been contracted for 

 the coming season, and will probably exceed ten 

 thousand acres. The factory is undergoing enlarge- 

 ment, and at the opening of the campaign in October 

 next it will have the capacity to manufacture a 

 thousand tons of beets per day. 



THE CHINO FACTORY. 



At Chino, in Southern California, near Los Angeles, 

 is the sugar factory of the Oxnard Company, which 

 has been in operation only three seasons. The soil 

 and climate of that region are found to be eminently 

 fitted for the production of a large yield of beet 

 roots rich in saccharine matter. The establishment 

 of this great enterprise at Chino was due to Mr. 

 Richard Gird, owner of the fertile Chino ranch, 

 comprising some 60,000 acres. Mr. Gird gave a 

 liberal subsidy in land whereon to erect the buildings, 

 and made other valuable concessions in order to 

 secure the location of the factory. The enterprise 

 proved a success from the first, although many 

 obstacles had to be overcome both by the beet 

 growers and by those who utilized their product. The 

 output of the factory has greatly increased each 

 year, as well as the yield per acre of beets planted, 

 showing the most encouraging progress. Nothing 

 could better illustrate the confidence of the neigh- 

 boring farmers in the profitable and permanent 

 nature of the business than the fact that many of 

 those who had previously rented land of Mr. Gird 

 upon which to grow beets, recently purchased the land 

 at auction, paying as high as $150 per acre. The 



Chino factory will also be enlarged so that its 

 capacity will be equal to the proper handling of at least 

 a thousand tons of beets daily at the opening of the 

 next campaign. 



THE FACTORY AT ALVARADO. 



The third and smallest sugar factory in California 

 is that at Alvarado, near San Francisco. This is the 

 oldest beet sugar establishment in the United States, 

 and is a highly successful concern, though less exten- 

 sive in its operations than the other two in the State. 

 During the campaign of 1893, the Alvarado factory 

 handled about 21,000 tons of beets and produced 

 4,500,000 pounds of sugar. It is expected to handle 

 an increased acreage of roots during the present 

 year, and under favorable conditions this plant will 

 doubtless be enlarged also. 



OTHER BEET SUGAR FACTORIES. 



Two beet sugaries are to be found in Nebraska 

 one at Norfolk and one at Grand Island. These 

 establishments hold similar relations with the farmers 

 of Nebraska to those existing in California. It is a 

 generally accepted fact, however, that a somewhat 

 greater percentage of saccharine matter is developed 

 in the Californian beets than in those grown in Neb- 

 raska. Nevertheless the business of beet root pro- 

 duction in Nebraska appears so well established that 

 other factories are projected. It has lately been 

 reported that certain foreign capitalists were negoti- 

 ating for the erection of an immense sugar plant in 

 that State to cost $1,500,000. 



THE UTAH FACTORY. 



Still another beet sugar factory exists in the United 

 States, and is to be found in Utah. Its capacity is 

 not so great as that of some of the others mentioned, 

 but the promise of the industry in that Territory now 

 affords the greatest encouragement to the early en- 

 largement of the plant and a corresponding increase 

 in the acreage of beets handled. There is a large 

 area of land in Utah, as well as in most of the arid 

 regions, peculiarly adapted to the production of the 

 sugar beet. Analysis of beets produced in Utah, 

 Nevada.Arizona, eastern Washington and Oregon have 

 shown a high percentage of sucrose, and so far as soil 

 and climate may contribute to the success of any 

 form of culture, the production of the sugar beet 

 should be found a highly profitable undertaking in 

 very many sections of the arid belt. 



THE WORLD'S SUGAR. 



The total production of sugar of all kinds in the 

 world has reached about six million tons annually, 



