SUGAR BEETS IN THE PECOS VALLEY. 



21 



attained full ripeness and hence it was ex- 

 pected that later they would yield even 

 higher results. This has proven to be 

 the case, as will be seen from the annexed 

 table of analyses made about two weeks 

 later. In this table analyses are 

 given of twenty-five beets taken from ten 

 feet of an average row. It will be seen that 

 the average of these beets is 20.87 per 

 cent sugar and 87 per cent purity. One 

 beet yielded 23.75 per cent sugar, which 

 is believed to be the highest saccharine 

 percentage of which there is any authen- 

 tic record. From the weight of these 

 twenty-five beets it is estimated that the 

 field will yield at the rate of 31 tons per 



acre. 



Analyses of 25 Beets Weight. Supar. Purity. 



Average of 10 ft., 25 beets. 13.8 20.87 87.00 



These results are sufficiently astonish- 

 ing; but this is not all. The climatic con- 

 ditions of the Pecos valley make it possi- 

 ble so to arrange the times of planting as to 

 insure a continuous harvesting season 

 from September till April. This is of im- 

 mense importance in the practical manu- 

 facture of beet sugar, for the reason that 

 it virtually doubles the average length of 

 the sugar "campaign." This ripening of 

 the beets throughout the entire winter 

 seems almost incredible, but it is an un- 

 doubted fact nevertheless, and gives the 

 Pecos valley a very marked advantage 

 over every other region where beets are 

 at present grown. In California the 

 winter rains sometimes spoil the beets by 

 causing a second growth, while in Nebraska 

 and Canada as well as in France and Ger- 

 many the crops must be taken from the 

 ground before frost. Mr. Alfred Musy, the 

 noted French beet sugar expert, who visited 

 the Pecos valley last April, was astonished 



at what he there found in relation to sugar 

 beet culture, and with nothing more than 

 this prolongation of the harvesting season. 

 He did not hesitate to pronounce the Pecos 

 valley as by far the most favorable region 

 for sugar beet culture and sugar manufac- 

 ture of which he had knowledge. 



It is almost unnecessary to point out 

 that such a misfortune as has just over- 

 taken the Nebraska beet raisers can not 

 occur in the Pecos valley. In the first 

 place, a summer drought to retard the 

 growth of the beet is there impossible; and 

 in the next place there are no frosts to 

 harm the beet during the last few weeks 

 of its ripening, which is the period when 

 it is adding most rapidly to its saccharine 

 stores. 



Possessing these numerous and great 

 advantages, and with the enterprise that 

 has from the beginning characterized its 

 development, the Pecos valley can not 

 fail to become a most important center of 

 the beet sugar industry. The Pecos Com- 

 pany expects very soon to begin the manu- 

 facture of beet sugar on an extensive 

 scale, and is maturing plans for the erec- 

 tion in season for next year's crop of a 

 factory with a daily capacity of 500 tons 

 of beets. 



