Conditions for Growing Sugar-Beets 53 



will justify. For a good run of an average-sized factory, 

 3000 to 5000 acres or more of beets should be grown. It 

 has been found that factories with a slicing capacity of 

 800 tons daily are materially more efficient in sugar manu- 

 facturing than are those handling less than 500 tons daily. 

 It is a mistake, however, to build a factory with a large 

 daily capacity in a district not capable of furnishing 

 beets to supply the daily tonnage for a run lasting in the 

 neighborhood of ninety to one hundred days. Since it 

 is impossible to determine accurately beforehand just 

 what acreage a new region will grow, it is usually better 

 to build a medium-sized factory capable of being enlarged 

 than to build a large one that may need to be removed. 



In choosing a location for a factory, one of the first 

 considerations is an abundant supply of pure water. 

 Large quantities of alkali salts or other foreign matter 

 in the water make the extraction and purification of the 

 juices much more difficult than with pure water. Cheap 

 fuel must be available as well as a good quality of cheap 

 limestone. With much bulky material such as beets, 

 coal, and limestone to be moved, transportation costs 

 run high unless the lowest possible rates are secured. For 

 this reason it is an advantage to locate a factory where 

 there is competition from two or more railroads. It is 

 also better to locate the factory in a position as nearly in 

 the center of the beet-growing area as possible rather than 

 to favor a position near a village. The closer the factory is 

 to the beet fields, the better is the condition of the beets 

 when they reach the factory. 



