124: THE SUGAR INDUSTRY. 



raised was put to corn, beets and chicory last year; the corn was a good average crop 

 of 50 bu or more per acre, the beets were as good as the average of the field, and the 

 chicory from this field took first premium at the state fair. I believe that 12 tons can 

 be raised every year if the work is done properly. The beet crop of '95 was heavy 

 and it was impossible for the factory to receive and store what beets they could not 

 work up before they would freeze in the ground or in piles, so they gave the farmer 

 about 30c per ton for siloing a portion of their crop and holding it five or six weeks, 

 thus giving the factory a chance to take those siloed beets later in the season. This 

 same crop furnished a splendid feed of beet tops for milch cows, making the entire 

 feed for our 26 head from Oct 1 to Jan 1. They produced an extra flow of milk and 

 it tested high at the creamery. An acre of beet tops is worth from $3 to $5 as feed 

 for cows and hogs, both of which eat them greedily. " 



Here are some reports from farmers at Chino, Cal, for the seasons of 1891-4 inclu- 

 sive : E. M. Day planted 254 acres to beets, from which he harvested 409 tons, for 

 which he received $1400. On his home place he had 5f acres, the beets from which 

 brought $525, or $91.30 per acre. On another ten acres he harvested 204 tons, which 

 brought him $4.50 per ton. This makes the returns for the ten acres $918, or $91.80 

 per acre. The $1400 he received for his entire crop was all clear gain, except $40 he 

 paid out for wages and $75 for seed and use of cultivator. Himself and two boys, one 

 11 and the other 15 years of age, did enough' work on their own crop and in exchange 

 with their neighbors to clear all expenses on their own crop except the $115 noted. 

 In other words, Mr Day's summer work on his beet crop has brought him just $1284 

 in clear cash. Besides this, he has taken care of, cut and harvested ten acres of 

 alfalfa of his own, raised fourteen acres of barley, and did $50 worth of work cutting 

 alfalfa and barley for other people. This will go a long way towards paying all his 

 living expenses for the year, and his beet crop can be counted clear gain. Mr Day 

 says he lived in Nebraska for twenty-five years and in all his farming experience he 

 has never done as well as he has here, or found the product that paid as well as sugar 

 beets. 



George C. Moore rented 36 acres, which he planted to beets. He did the team 

 work and a large part of the labor upon the crop himself, hiring no more than he 

 could avoid. He is an energetic, painstaking and careful man, and his care has been 

 well rewarded. In making a statement of his expenses on the crop, he included his 

 own labor and that of his teams. His actual expenses in money were therefore much 

 less than the figures given. He sold 649 tons (at $4.25) for $2.758.25; expenses : Plowing 

 $72, preparing ground $27, seed $64, planting $12, thinning $108, cultivating $25.20, 

 hoeing $70, pulling and topping, $374.50, hauling $299.60, factory expenses $52.45, 

 total $1,104.75; rent, 25 per cent, $6*4.56; grand total, $1,789.31; net profit, $968.94. 



Peter Varner harvested from eighteen acres 360 tons of beets, or twenty tons per 

 acre. For these he realized $3.90 per ton, or $1404 for his crop $78 per acre. Less 

 than three years ago Mr Varner came to Chino with no capital whatever but his 

 energy, his perseverance and his pluck. He has recently purchased $3000 worth of 

 land for a home, and he is paying for it with money realized from beet farming. He 



