162 THE SUGAR INDUSTKT. 



that future years will see averages of 15 to 16 per cent. The company has about $500,000 

 Invested, its mill is first-class and it has done a vast amount of work through its agri- 

 cultural department to teach farmers how to grow beets, having had three and four 

 experts constantly employed in this way. The accompanying pictures give more facts 

 about this promising plant (see also Page 5). The state is expected to revive the bounty 

 of Ic per Ib. 



WELL ESTABLISHED IN NEBRASKA. 



Nebraska had a fair season in 1897 for sugar beets and for her two factories at 

 Grand Island and Norfolk. The 1898 campaign was entirely satisfactory in its results, 

 farmers and mill owners are well pleased, a million dollar beet sugar factory enterprise 

 is to be established at Ames, Nebraska, on the ranch of the Standard Cattle Company, 

 and an immense acreage of beets is being contracted for 1899. The state experiment 

 station continues its good work and has "made some 10,000 analyses of mother beets that 

 have a high percentage of sugar 18 to 19 per cent." After all its trials and tribulations, 

 the beet sugar industry is now well established in Nebraska, to the great advantage 

 of its farmers and laborers, and at a fair profit to investors in its sugar factories. 



The campaign of 1898 at. Grand Island was very gratifying for the large yields per 

 acre. One large tract, well cultivated, made 21 tons per acre, and the whole area har- 

 vested, 1970 acres, gave 18,165 tons of dressed beets, net weight at factory. These beets 

 averaged 14 per cent, of sugar of 81 purity, or the best showing yet made. The product 

 was 3,595,000 Ibs. of standard granulated sugar, or 197 Ibs. of sugar to the ton of beets, 

 besides molasses and reworkings. In previous seasons, the factory has got from 122 to 

 175 Ibs. refined granulated per ton of beets. In '96, it made 2516 tons of sugar from 

 30.100 tons of beets, and in 1897 got 3399 tons sugar from 38,600 tons of beets. The area 

 contracted in '98 was reduced, owing to the uncertainty over Hawaii, but a very large 

 acreage is being contracted for this mill for the '99 campaign. 



The Norfolk factory also made a good campaign in 1898, receiving upwards of 50,000 

 tons of beets, which averaged over 14 per cent, sugar and SO purity, and made some 

 10,000,000 Ibs. of sugar. It has extracted 157 to 218 Ibs. of sugar per ton of beets in pre- 

 vious seasons, the highest in '97. In that campaign, it made 3970 tons of sugar from 

 26,270 tons beets, grown on 4029 acres, or an average extraction of 10.95 per cent., on a 

 run of 110 days. The campaign of '97 resulted in 1588 Ibs. of granulated sugar as the 

 mean for each acre of beets harvested. Land all through the vicinity rents for $4 to $7 

 an acre, averaging about $5. Says the Norfolk aretes: "The average yield of the 1898 

 crop has been from 10 to 12 tons, giving the farmer a gross revenue of from $45 to $54 

 to the acre. As the cost of raising beets, through a better understanding of the crop, 

 learned by experience, is never more than $25 per acre, and more frequently less, it 

 will be seen that there is no other crop that can compare to beets for profit." 



OTHER WESTERN STATES. 



Iowa experience since '91 confirms Secretary Wilson's opinion on Page 68. 

 Eighty samples were analyzed at the state experiment station by Chemist J. B. Weems, 

 between August 27 and Oct. 29. '98, of which 38 contained less than 12 per cent, sugar 

 and below 80 purity, while the rest ranged from 13 to 16 sugar and 78-80 purity. Out 

 of 55 samples received from October 29 to December 14, '98, 20 were less than 12-80 13 

 were between 12 and 13 and over 80, and the rest ran up to 15-17 per cent. The evidence 

 is conclusive that Iowa is a great sugar state. 



Missouri has been a center of great interest, but the results in beet culture in 

 that state are not encouraging. We do not yet say that there are no localities in 



