THE SUGAK INDUSTRY. 



the machinery removed to California. Late in the '70's, beet-sugar factories were 

 established at Portland, Me, Franklin, Mass, one in New Jersey, and another in Dela- 

 ware. In California, the Alvarado plant was 

 established in 1870, and one at Sacramento in 

 1873, and one a distance below that city at 

 Istleton in 1874 or '75. The two latter soon 

 failed, and an attempt at Los Angeles, along in 

 1878-9, never amounted to anything. 



ALL THESE EARLY ATTEMPTS FAILED 



for the reasons stated on Page 12 and also be- 

 cause at that time other crops were so much 

 more profitable that farmers would not grow 

 beets, in the culture of which they were wholly 

 ignorant. The then high-priced lands of the 

 east, with the expensive manuring and labor 

 involved in the crop, did not make sugar beets 

 profitable with farmers. The factories, in the 

 east at least, were not located so as to secure a 

 large supply of beets from the immediate 

 neighborhood, and high freights cut down the 

 farmers' returns. The factories were compar- 

 atively small, and with a limited supply of beets 

 of uneven or inferior quality, their operating 

 expenses left no margin of profit. 



Later, attempts were made to establish the 

 industry in Canada, and a factory was established 

 at Berth ierville, Quebec, and another at Farn- 

 ham, Quebec, but the French Canadians did 

 not have sufficient enterprise to grow the beets, 

 and with mismanagement of the factory, the 

 industry languished in spite of a small subsidy 

 from government. The Berthierville plant was 

 removed to Eddy, New Mexico, in 1896, and 

 the Farnham outfit to Rome, New York, in 

 1897. The Dominion government encouraged 

 the industry by a direct subsidy of (we believe) 

 one cent per Ib, but it was not continued long 

 enough to overcome the indisposition of farmers 

 to raise the beets, although the Farnham enter- 

 prise got $44,000 from this source in the years 

 1892-3, and Berthierville $41,000 in the years 

 '95-6. 



AN EXCEPTIONHONOR TO WHOM HONOR IS DUE, 



The factory at Alvarado, California, started 

 in 1870, is the first sugar factory which 



A TYPICAL SUGAR BEET. 



