44 THE SUGAR INDUSTRY. 



in America, working up in a single season the largest quantity of beets, and turning 

 out the largest quantity of sugar ever made by one factory in this country. As high 

 as 1400 tons of beets have been crushed by the factory in one day of 24 hours, also the 

 American record. The campaign of 1896 began in September and concluded on Jan- 

 uary 29, beets being delivered by the farmers up to Jan 23. There were 154,936 tou& of 

 beets delivered to the factory by rail and wagon, from which 19,528 tons of sugar 

 were made during the campaign of 171 days, the factory running 3446 hours the long- 

 est run on record in this or any other country. This plant does not refine its prod- 

 uct, the raw sugar being shipped to the Spreckels' refinery at San Francisco, which 

 accounts in part for the large capacity of this factory. 



It is not likely that this phenomenal record will soon be duplicated by this or 

 any other factory. The conditions were about as near perfect as could be, both in 

 field and mill. The phenomenal crop of 1894 was beaten by about 10,000 tons by the 

 crop of 1896, but the quality was much higher, as 7000 more tons of sugar were ob- 

 tained the past season than in the 1894-5 campaign. 



The 155,000 tons of beets were grown on about 11,017 acres, yielding an average of 

 14 tons of beets, and 3,545 pounds of raw sugar per acre. Some fields gave as high 

 as 25 tons per acre, and small plots of a few acres ran up to 30 tons, while several 

 tracts of 100 acres or more averaged 18 tons per acre. Fully 12,000 acres have been 

 contracted for the '97 campaign, indicating a probable crop of 150,000 tons. 



In the campaign of 1895, the Watsonville factory ran 2063 hours, sliced 77,145 tons 

 of beets or an average of 900 tons per day of 24 hours. From these beets 10,945 tons 

 of sugar were manufactured. The beets were produced on 7244 acres, which averaged 

 nearly 11 tons of beets and H tons of sugar per acre. This is a smaller yield than in 

 previous years, because of extensive rainfall during the harvest period. 



The Watsonville factory pays $4 per ton for all beets, or a total paid farmers for 

 the '96 crop of nearly $650, 000 com pared to $300,000 for the crop of the previous year. 

 Since its humble beginning upon the crop of 1888, this qpncern has paid the farmers 

 about $2,500,000 for beets a new crop that but for this factory would not have been 

 grown. More than halt a million has been paid for labor in this factory. In brief, 

 this enterprise, in a little more than eight years, has distributed some $3, 000, - 

 000 among the farmers and laborers of this vicinity money that otherwise would 

 have gone out of the country to pay for imported sugar. This money and the indus- 

 tries its circulation has created, have built up a remarkably prosperous community, 

 where farmers were prosperous and money was easy all through the hard times of 

 1893-6. Whole pages could be filled with the particulars of the beneficent results of 

 the industry, especially in view of the fact that but for it these farmer would have 

 been obliged to raise grain or fruits at little or no profit. Many of them have paid off 

 their mortgages and acquired a snug little competence besides from the beet crop. 

 Says the local paper, the Pajaronain of Jan 21, 1897: "The beet payday last week was 

 a giant and twenty-dollar pieces crowded each other in Watsonville. There was about 

 as much money paid out here that payday as the railroad company pays out monthly 

 at its big shop center, Sacramento; and the next payday will be about as large." 



EXPERIENCE IX SOUTHERN CALIFORNIA. 



The enterprise at Chino in San Bernardino county in Southern California, is in 



