144 



THE SUGAR INDUSTRY. 



"It is not surprising that the per cent, of sugar and purity are lower this season 

 than last, as the weather conditions at harvest time were exactly such as to produce 

 that result. A year ago the weather was dry at harvest; this season the soil was sat- 

 urated for weeks before the beets were taken out." We doubt if a season more unfavor- 

 able to quality in the beet is likely to occur again in years. Yet even under these condi- 

 tions the results of '98 are marvelous. The agricultural experiment station connected 

 with Cornell University at Ithaca and the state experiment station at Geneva have both 

 done an immense amount of work on sugar beets, especially during 1897-8, and plan to 

 continue to help the farmer in mastering beet culture. The industry has passed its exper- 

 imental stage in the Empire state and is now an established commercial success. Two new 

 factories are likely to be erected in time tor the '99 crop at Penn Yan, Yates county, and 

 Fredonia, Chautauqua county, and several more are projected. The first campaign of the 



READY FOR THE HARVEST. 



From a photograph taken at the Cornell experiment station, Ithaca, N. Y. The young men are 

 selecting samples of beets from the crop. 



Binghamton Sugar Company, 18'J^, was quite satisfactory for a beginning. The first New 

 York beet sugar company, factory at Rome, N. Y. (see illustrations on Pages 12 and 145), 

 completed its second campaign in December, 1898, and made the following record: 



Campaigns of 1898 1897 



Acres of beets grown for factory about 1000 about 600 



Tons of beets delivered 9330 4596 



Av. yield per acre, tons 9 1-3 1% 



Av. sugar in beets, per cent about 12.5 about 11.9 



Began making sugar Oct. 20 Oct. 13 



Finished making granulated sugar Dec. 24 Nov. 23 



Days in operation about 64 about 40 



Paid per ton for beets $5.00 $5.00 



Lbs granulated sugar made* 779,425 334,500 



*This includes only about half the sugar in the beets, the other half being raw 

 sugar, extraction of which from molasses will not be finished before April. Had the fall 

 been cry, no doubt our entire crop would have averaged 14% or 15 per cent. 



