178 THE SUGAR INDUSTRY. 



fprnia, some 3^ miles from the ocean. The illustrations on Pages II, III, VI, VII, also 

 on Pages 147, 152 and 157, with their accompanying descriptions, convey a perfect 

 idea of this beautiful establishment the latest triumph of American experience and 

 genius, and embodying all that the Oxnards and their experts have learned or invented. 

 Its boiler house, 195x55 ft, contains fourteen 250 h p boilers (3500 h p in all), capable of 

 working under 200 Ib steam pressure. The boilers and lime kilns are fired with crude oil 

 brought from a pipe from the wells 35 miles distant, and standing in two tanks, each 85ft 

 in diameter, 30 ft high and with a capacity of 30,000 bbls each. Three large pumps are 

 required to force water into storage tanks on top of building. The supply, 10,000,000 gal- 

 lons daily, comes from flowing driven wells nearby, and the waste water runs into the 

 ocean through a canal 6 to 8 ft wide and 4 to 6 ft deep. The beets are received at the fac- 

 tory on the elevated driveway of the beet sheds, 300x100 ft, and the wagons dumped (by 

 electrically operated hoisting engines) into storage bins having a combined capacity of 

 5000 tons, from which the beets are floated, as used, by a stream of water running in a 

 concrete conduit to the factory proper. The refrigerating plant makes 200 tons of ice 

 daily. Twenty-eight pumps of large size are used to circulate the various juices about 

 the factory. The plant occupies 100 acres. It will consume 1000 tons of beets daily in 

 '99, and 10,000 acres have already been contracted for, but by 1900 the full capacity of 2000 

 tons daily will be reached. Over 20,000 acres will be needed to furnish the necessary sup- 

 ply of beets, say 250,000 tons, and at an average of $4 per ton a million dollars will be 

 paid out by this mill alone for this new crop annually. The town of Oxnard, close at hand, 

 bids fair to become a model city with every modern improvement. 



All this section can be irrigated from the underground water shed, 130 to 250 ft 

 below the surface, which is inexhaustible, being fed by the Sierra water shed and kept in 

 by the ocean. Says Chief Engineer Bauer: 



"A three-inch well can be sunk for a trifle, comparatively speaking. A hundred dol- 

 lars will cover the cost, and its flow will irrigate many acres of this fine, moist soil. The 

 farmers will be independent of rains then. The beet will hunt for water a long way down. 

 Why, in Paris I saw a beet whose fine, silky tendrils had gone down 23 feet." 



THE CULTURE OF BEETS FOR THE SPEECKELS FACTORY 



has been for years under the general charge of Mr. P. W. Morse, the agricultural superin- 

 tendent. He prepared a very complete statement of the methods in vogue about Watson- 

 ville, from which we quote below. After emphasizing proper selection of soils and drain- 

 age from an excess of water in winter, Mr. Morse says: 



"Fertilization This is very little practiced in this valley. There is no pressing need 

 for it just now, and land owners seem to prefer to utilize the resources now existing in 

 their soil. Of course no land is inexhaustible, but soil that produces 20 tons of beets to 

 the acre needs no fertilizer at present; and so long as the average yield of beets continues 

 to increase, it is improbable that fertilizers will be used. I am pleased to observe that 

 most of our farmers refuse to sell their beet tops, and thus save a great waste of valuable 

 fertilizing material. Many of our farmers help to keep up the quality of their land by 

 adopting systems of rotation. 



"Rotation And there is no doubt that, with a proper system of rotation and careful 

 farming, the need of fertilization will not be apparent for many years. The beet appears 

 to thrive better after certain plants than others. Here, beets yield most following pota- 

 toes and least following grain or hay. In those portions of the valley in which potatoes 

 are not grown, corn, beans and alfalfa are the best crops to precede beets. The rotation 

 giving best results here is : First year, potatoes, corn, beans or alfalfa; second year, 

 beets; third year, barley; and is adopted by many farmers. It would be well if all farm- 



