44 BULLETIN 473, U. S. DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE. 



decade ending with 1912 was 6.9 tons, compared Avith 6.T tons for the 

 decade ending with 1902. The lowest yield for this 20-year period 

 was 5.5 tons in 1900, and the highest was 8.9 in 1910. The quantity of 

 beets used for sugar increased from 7,183,974 tons for the decade end- 

 ing with 1902-3 to 10,206,556 tons for the decade ending with 1912-13, 

 an increase of approximately 50 per cent. Of the beets produced 

 during the decade ending with 1912-13, 98.3 per cent were used for 

 sugar. 



In most of the sugar-producing countries the tendency has been to 

 reduce the number of factories, with a consequent increase in capac- 

 ity. The opposite has been the case in Russia, except that a slight 

 increase in capacity is shown. In 1913-14 there were 87 more fac- 

 tories in operation than in 1893-94 and 20 more than in 1903-4. In 

 1903^ the average quantity of beets used per factory per day of 24 

 hours was 436 tons, which increased to 574 in 1911-12, but decreased 

 to 524 in 1912-13. The annual production of sugar per factory in- 

 creased from 4,202 tons in 1903-4 to 4,745 tons in 1912-13. 



The daily average quantity of beets used by all factories varied 

 from 121,908 tons in 1903-4 to 160,794 in 1911-12. The sugar con- 

 tent per weight of beets varied from 14.87 per cent in 1909-10 to 19.01 

 in 1907-8, or an average of 17,28 per cent for the decade ending with 

 1912-13. The percentage of sugar extracted, compared with the 

 weight of the beets, varied from 11.35 per cent in 1905-6 to 14.87 in 

 1909-10, or an average of 13.30 for the decade ending with 1912-13. 

 The loss 1 of sugar in the beets for the decade just mentioned was 3.98 

 per cent, equivalent to 393,496 tons of sugar, part of which was in 

 the molasses. The production of sugar increased from an annual 

 average of 892,236 tons for the decade ending with 1902-3 to 1,370,- 

 197 tons for the decade ending with 1912-13, an increase of 53.6 per 

 cent compared with an increase of 42.1 per cent in the quantity of 

 beets used. The annual production of sugar during the last 10 years 

 increased from 1,147,268 tons in 1903-4 to 1,361,842 in 1912-13, or 

 an increase of 18.7 per cent, while the beets used for sugar increased 

 35.9 per cent. The production of sugar in 1912-13 was nearly double 

 the production in 1893-94, or an increase of 92.2 per cent, compared 

 with an increase of 85.3 per cent in quantity of beets used for the 

 same years. The production of sugar per ton of beets varied con- 

 siderably, the lowest being 227 pounds in 1905-6 and the highest 297 

 pounds in 1909-10. The average for the 10 years ending with 

 1912-13 was 266 pounds, as against 247 pounds for the preceding 

 decade. The annual production of molasses during the last 10 years 

 averaged approximately 400,000 tons, or about 75 pounds per ton of 



t Loss = difference between the sugar in the beets and the sugar actually extracted from 

 them. 



