52 The Sugar-Beet in America 
beets, whereas his neighbor who is a poor farmer will 
fail miserably. 
In considering the advisability of establishing a factory 
in a region, considerable attention should be given to the 
kind of farmers who will raise the beets. 
The factory. 
The first consideration in attempting to introduce the 
sugar-beet industry in a district is, of course, a guarantee 
from the farmers that they will grow a sufficient acreage 
of beets to assure a reasonably long run for a factory. 
Many of the factories that have failed would have con- 
tinued had the supply of good beets been large enough. 
Quality of beets is perhaps more important than quantity, 
because if the proper quality can be secured, the prices 
can usually be regulated so as to make it profitable for 
the farmers to produce the necessary quantity. If beets 
testing 12 per cent or more of sugar and with a purity 
coefficient of at least 70 per cent cannot be obtained, the 
success of a factory is doubtful. The price paid by the 
manufacturers for beets constitutes over two-thirds of 
the total cost of manufacturing beet-sugar; and the cost 
is relatively much less for good beets than for poor ones. 
Factories that must work beets from which only 220 
pounds of sugar can be extracted from each ton are 
distinctly at a disadvantage when compared with those 
that can extract 300 pounds with practically the same 
expenditure for manufacturing, even if the better beets 
cost considerably more. 
With a given quality of beets, it is very desirable that 
the quantity grown be as great as the economic conditions 
