THE BEET SUGAR INDUSTRY. 127 
The Sprecke's factory at Watsonville and his new mill at Salinas pay a straight price, 
at present $4 per ton, though before the repeal of the McKinley bill it was $5 per 
ton. We believe the Alvarado factory has also paid a straight price. At Chino, how- 
ever, the first five-year contract was based on $3.50 per ton for beets containing 12 
per cent of sugar and 25c additional for each additional 8 per cent, and under it farm- 
ers received an average of $4.50 per ton. In 1896, contracts were based on $3.25 per 
ton with an additional 25c per ton for each percentage above 12, which has netted the 
growers nearly $3.78 per ton. To protect their interests, the growers are well organ- 
ized and choose their own weigher and chemist and also their own tare man, the 
expense being about 3c per ton. 
In Nebraska, at first $4 per ton was offered for 12 per cent beets of 80 purity, the 
price being advanced 25c for every additional percentage of sugar, up to $7 for beets 
containing 20 per cent sugar, but it was afterwards found to be more satisfactory to 
have an average price for all beets above 12 per cent sugar with 80 purity, aud this 
price was fixed at $5 per ton (including the $1 state bounty). If the beets run below 
this standard, they are accepted at half price. In Utah, the plan was tried of pay- 
ing different prices for different qualities of beets, but it proved so unsatisfactory to 
farmers, that one fixed price of $4.25 was established for all beets containing 11 per 
cent sugar of 80 purity, the price for 1897 being $4, and beets below this standard 
are not accepted at all. Where the farmer is careful with his growing crop and at 
harvest sorts out all the large coarse beets, this crop will usually fulfill the contract. 
HOW TO GET A SUGAR FACTORY. 
The first step to take to get a beet-sugar factory, is to demonstrate that your 
township, county and district can grow the right kind of beets in profitable quan- 
tity. If your farmers have not demonstrated this fact, apply to your state experi- 
ment station for particulars about tests that have been made in other parts by the 
state. Get all the points you can from your experiment station—that’s what it is for, 
to help your farmers and free of cost to them. Then from the instructions given in 
this book, let every farmer grow half an acre or less of beets. Have samples of all 
these beets analyzed at your state experiment station* to determine their sugar con- 
tent and purity. Keep a record of all these crops, the soils and conditions under 
which they were grown, yield, cost, etc. Repeat ihese tests a second and third year 
if necessary, to establish the fact that your locality is adapted to the crop. A small 
patch of beets on various soils on each farm is better for testing than a few large 
areas. The beets can be fed with profit to stock, if no factory is available to which 
they can be shipped. This sort of preliminary work has been done for years in many 
parts of California and accounts for the firm position of the industry in that state. 
Analyses of beets grown under all sorts of conditions and soils will enable any 
practical beet-sugar man to decide whether such locality can be depended upon to 
furnish beets in sufficient quantity and quality to operate a factory successfully. 
There is no doubt in the least of the reliability of the laboratory or analytical work 
of our sugar chemists. Consequently, we were surprised to have a gentleman who 
was supposed to know something about the industry advise localities wanting sugar 
factories to begin by establishing a small distillery. ‘‘With a capital of $30,000, such 
* See addresses of experiment stations at bottom of next page. 
