REPORT OF THE CHEMIST. 



21 



the Rio Grande Company. By following the isotherms of this locality 

 westward, a line may be traced, south of which, as far as thermal con- 

 ditions are concerned, the cultivation of sorghum for sugar can be car- 

 ried on with a hope of success. Years of experience will be necessary 

 before we are sufficiently acquainted with other meteorological condi- 

 tions, such as rainfall, humidity, and local circumstances of environ- 

 ment, to fix the most favorable limits for the culture of the plant. 



The question is equally an open one with the beet, and together with 

 sorghum, a study of the most favorable conditions of climate, soil, 

 fertilizers, and other elements of environment will be the problem of 

 the future. 



SEED. 



The importance of the best seed cannot be too strongly insisted on. 

 The beet industry of the continent owes its success in a large measure 

 to the improvement in the root by careful seed selection and cultivaton. 

 This has hardly been attempted with sorghum, and many years of pa- 

 tient work will be necessary before the result is felt. 



In the same way with the beet, it may be necessary that a seed should 

 be sought for this plant adapting it to our soils and climate. At any 

 rate it is evident that foreign seed will not produce in our hot and dry 

 summers, as a usual thing, a beet rich in sugar. 



In California the beet is a greater success than elsewhere in the 

 United States. In fact, all the beet sugar made in 1883- ? 84 was at 

 Alvarado, Cal. 



The following letter of Mr. E. H. Dyer, superintendent of the Stand- 

 ard Sugar Eeflnery, Alvarado, Cal., will show the character of the work 

 which is doing in California with the sugar beet : 



H. W. Wiley, Esq., 



Chemist, Department of Agriculture, Washington, D. C: 



Dear Sir: Yours of 5th instant received. In answer to your inquiry in regard to 

 the amount of sugar made in campaign 1863-^84, will state that our whole product 

 has not yet been marketed. We only had beets enough to run about ninety days, ow- 

 ing to the unusually dry season that prevented the farmers from sowing only about 

 one-half the usual acreage. We sent to market, however, 1,027,826 pounds ichite re- 

 fined sugar, and probably have in tanks, in process of crystallization, 250,000 pounds 

 more. The percentage of sugar obtained was very satisfactory. As this season 

 promises to be a favorable one, we expect to have from 15,000 to 20,000 tons of beets. 

 Last year we only had about 7,000 tons. 



The live years' experience of the Standard Sugar Refinery has fully proven that 

 beets raised in California will yield as many tons per acre and are as rich in saccha- 

 rine matter as any produced in Europe. With the aid to this industry that its im- 

 portance deserves for a few years, sufficient capital would be invested in the produc- 

 tion of beet sugar to stop all importation of foreign sugar on the Pacific coast, and 

 supply a large portion of that required east of the'Rocky Mountains. We have a soil 

 ajid climate well adapted to the production of the sugar beet extending from Califor- 

 nia to British Columbia. There is room for one hundred factories of a daily capacity of 

 150 tons each : and with the same encouragement by our Government as the manu- 

 facturers in Europe received in the earlier stages of tbe industry, they would be built 

 in less than 10 years. I will gladly give you any information in regard to the subject 

 that I have, fully realizing that the future success of this important industry depends 

 greatly, if not wholly, upon the encouragement given it by your Department. I in- 

 tend visiting Washington during the session of Congress for the purpose of trying to 

 obtain a modification of the internal-revenue laws that will permit alcohol distilled 

 from beet molasses, to be used solely for mechanical purposes, to be exempt from tax- 

 ation. 



Yours, respectfully, 



E. H. DYER. 



From this letter of Mr. Dyer, it is evident that the manufacture of 

 sugar from the sugar beet is an assured success on the Pacific coast. 



