i8 
THE RURAL NEW-YORKER. 
January 14 
parsnips. The slicer may be either a revolving drum 
containing two or three large knives, or it is made of a 
lot of small knives that swing back and forth across the 
bottom of a hopper in which the roots are shoveled. 
The former cuts the roots very rapidly into irregular 
slices; the latter, which is the popular machine of 
Europe, cuts them into fairly regular chunks which 
are thought to be superior to the slices. Except in 
appearance, there is, however, no difference. 
The cossettes, as the pieces are called, are then 
spread upon a perforated steel floor, beneath which 
are coke furnaces that are made to furnish a heat of 
about 150 degrees during the first half of the process 
of drying, and a somewhat higher temperature toward 
the close. Under ordinary circumstances, the drying 
occupies 24 hours, and reduces the bulk of the roots 
considerably. The weight, also, is greatly reduced. 
From three to five tons of the green root are required 
to make one ton of the dried product which, when 
cold, is very hard and brittle. 
About 300 pounds of this dry root are put in a coffee 
roaster with a small quantity of oil or lard, and re¬ 
volved over a hot coke fire until the desired shade of 
brown is produced. The oil not only prevents the 
cossettes from sticking and burning, but carries the 
color in to the interior of the chunks. When suf¬ 
ficiently browned, the smoking mass is dumped upon 
a sieve beneath which is an air shaft. A strong cur¬ 
rent of air is drawn through the mass to cool it quickly 
and to draw away the fumes, which are very irritating 
to the eyes. The remainder of the process consists of 
grinding, sifting, and packing. About four grades 
are made according to size. The first two are about 
the size of coffee beans, one a little larger, the other a 
little smaller. The third size is about the size of 
finely ground coffee, and the smallest grade is powder. 
The two large sizes are sold in bulk, the third mainly 
in pound packages, and the smallest in four-ounce 
rolls covered with red or yellow paper. The retail 
price is about 10 cents a pound. 
The Prospect.—American-grown chicory has to 
contend against strong prejudice upon the part of 
ignorant foreigners who have become accustomed to a 
certain brand in the mother country, and insist upon 
having it here. There is, also, bitter opposition on 
the part of men who have established factories in this 
country for finishing the root imported from Europe, 
in some instances from their own estates or farms. 
As far as quality is concerned, the American root is 
fully equal to the imported article, and would win its 
way upon its merits were it not for the two mentioned 
forces opposing it. The Department feels confident 
that, were the opposition overcome, the American 
market could be supplied with home-grown chicory, 
and the money which has been annually going abroad 
could be retained among our own people. It is grat¬ 
ifying in this connection that progress is being made, 
and that American chicory is now seen upon the mar¬ 
ket in fair quantity. 
The reader will find a very full discussion of this 
industry in the author’s report to the Department of 
Agriculture, Bulletin 19 of the Division of Botany. 
Fig. 8 gives a rear view of the Michigan Chicory 
Company’s factory, at Bay City, Mich. The brick 
building with the four ventilators is the kiln which, 
in this factory, has two floors. The freshly-cut roots 
are first spread upon the upper floor, and when about 
half done, are shoveled to the lower one where they 
are finished. They are frequently shoveled over upon 
each floor. The roots are washed and cut in the low 
roofed frame part of the building, and the part with 
the two large ventilators is used as a storehouse for 
the dried roots, also for the operations of roasting, 
grinding, and packing for market. There are 1,900 
tons of freshly-dug chicory in sight in this picture. 
M. 6. KAIN8. 
BEETS vs. CANE FOR SUGAR. 
THE COST OF BEET SUGAR IN THE UNITED STATES COM¬ 
PARED WITH CANE SUGAR FROM THE TROPICS. 
Kicli Beets. —The average of sugar in beets, grown 
in 1897 in New York and Michigan, was 16% per cent; 
last year, owing to an unfavorable season, it was about 
15% per cent, so that 250 to 300 pounds of raw sugar 
may be depended on from a ton of beets. There re¬ 
main the pulp and molasses for stock food, containing 
more nutrition than other crops give from the same 
area of land. These wastes fed on the land where 
beets are grown, together with the lime and lime-cake 
from the factory, supply plant food, so that little ad¬ 
ditional fertilizer is needed for the beet and rotating 
crops. 
By-Products Saved. —Refined sugar made direct 
from beets, together with all its by-products for stock 
and field crops, finds immediate use at the door of the 
beet-sugar factory, a saving compared with cane sugar 
produced in the tropics, and which is more than the 
entire cost of making beet sugar in Germany or in the 
United States, when once the business has been es¬ 
tablished. The cost of making beet sugar in Ger¬ 
many is 40 to 50 cents per 100 pounds of the raw sugar 
made. The cost of refining the tropical cane sugars, 
in our seaboard refineries, after the sugar has been 
transported thousands of miles, is said to be % to % 
cent per pound. 
Other Expenses Compared.— The cost of bag¬ 
ging and hauling the raw cane sugar from the factory 
to the seaboard in tropical countries, together with 
ocean freight to our own seaboard, added to the inland 
expenses on the refined cane sugar, before it reaches 
the consumer, are all necessary and peculiar to tropi¬ 
cal cane sugar, and wholly unnecessary on beet sugar 
produced and consumed in the United States. The 
extraordinary expenses attached to tropical cane 
sugar amount to one-half to one cent per pound on 
the refined cane sugar, and exceed the total cost of 
making white granulated beet sugar made direct from 
beets. This alone finally will determine the source 
whence we will in the future get our supply of sugar. 
The cheaper labor in the tropics is more than offset 
by its inefficiency and unreliability, and the higher 
cost of skilled labor there. The cost of fuel and other 
things required to make sugar is higher in the tropics, 
while the available sugar from a ton of cane is at least 
one-third less than from beets. The average yield of 
raw sugar from a ton of cane in the tropics is less than 
140 to 160 pounds, in Hawaii said to be 200 to 220, 
while a ton of beets grown in New York or Michigan 
gives 250 to 300 pounds of raw sugar. The by-products 
from the tropical cane-sugar factory are worthless, 
except for fuel, estimated 10 to 15 cents per ton of 
cane used; its fertilizing value is lost, so that large 
outlays for fertilizers are necessary every year, which 
are wholly unnecessary in growing beets when the 
by-products are properly utilized. Hence, it remains 
only for the farmers of the United States to determine 
17 in. 
c 
<*- 
CM 
21 in. 
o 
FASTENING A SILO DOOR. Fig. 9. 
for themselves whether they will supply themselves 
and the rest of the world with sugar, or permit Euro¬ 
pean farmers to monopolize this industry. 
Beet Sugar Gaining. —But a few years ago, more 
than nine-tenths of the sugar of the world was from 
cane; now nearly seven-tenths is from beets. Cane- 
sugar factories are being abandoned, while beet-sugar 
factories are multiplying everywhere throughout the 
world. In Hawaii, alone, where by reciprocity we 
have paid the cane-sugar growers bounties, is the cane 
sugar industry profitable. England and Holland have 
fought hard to sustain cane sugar in their colonies, 
but both countries are now turning to the production 
of beet sugar in their own lands. The tests made in 
England last year show the soil and climate there 
well suited for sugar beets. Spreckels, the largest 
cane-sugar producer in the world, has sold his in¬ 
terests in the most favored cane sugar country 
(Hawaii) and is now the largest beet-sugar producer 
in the world. o. k. lai-ham. 
A FARMER AND A LICENSE. 
“IT IS HIS BEST FRIEND.” 
Squash at One Cent. — I most heartily agree with 
Franklyn R. Tabor, in The R. N -Y. of December 24, 
regarding a farmer having to pay a license for the 
sale of his products. An incident this season illus¬ 
trates to good advantage why the small dealers should 
be kept out. I was selling Summer squash on my 
market wagon for from six to eight cents each. On 
going to market, I found that one of these small, one- 
horse marketmen, so-called, had canvassed the trade, 
selling his lot for one cent each, just because he 
thought he had a few more than he could use, and he 
would run them into town, selling them at any price 
the buyers were a mind to give him, little thinking 
of the harm he had done to the vegetable trade. But 
he had set the price, not only for the coming week, 
but for the season. 
On going to my regular trade, I found that nearly 
all said, “ I have bought of Mr. - for one cent 
what you have asked six to eight for,” and if I wish 
to sell more, they will answer, “ That Mr.-will 
be in again in a few days, with some at one cent each.” 
Whether he come or not, they think he will come 
again. I would have been glad to buy his entire lot, 
paying him a good price, rather than to have him cut 
the market in that way. 
Let All be Licensed. —This is only one instance 
in a hundred where the same is tried not on vege¬ 
tables but on fruits. The peddlers do not want to sell 
to the stores, because most stores will take country 
produce only for goods in return, therefore farmers 
will sell for a larger discount rather than to take all 
in store trade. As for cutting prices among licensed 
marketmen, I have not had an experience where they 
do not know each other’s prices and stick to them ; if 
one gardener is selling for such an amount, another 
is sure to follow. It may not be so in all places, but 
it is surely so here with us. 
I think a license is the gardener's best friend ; the 
farmer who has only a few quarts of berries or a few 
vegetables, will not take out a license for the sale of 
them, but will sell to the trade, which is always ready 
to purchase, and he will receive a far better price 
than he would to carry them to market. I do not 
wish to go against the farmer, neither do I wish him 
not to have a chance to dispose of his products at a 
good market price ; but I do hope that the time will 
come when all will have to take out a license if they 
wish to make a business of selling farm and garden 
products, thereby freezing out these small second- 
class gardeners and berrypickers, who do not wish to 
make anything themselves, or to let any one that 
makes the business a study, and goes to market to 
supply the demands every day. c. A. e. 
Claremont, N. II. 
WHAT THEY SAY. 
A Silo Door. —Has any one a better plan for a silo 
door? If so, let us see it Ours is beveled and about 
17 x 24 inches. I bored a 5-16-inch hole in the center, 
drove a %-inch bolt from inside, put a 5 x 21-inch hard¬ 
wood strip bored in the center, on the bolt, then put on 
nut. When the door is being placed, let the strip be 
lengthwise of the door, then when placed crosswise, 
screw up the nut; no injury will result to the door 
from nailing, and no injury to the cows froj. nails 
dropped in the ensilage. See Fig. 9. w. w. c. 
Erie County, N. Y. 
English Potato Growing. —Here is an extract from 
a letter recently received from my brother in Eng¬ 
land, who in telling of everyday happenings around 
the old home, says : “ Clark is hauling potatoes to the 
station, 10 tons at a load, with a traction engine. 
There are thousands of tons this year ; one man has 
two miles of grass, and the yield is from eight to 10 
tons per acre in most cases. Tom Worth is sending 
200 tons from the old 18 acres.” 
It should be borne in mind that a ton means 2,240 
pounds, and that no tuber that will fall through a 
1%-inch riddle is marketed or counted in the above 
yield. The ground around there has been cropped 
continuously for a century, and is all in rented farms 
of from 100 to 800 acres in size ; so this is no report of 
fancy farming, but just plain farming on rented farms 
where each farmer grows from 20 to 100 or more acres 
of potatoes, with wheat, barley, beans, turnips, etc. 
Sheep and cattle are, also, kept in proportion to size 
of farm. e. w. 
Ohio. 
Sugar-Beet Seed. —The French and Germans have 
“bred” the sugar-beet for an increase of sugar as 
carefully as Jersey cattle breeders have bred and se¬ 
lected their cows for improved butter production. 
Prof. F. S. Kedzie, of Michigan, who is in Germany 
studying the beet-sugar industry, writes about this 
matter of seed breeding. The Michigan Fruit Grower 
reports him as saying that the size, shape and leaves 
of the beet are all considered. To get at the richness 
of the beet, they rasp out a hole two-thirds of an inch 
in diameter directly through the richest part of the 
beet, and determine the per cent of sugar in the rasp¬ 
ings. If the per cent of sugar is satisfactorily high, 
and the beet answers the other requirements, it is 
carefully stored until the next year, and then planted 
for seed production. Seed obtained from this beet is 
sown, and if the “ daughters ” obtained are as sweet 
and good-looking as the mother, they are planted for 
seed, and the process repeated year after year until 
they have reached the great, great, great, great, great, 
great granddaughter of the original mother. If this 
descendant is equal to or excels her remote ancestor 
in points selected in determining the breeding type, 
the seed breeder considers it to be satisfactorily fixed, 
and the seed produced from these beets fit to be placed 
on the market. Of course, many of these beets do not 
show any great improvement, and such strains are 
rejected. 
