Vol. LVI. No. 2498. 
NEW YORK, DECEMBER n, 1897. 
81.00 PER YEAR. 
BEET-SUGAR PRODUCTION IN N. Y. STATE. 
CAN NEW YORK COMPETE WITH THE WEST ? 
Will it be possible for New Y’ork State farmers to compete with 
other sections in beet-sugar production ? It seems to us that this 
industry will naturally go to the Far West, as wheat-growing and 
meat-making have gone. Do you advise the erection of beet- 
sugar factories in New York State ? 
Secretary of Agriculture Wilson Talks. 
The Eastern States require some money crop to 
diversify their industries just as much as the West, 
and I think, more so. They can grow sugar heets, 
and by feeding the pulp to the dairy cow, give her 
the food she needs, and keep the fertility on the 
farm. I would not advise anybody in any part of the 
United States where the land has been long under 
cultivation to plant a large per cent of cultivated area 
on the farm to sugar beets, or any other crop, for that 
matter ; but 10 to 15 acres, or even 20 acres, according 
to the size of the farm, planted to 
sugar beets, would be justifiable, and 
it would save Eastern dairymen from 
buying bran from the West to a con¬ 
siderable extent. I can see no argu¬ 
ment against the people of New York 
putting in sugar beets on a part of 
their farms. There is no more reason 
why we should buy sugar from abroad, 
than butter, cheese, or anything else 
that we might raise at home. It should 
become a permanent policy of the farm¬ 
ers of the United States to devote 
enough of their lands to the things we 
buy, so as to keep the money at home, 
and furnish labor for the laboring 
classes. Sugar beets, of all things, 
should be raised for the double reason 
that they supply a demand, and they 
do not deplete the soil, because the 
pulp can be fed to the dairy cow. 
JAMES WILSON. 
A Sensible View. 
You must be aware, of course, of the 
difficulties involved in forming an 
opinion concerning the success of an 
enterprise, based upon future and un¬ 
known business conditions. No doubt 
exists in my mind as to the possibility 
of producing, in this State, crops of 
sugar beets satisfactory in quantity, and 
containing a good average per cent of 
sugar. I feel like cautioning the farm¬ 
ers of the State that there is no prob¬ 
ability of our beets being very much 
better than what have been regarded 
as satisfactory averages. Newspaper 
statements concerning beets contain¬ 
ing 17 to 20 per cent of sugar should, 
at present, be regarded with great 
suspicion as applying to average con¬ 
ditions. Many seem to think, evidently, 
that when we once establish the fact 
of being able to grow good quantities 
of beets of a satisfactory quality, noth¬ 
ing else needs to be determined in 
order to be sure we can succeed in 
sugar-beet growing. Other factors of 
the problem are fully as important and 
more difficult of determination. 
In the first place, there is great 
danger that capital invested in this 
enterprise will not be intelligently 
directed. This danger is shown by the 
failure of certain factories in the 
United States to carry on a paying 
business. One $200,000 factory is now 
standing idle in Wisconsin, chiefly be¬ 
cause of mismanagement, if I am cor¬ 
rectly informed. We have few, if any, eastern men 
who, through experience, have become qualified to 
enter this field. Again, our farmers, especially those 
who have done what we call general farming, are not 
accustomed to the careful and exact methods that are 
necessary for growing sugar beets of the right char¬ 
acter. The culture of this crop requires painstaking 
and relatively expensive care. Some farmers will at 
once fall into correct practices, but there is some rea¬ 
son for fearing that many will do what has so often 
been done in other lines of agricultural practice, 
namely, regard their own opinions as good as those 
of any other person, and decline to take expert ad¬ 
vice. I mention these two factors because, in my 
j udgment, they are the ones most likely of any to 
cause early disappointment and disaster. 
After all, this new enterprise must be judged upon 
a purely business basis. It is a question of margin of 
profit, both with *the farmer and with the manufact¬ 
urer. I shall be agreeably disappointed if New York 
farmers are able, for a time, to produce an average of 
15 tons per acre of high-grade beets. Assuming, how¬ 
ever, that they will do this, there is then the possi¬ 
bility of receiving for an acre of beets on the average 
from $60 to $75 per acre, according to the price. If it 
had not been for the bounty off dred by the State, the 
price in one factory in the State would, I understand, 
this year have been $4 per ton. On this basis, it 
seems to me that it is not possible to figure out ex¬ 
traordinary margins, but it does seem probable that, 
with labor-saving machinery and a careful adherence 
to the best methods, $60 per acre should pay the 
farmer good wages for his time and a fair rental for 
the land. He is certainly not justified in expecting 
more than that. 
It is difficult to prophesy what place western com¬ 
petition will take in this matter. We 
may reasonably expect that it will 
come, as it has in so many lines of pro¬ 
duction,because there is a large amount 
of western land that is available for 
sugar-beet growing. It is doubtful, 
though, whether a fear of future com¬ 
petition should cause the farmers of 
any section to fold their hands and do 
nothing. The time is certainly coming 
when western competition, as we now 
understand it, will not exist, and it 
will not always be the case that the 
fertile lands and intelligent farmers of 
the State of New York will be handi¬ 
capped by cheap western fertility. 
Geneva Exp. Station, w. h. Jordan. 
Advantages of German Farmers. 
I am strongly inclined to agree with 
you in the belief that it is very doubt¬ 
ful whether the beet-sugar industry, 
under the present conditions, can be a 
pronounced success in New York. It 
was my privilege to spend the greater 
part of last year in Germany, and there 
to see something of the beet-sugar in¬ 
dustry in that country. So far as I 
could see, the conditions existing there 
are far more favorable than those in 
the United States. The climate is more 
favorable as to the production of a cer¬ 
tain crop ; fertilizers are much cheaper, 
with the exception of nitrate of soda 
and other nitrogen manures, and labor 
is, also, very much lower. I visited 
one farm of about 2,700 acres on which 
was situated a large sugar factory 
which manufactured the beets pro¬ 
duced upon the farm, and a very few 
purchased beets in addition. This farm 
was underlaid by extensive coal de- 
pjsits which could be mined and de¬ 
livered at the furnace doors at about 
80 cents per ton. Farm laborers on this 
estate were paid as follows : Women, 
from 20 to 25 cents a day ; men, from 
30 to 45 cents a day. The yearly rent 
paid for this farm amounted to about 
$7.50 per acre. Men in the factory 
were paid at the rate of 40 to 65 cents 
per day of 12 hours, one-half the time 
from 6 p.m. to 6 a.ji , as the factory was 
run 24 hours. The factory, at the time 
of my visit, was producing from 40 to 
50 tons of sugar daily. The price re¬ 
ceived for this sugar, at the time of 
my visit, was about 2% cents a pound. 
The cost of .manufacturing was about 
THE BEST WAY TO “WATER THE MILK”. Fia. 336. 
“LOOKING BACKWARD” AT NEW JERSEY AGRICULTURE, c Fie 337. 
