PROGRESS BULLETIN 
ON 
SUGAR BEETS 
By DAVID O’BRINE, Chemist. 
Last October, in company with the Director of the 
Station, we visited the beet sugar manufactory at Grand 
Island, Nebraska, for the purpose of making ourselves bet¬ 
ter acquainted with the working details of the manufac¬ 
ture of sugar from beets. The factory is situated about two 
miles from Grand Island; a street car line makes connec¬ 
tion with the city every half hour. As we approached the 
factory, wagons could be seen coming from every direction, 
loaded with sugar beets. Henry T. Oxnard, President of 
the company at Grand Island, Nebraska, has given a 
description of the plant, and we copy from the Western 
Resources, taken from the Tribune , the following facts : 
“ Past attempts have, in most part, been made by 
nothing less than adventurers who lacked both capital 
(they had plenty of capital in Illinois) and experience to 
go on with the work. Men who knew literally nothing 
about cultivation of the beet or the process by which 
sugar is extracted from it, jumped into a big undertaking, 
and, of course, failed. There has been a wonderful pro¬ 
gress in the industry in the last fifty years. In 1829 the 
sugar beet yielded only 2 J per cent of sugar to the weight 
of the beet. Ten years ago 9 per cent was the average. 
