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Show I Sugar Beet Supremacy (Bv George Frederic Stratton.) Tt Is" nearly a half century since beet sugar was first produced in Califor-nia; Califor-nia; yet today you might stroll the whole length of Broadway, New York, ' mid ask every man and woman if they know anvthing about it and get from ninety out of a hundred tho roply: "Never heard of it" From nine more you would hear: "I think it's madOj in Europe or Africa or somewhere ; and the last of tho hundred might say: "I believe Uioy make a lot of it oui j! West Colorado or Michigan or some ; of those states." Hi When the recent sugar famine oc-1 curred in tho Eastern cities there, Hj, came this cheering note from tho Farj West: "Send along your freight cars, and we'll help you out on sugar." It is vcrv certain that statement came as a big surprise, except to the big refiners and dealers, for the produc-lion produc-lion even the existence of beet su-gar su-gar is unknown to tho vast majority of consumers east of the Great Lakes, nnd to very many west of them. And that surprise will bo intensified when they learn that for nearly a decade the production of beet sugar in this coun trv has been triple that of cane su-gaV su-gaV This vear it is much more than h trip'le, it being S76.000 tons of beet Hj sugar against 250,000 tons of the cane 1rlman. connected with one of the Intermountain agricultural colleges recently said that, so far as he could ascertain, tho proportionate increase In beet sugar since the world war commenced was greater than that ot any other food product. In the year before tho first gun was fired in Bel-gium Bel-gium the crop of beet sugar in the United States was 624,000 tons. In ! the season just closed tho crop is S 1 5.- 000 tons an increase of about forty 1 per cent. I1 A Great Surplus Ready. HT That would bo n. remarkable in- H! crease for any great staple, even if the production covered all the states Hp north of Mason and Dixon's line. But this increase of beet sugar is con-fined con-fined to a far smaller district Cal- k iforaia, tho northern Mountain States f and Michigan and Wisconsin. Cer- tainly no other staple crop In Amen-ca Amen-ca was confronted immediately on l tho opening of the war with such an appalling and apparently fatal blow ag lhc SUgar-beet production. Every ; pound of seed till that time had been Hj ' imported from Germany, Austria and Russia. Tho shlpments-from the first two countries were instantly blocked, and the small supply from Russia was obtained only after the adjust-mcnt adjust-mcnt of. astoundingly intricate ship-ping ship-ping routes and methods. - This is not intended as a histon-cal histon-cal narration even of very recont hap- fl penings but as an exposition of what 1 has been done the only basis upon i which we can seo the cheeriness of what is coming. There has been a tremendous amount of advice much 1 of it excellent, some of it simply silly unloaded on the farmer during the past four years. Among it all scarcely any mention has been made of the beet sugar; and Hl vet the producers of that crop, unad- vised and unwarned,- saw for them-selves them-selves what was coming, quickly sprang to meet tho emergency, and already have provided a great surplus to lielp out tho increased demands up-on up-on the world's cane-sugar supply 1 the increase caused by cutting off the i previously available enormous pro- 1 duction of beet sugar in Germany and i Austria. . And still that surplus will increase; there is no doubt of it. The beet-sugar beet-sugar manufacturers of the Inter-mountain Inter-mountain region alone have Increased their factories from seventeen in 1914 to twenty-nine now in operation, at a cost of nearly $15,000,000. They have nearly doubled their manufacturing ca. pacifies in these four years, and those shrewd, farseeing managers, with their actual personal knowledge of all the views of all tho farmers, would not make that gigantic Increase unless convinced that the raw material for those great factories would bp pro. duced. And what has been dono by tho In termountain men has boon dono by tho alert producers in the othor sugar states. It might have been moro spectacularly spec-tacularly patriotic to have thrown their acres into grain or Into feeding stock the whole country was urging that but although beet sugar was comparatively unnoticed, tho farmers who had been raising beets knew not a little of what the crop meant and what it would mean when the enormous enorm-ous supply of Europe was cut off. And thoy got read'. Thcro is no attempt to hint hero that beet farmers or any farmers aro not susceptible to tho temptation of high prices; yet, strangely, the soaring soar-ing of grains and of meas, far in excess ex-cess of the advance in sugar beets, has not seduced ono aero from growing grow-ing beets. Tho acreage has increased about thirty-fivo per cent, with tho tonnago of production. Tho sharp advanco in grain has always brought with it sharp doubts, and "the conditions of growing aro much moro susceptible to loss than thoso of beet3. In tho making of beef, mutton or pork tho enormous riso in hay and grain values comes in for consideration. All that Is "something else again," as Mr. Porlmutter was fond of remarking. But with beets tho system under which they have been grown and marketed has been so nearly perfect, so absolutely freo from tho speculative specula-tive exploits of handlers and comrais-sion comrais-sion men, that tho farmer has always been ablo to look upon tho growing crop as just so many Hollars in tho bank. There is ample assurance that if tho transportation facilities can bo made to do their bit tho sugar-famine flurry of the East will bo found to have no basis in low production of tho West. If any reassurance is needed, a glance at the splendid way in which the apparent annihilation by the war blockades of any possibility of obtaining ob-taining beet seed was met will show the stamp of men engaged in sugar-beet sugar-beet production. Although some stock of seed was left ovor in the winter of 1914-15, it was forty per cent short of enough for the usual acreage, and many of the sugar manufacturers manu-facturers and growers saw no possibility possi-bility of obtaining seed to plant one acre in 191G. Made-in-America Seed. But one company the Utah-Idaho Sugar Company had been pursuing a policy of preparedness. I will quote Thomas R. Cutler, then general manager man-ager of that company, since retired: "A dozen years ago we commenced experimenting with seed raising, for we never felt safe In depending upon I foreign countries, especially such po-1 liticallv uncertain ones as Russia and i Germany, for our supply. We tested soils, climates and methods and spent over $40",00d on the experiments, biK not until the -year 1912 could wo claim to produce first-class seed and at a cost which was not prohibitive. That year wo bought in Germany a thousand thous-and pounds of pedigreed mother seed at five dollars a pound tho normal price for our farm seed being about fifteen cents. Our 1914 crop of seed was 450,000 pounds, the first big crop of really good seed ever raised in the United States. "The tests showed it to be fully equal to any we had ever imported. The climate and soil aro excellent and we raised a greater weight to the acre than any record shown by Germany Ger-many or Russia. "That was only halt of the amount we required for our normal planting. But here again we headed off trouble. It had been our practice for years to import and carry over each year sufficient suf-ficient extra seed to plant half our acreage. We did that as an insur-nce insur-nce against crop failure or bullet hurling In those countries. Consequently Conse-quently wo had on hand at tho opening open-ing of 3915 as much seed as wo required re-quired for a full planting, without having hav-ing to buy or attempt to buy one pound from those foreign gentlemen." gentle-men." But that company was tho only one of all tho beet-sugar makers that had produced seed, and there were some who had never held over seed as a precaution againBt trouble. Some of the makers had not a pound of seed ahead; others had some varying vary-ing quantities, and a searching and very close inventory made by all, tho moment the European conflict commenced, com-menced, showed (hat tho total holdings hold-ings were as before stated barely sufficient for forty per cent ot tho normal acreage. If, however, the great majority ot the manufacturers had neglected the insurance which the Utah-Idaho Sugar Su-gar company secured, they were by no means slow in jumping at the trouble the moment it threatened. Instantly, on Germany's declaration of war, all tho sugar men of tho Middle and. Far West got together for co-operation, and in September they sent a committee com-mittee of three men with $1,000,000 in specie over to Russia to endeavor to make immediate purchases and shipments. ship-ments. There was long delay a period ol nearly three months elapsing betorc ono word of communication was received re-ceived from that committee but finally fin-ally they succeeded in getting some seed through, and It arrived barely Id time for the planting. It was not sufficient for the normal acreage, but quick decision and fine co-operation between the manufactur era and the farmers saved tho day Tho usual practice had been to sow eighteen pounds to tho aero by drills but the agricultural managers of th companies Instantly went among th farmers and assured them that, fron previous repeated tests, twelve pound: to the acre would raise as heavy a cro by thinner seeding followed by re planting gaps when the thinning ou I was dono. The usual acreage was planted am that year was safe. The Utah-Idahi Sugar company doubled iLn crop o seed that year, and, in the meantime all tho sugar manufacturers ha( formed a company, called the Unite( States Beet Seed company. It securei 3400 acres of fine farm land in Idaho sent a special agent to Russia to brini over an expert on beet-seed culture mado Thomas R. Cutler its president and last year produced 10,000 bags o seed 1,000,000 pounds which held u pr fully to every test of the best seei ovor imported from Gormany. Tho crop this year will be much larger, and negotiations are under way for a great increase In the acreage, sufficient suffi-cient to make the United States independent inde-pendent df any other nation. Largo as this year's crop of seed Is, it is far short of the requirements of all the growers of tho country not counting those who arc supplied by tho Utah -Idaho Sugar company. Ijiat company has raised sufficient seed for tho past two years on its experimental farms in Idaho and Utah to meet all its growers' needs. Tho balance of the seed for tho other companies has been obtained from Russia, at an expense ex-pense sixfold ns great as in tho normal nor-mal times. In nddition to tho large 'advance in the first cost is tho enormous enor-mous oxpenso of getting it out of Russia to Japan, across Japan to the coast and than to Tacoma, Wash. It all Involves underground methods of transportation, with costly gilding of I palms, but it has to bo dono. Probably it will have to be dono for another year. Then "Made-in-America" seed will bo tho solo supply, If the splendid organization and preparation prepara-tion of the United States Beet Seed company meet with anything like normal nor-mal response in crops. Tho production of tho seed is not simple gardening or farm work. It involves a mass of handwork and care which only tho most advanced of truck farmers are accustomed to. Three years ago Mr. Cutler, of tho Utah -Idaho Sugar company, com-pany, determined to obtain the finest pedigreed seed obtainable to start a now farm tract, and got some from Austria no one knows how at a cost of $50 a pound. That seed was planted by hand with the utmost care and economy. When the tho thinning-out time came the young plants pulled out wore replanted in prepared ground. In the fall the selected se-lected mother beets were stored in pits not being allowed to touch one another and covered with damp soil.( Day and night through tho winter special employees watched tho temperature, tem-perature, adding or taking off covering to hold tho temperature positively at botween 35 and 40 degrees. The mother beets arc carefully planted In tho spring and conscientiously conscien-tiously cultivated and irrigated through tho summer. In the fall tho scedjs hand-picked and threshed out Tlic cost of all Is considerably higher than tho normal prices of imported seed, because of the comparatively high cost of hand labor here, but the sugar mon are a unit in declaring that even though tho war closed at once they would not cease in tho slightest degrco the work already started; they will never again place dependence upon a foreign country for supplies. Four More Factories Planned. It has been splendid work right through, not only by the farmers but by tho manufacturers; and that the determination to increase the crop enormously is backed by exhaustive preparation is shown by the fact that at least four more factories are now planned and will bo built in time for the 191S crop. And farmers .all ovor tho beet districts are preparing for more acreage. They aro encouraged In that by a fair share in the advanco In the price of sugar. In 1914-15 the contracted price a ton for beets was $5. This year the price is fixed at $8.50. Or, if tho farmers prefer another rate which very few do it will bo mado $7.00 a ton for the beets delivered, and a 50-50 division of tho manufacturers' profus, as determined by United States accountants. ac-countants. The districts in which sugar beets thrive are also districts in which the potato is or should be a winner; but the results of the potato exploits of 1917 were disappointing to many growers. grow-ers. The crop was all right, but tho prices so far have not boosted very high, and tho utter confusion of transportation trans-portation is causing terrific losses. This undoubtedly will cause a great acreage, usually in potatoes, to be put into beets, and consequently the sugar production will be largely increased. Almost every factory now in operation has capacity or can be equipped quickly quick-ly to produce thirty to forty per cent moro sugar than it is now making. The new factories being built are not for tho purposo of using up .any surplus of beets in tho already equipped districts: dis-tricts: they are in sections where beet sugar has nevor before been produced. That the American -grown beet sugar has suddenly assumed an Importance nover before credited to it may be seen 'by a consideration of tho cane-sugar production. There has been no appreciable ap-preciable increase in that sinco the war commenced. The Southern States' crop Is about 250,000 tons; the Hawaiian Hawai-ian crop, 500,000 tons. Together these do not equal tho present tonnago of beet sugar. Cuba's crop raw sugar runs about 3,000.000 tons, of which two -thirds usually has been roccived. refined and consumed In this country. Now, however, tho Allies, finding their great source of sugar from Austria, Gormany and Russia cut off, are looking look-ing to Cuba, and there is no reason why Cuba should not sell to thoso distressed dis-tressed nations rather than to us. That apparently cuts down our supply sup-ply of cano sugar from a normal 2,750.-000 2,750.-000 tons to the 750.000 tons from Louisiana Lou-isiana and Hawaii, and makes beet sugar loom big. The beet farmers saw that from tho first and coupled with the stability of culture of tho crop and its freedom from tho idiosyncrasies of handlers and rehandle.rs, speculators and manipulators man-ipulators they have felt a greater interest in-terest nnd a greater tempctation in its than any other food product they could raiso. Henco the splendid increase. The prejudice that may have existed in the past in tho districts where beet sugar was manufactured, because of sorao defects in the machinery, the men or tho process of tho early daj's, has almost disappeared. That prejudice preju-dice never has extended to the east, where tho sugar lias been bought as just sugar, without any question as to its origin. No difference was observed because no difference existed. Analytical Analyti-cal tests by the most expert chemists have determined that In saccharine content and purity the beet sugar is fully equal to tho cane sugar. There is a point in connection with beet production which must not be overlooked. The by-product of the sugar factories is pulp, which In 1917 amounted, roughly, to 6,000,000 tons. The by-product of the farms is tho tops and crowns, amounting to over half as much moro a total of 10,000.-000 10,000.-000 tons of excellent feed, sufficient, mixed with one -sixth its weight of alfalfa, al-falfa, to put 250,000,000 pounds of beef onto a million lean rango feeders in about four months, without grain. This has been shown by repeated trials, and consequently it shows that the acreage devoted to beets also is doing its part very effectively in making mak-ing beef. |