The beet, unlike sugar cane, grows below the ground, is white in color and shaped like the ordinary carrot, but larger. The beets vary greatly in size, depending upon variety, soil and climatic conditions, the average weight ranging between one and two pounds.
The foliage has a rich, brilliant green color and grows to a height of about fourteen inches. The leaves are numerous and broad and grow in a tuft from the center or crown of the beet, which is usually level with or just above the ground surface.
The average composition of a sugar beet is about as follows:
| Sugar | 17.3 | per cent |
| Marc or pulp | 4.4 | ” |
| Ash and organic non-sugar | .7 | ” |
| Water | 77.6 | ” |
The value of the beet to a factory depends on the amount and purity of the sugar content. Factories as a rule decline to purchase beets containing less than twelve per cent of sucrose, as it is unprofitable to handle them. In order to induce the farmer to devote particular care and attention to the culture of his fields and thus increase the sugar content, the factories pay a premium for beets containing over fifteen per cent of sugar. The premium is usually twenty-five cents per ton of beets for each additional one per cent of sugar. Encouraged by this bonus, the California grower has improved the quality of his beets, until today they contain on an average about eighteen per cent of sugar of a purity from eighty to eighty-four.
By permission of Truman G. Palmer, Esq.
PLOUGHING WITH CATERPILLAR ENGINE
By permission of Truman G. Palmer, Esq.