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The United States imports yearly an amount of sugar valued at $100,000,000. Every fifteen years this quantity is doubled. We gather the following figures in this connection from a work entitled the "American Sugar Industry:" "Taking the imports for 1895-6, say 1,720,000 long tons annually, to produce this quantity would require 920 factories, each working up 350 tons of beets during a campaign of 100 days of 24 hours. Each factory would need 2,000 to 2,500 acres of beets, or about 2,000,000 acres in all. As the crop should only be grown on the same ground every third year, three times as large an area would be needed. At an average of only ten tons per acre, the total crop would approximate 20,000,000 tons. At only $4 per ton net for beets delivered to the factory, the farmers would receive $80,000,000 for this new crop. Each factory would cost about $350,000 —in all over $300,000,000. For running each factory, the cost of labor and materials, aside from beets, would be about $500 per day during the season, or $50,000 for the whole period, making the annual distribution for labor and materials about $45,000,000. Each of these 900 sugar mills means the yearly distribution in its immediate vicinity of $150,000 to $200,000, for 30,000 to 50,000 tons of beets; $50,000 to $75,000, for factory labor and supplies; $10,000 to $25,000, for repairs, salaries, etc. The profits and reserves remaining would be from $25,000 to $75,000. Under average conditions it is safe to calculate on a yearly turn over by each factory equal in amount to its capital. The factories at Watsonville and Salinas, California, represent an investment of from $1,000,000 to $3,000,000 each, and from them the farmers will receive $2,500,000 yearly for the necessary supply of beets. When the sugar beet was first cultivated in the late "seventies," other crops paid better. The first factories were not well located, the beets were of poorer quality, and the price of wheat was high, making it more valuable to cultivate than beets. Then 11 per cent of sugar beets was considered a fair average. Now the average is from 14 to 15 per cent, and from 18 to 24 per cent has been shown in tests. In 1884, the world's production of beet sugar was 2,500,000 long tons. Since 1892, the average yearly production has almost doubled. In 1898, nearly two-thirds of the sugar consumed in the world came from beets. An acre of corn at the West yielding 40 bushels of grain, worth 15 cents a bushel, will buy about 100 pounds of granulated sugar at the grocery. The same acre, devoted to sugar beets, will produce 2,000 to 3,000 pounds of refined sugar. Sugar beets yield $25 to $50 per acre, and leave a net profit of $10 to $25 per acre. NEW INVENTIONS IN FLOOR COVERINGS Emile Berliner, the inventor of many electrical and mechanical devices, in experimenting with the matting on his floors, found that the dust filtered through it in a short time, and that if a break occurred it was almost always necessary to recover the entire floor. To remedy these defects, he conceived the idea of cutting the matting into small squares or other designs, and laying them like parquet. The inventor took ordinary Chinese or Japanese matting and backed it up with linoleum paste, which has a tendency to strengthen the fibre. The squares were then pressed on heavy cardboard, after which they were laid on the floor and fastened with a few tacks. A coat or two of varnish was then added, which enhanced the brilliancy of the pattern, and made it possible to rub the floor with a damp cloth when it became dusty. As one square wears out, it can be easily removed and a new one inserted. Waste cork, from the big factories, that turn out the various products of this material, is utilized in the making of linoleum. Perhaps the greatest linoleum manufacturing center in the world is Delmenhorst, Germany, which town is also the greatest cork center of Europe. An innovation in the construction of floors was invented by one Otto Kraner, of Chemnitz, Germany, in 1896. It was a special preparation of paper pulp which the inventor called papyrolith. It was prepared as a dry powder, which was to be mixed with water. When this mixture was spread on a foundation of stone, cement or wood, it dried in a short time, after which it was planed and polished down to a smooth surface. The wearing qualities of a floor of this description are said to be remarkable. Some of the chief advantages claimed for papyrolith were the facts that it was solid and left the floor without a crevice; that it was a non-conductor of heat, and possessed a tendency to deaden noise. It was also said to be almost fireproof. Papyrolith never gained a foothold in the United States. There is a large concern in Pennsylvania which makes carpets from new rags and remnants. This firm gathers its materials from the big cotton weaving mills and from the large jobbing houses throughout the country and they are woven into carpets that sell for a good price. This carpet is woven in the same manner as the old-fashioned rag carpets, and the remnants after being cut into strips are sewed together by the country folk of the neighborhood about the factory. Some of these carpets are made in solid colors and the effect is excellent. On account of the rags being entirely new and strong, this texture is often as durable as the old time rag floor covering. Undoubtedly the star innovation in carpet floor covering was that made by Frank F. Hodges, who was originally a manufacturer of straw goods in Boston, when he tried to introduce in 1892 a fabric which he termed "Oriental carpeting." This fabric was woven to all intents and purposes after the manner of ordinary carpeting, but instead of the warp being of wool or jute fibre, it was made of twisted tissue paper. The opposition which this fabric met in the beginning was exceedingly strong and persistent, but after years of laborious and expensive experimenting, Mr. Hodges was able to produce a fibre from which he has since successfully made rugs and carpetings which were durable, sanitary and very sightly. ELEVATED RAILROADS
BOOK III |
