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Las Cruces the Black Hamburg, Chasselas, and other varieties of the Vitis vinifera family have borne and fruited for many years. At Los Corrales, in Bernalillo County, a French gentleman, M. Louis Alary, who is one of the largest vineyard owners in the Territory, procured some fifteen years ago a dozen different sorts of the German and French varieties, cultivated under the name of California grapes in that State, among which were two or three kinds of Chasselas, Riessling, Zinfandel, Gutedel, Medoc, and Burgundy, black varieties, etc., and he now makes and ships annually several hundred barrels of wine, mainly of the claret brands, which can not be told from the California clarets that come here from that State, except possibly that they are better in quality than the latter wines. His table grapes, he informed the writer, sell in Colorado for double or thrice the price that his Mission grapes bring, and he has almost entirely abandoned the cultivation of the last-mentioned grape, which he had at first planted exclusively.

The Christian Brothers, at Bernalillo, ship every year considerable quantities of their red wines to the Northwestern States for church purposes, for which, as well known, none but the absolutely pure juice of the grape is used. Even in Santa Fe, 7,000 feet above sea level, some of the earlier varieties of the Vitis vinifera-of French origin-such as the Black and White Madeleine, the Chasselas de Fontainebleau, and some others, endure ordinary winters without protection and ripen perfectly, although native American sorts are safer and more profitable to cultivate there.

SUGAR BEET IN NEW MEXICO.

The Department of Agriculture recently issued a special report on the beet-sugar industry in the United States which discusses at length the growth of sugar consumption and the extent of the home market. The conclusion drawn is that, however rapidly the production of sugar may be increased, it will be necessary for a number of years to come to import large quantities of that commodity. At present we import annually 2,000,000 tons of sugar, and the consumption is increasing more rapidly than the growth in population. It is evident that it will require a large increase in the number of sugar factories to supply the home demand. In the course of time the industry sheltered by a tariff would become so well established that it could resist foreign competition, especially in the irrigated region of the Southwest, where conditions are particularly favorable to the production of sugar beets with a high percentage of saccharine matter. It is doubtful if there is any part of the world where beet sugar can be produced to greater advantage than in New Mexico. There is, perhaps, no branch of agriculture receiving at the present time more attention from agricultural economists than that of sugar-beet growing. The capitalist, the wholesale merchant, and the consumer are all studying the subject from the individual view point of each, and those who investigate without prejudice can have no difficulty in concluding that the manufacture of sugar from beets grown in an irrigating country such as New Mexico, where all the conditions are of the most favorable character, has advantages, present and prospective, over almost any other industry. Such business combines manufacturing with farming, thereby utilizing all classes of labor and capital, and when we stop to reflect that it requires about 90 per cent of all our country's vast exports of wheat and flour to pay for the sugar we import we need not marvel that the subject is of such deep concern to farmer and capitalist and the public in general.

NEW MEXICO'S FACTORY.

In the far-famed Pecos Valley as early as 1891 it was known that sugar beets yielding a very high per cent of saccharine could be grown in New Mexico. In that year a number of samples grown in the Pecos

Valley were shipped to the Department of Agriculture in Washington for analysis, and were found to contain 14 per cent of sugar, the richest beets giving 21.85 per cent.

On April 10, 1893. the United States Department of Agriculture, in its Bulletin No. 36, announced, the result of an exhaustive series of tests with sugar beets, in which New Mexico was shown to lead the world, the average figures for this Territory being: Percentage of solids in the beets, 19.4; percentage of sugar, 15.34; ratio of purity,

83.2.

Experiments in sugar-beet growing continued in the Pecos Valley until 18995, with results so satisfactory that in the following year the first sugar factory in New Mexico was built at Eddy, now Carlsbad. This factory has a capacity of 200 tons of beets per day, and is capable of producing 4,000,000 pounds of granulated sugar per season. sugar produced has been pronounced equal to the famous French grades, from which are manufactured the best confections of Paris.

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An average of 14 tons to the acre is considered a fair crop in the Pecos Valley. The factory at Carlsbad pays $4.75 per ton for beets, delivered. The freight charges are 50 cents per ton from any station on the Pecos Valley Railway. As most of the beets are delivered by rail, the farmer therefore realizes at least $4.25 per ton f. o. b. cars at his nearest station.

This factory is so arranged that its capacity may be easily doubled at comparatively small expense. Indeed, this would have been an accomplished fact at this time had it not been for a scarcity of sugarbeet farmers. A plan is now on foot to locate in Eddy County a large colony of German farmers, for the purpose of engaging them chiefly in sugar-beet growing. Notwithstanding the innumerable advantages of soil, climate, irrigation facilities, and a ready home market for the raw product, the factory has had some difficulty for the past two years in securing beets enough for the usual "campaign," or run of one hundred days. It seems that the American farmers who have cast their lot in this rich valley are so engrossed in the raising of high-bred cattle and sheep, the planting of great alfalfa fields, or in fruit growing or truck gardening, that they have not the patient, plodding disposition to engage in beet raising, however remunerative it may prove. For this reason the Pecos Irrigation Company proposes to plant near Carlsbad a colony of foreigners, whose training and general characteristics better adapt them to this special branch of agriculture.

SAN JUAN'S BOAST.

Again, as to San Juan County in particular, a very remarkable exhibit at the Territorial fair at Albuquerque last fall was one showing the relative amount of sugar in beets grown in this county and those grown in the State of Illinois. Glass vases containing beet-sugar from these two localities were in evidence, showing that 100 pounds of Illinois grown beets produced 12.1 pounds of sugar, whereas the same quantity of San Juan County grown beets produced 19.43 pounds of sugar, a very material advantage in favor of New Mexico.

Throughout the Rio Grande Valley, from El Paso to the Colorado line, results appear to be uniformly satisfactory. In the central portion of the Territory, in the high valley region about Santa Fe, the conditions of soil and climate appear to be specially suited to this crop.

Here the uniform temperature and almost perpetual sunshine during the growing season seem to develop a larger percentage of sugar in the beet than in almost any other section of the United States in which tests have been made. It appears from tests made at the experimental station last year that Santa Fe grown beets weighing over 10 pounds tested over 12 per cent sugar content, and smaller beets of less than 20 ounces contained more than 20 per cent of sugar.

The yield per acre with irrigation appears to be merely a matter of care and skill in cultivation and in handling the crop under our conditions of climate. The tendency in over-irrigation is to produce a large beet of small sugar content. On the other hand, on the prevailing sandy clay soil about Santa Fe, from 10 to 12 tons of small beets of large sugar content may be grown with even less water for irrigation than is usually given an average crop of corn. For sugar making the beet most desired should weigh less than 20 ounces and contain more than 15 per cent of sugar; and for the raising of this beet New Mexico has the necessary soil, sunshine, water, and cheap labor to successfully grow in almost any quantity desired.

It is not alone in the production of sugar beets of superior quality that New Mexico invites the attention of the sugar-making interest in the country; her railroad facilities for delivering beets at a common point centrally located for the manufacture of sugar in the Territory are all that can be desired. Both at Santa Fe and at Albuquerque may be located sugar factories convenient to the ample supply of good water, cheap fuel, the best of limestone in unlimited supply for factory use, and reliable local labor. The Rio Grande Valley, and especially in the neighborhood of Santa Fe, has been the home of a native population for many generations accustomed to small truck farming and gardening with irrigation, and already skilled in the light labor required for the cultivation of the sugar beet.

It is rare indeed that all or so many of the conditions for successful beet-sugar production may be found in the same locality.

FAVORABLE LEGISLATION.

Public sentiment in New Mexico has been fully voiced in the act of the legislative assembly which exempts from taxation beet-sugar investments in this Territory for a term of six years. This act of friendly legislation was made with special reference to aiding and inviting the investment of outside capital, and leading business men in any community where the conditions have been shown to be right and suitable for such an enterprise stand ready to cooperate in any way possible with responsible parties who may be seeking locations with a view to establishing sugar-beet-raising colonies or erecting sugar factories. Practical sugar makers by this new system and those interested in colonization enterprises are invited to study New Mexico's manifold advantages as regards this promising industry of the future, and it is believed they will have no difficulty in arriving at the conclusion that this Territory must rank high among the sugarproducing States of the Union, if, indeed, it does not excel all others. The natural conditions here existing all tend to confirm this opinion. An expert, who after acquainting himself somewhat with the conditions here, recently spent some time in inspecting the great factories and sugar-beet farms in California, Utah, and Colorado, expressed

such opinion, and declared there was an opening in New Mexico for a dozen such factories as the one in operation near Rockyford, Colo. He cited comparative statistics on sunshine, soil, etc., in support of his idea, and particularly emphasized the fact that the Rockyford farmers largely depend upon labor imported from New Mexico to do their field work in the cultivation of beets.

A careful study of the adaptability of different sections of the Territory to sugar-beet production has been carried on for seven years past in the chemical department of the agricultural experiment station at Mesilla Park. During the seasons of 1897-98 seed furnished by the United States Department of Agriculture was sent to reliable persons in the different counties in the Territory, the same being accompanied by detailed instructions as to planting, cultivating, harvesting, and sampling the beets. Samples of the beets produced were sent to the station chemical laboratory for analysis. The results secured were published in station bulletins 26 and 29.

Arthur Goss, B. S., professor of chemistry at the college, kindly furnishes for this report the following authoritative statement on the subject:

The average results secured in the Territory and in two of the most promising sections of the same are given in the following tables. For the sake of comparison the results secured in Iowa and Illinois during 1897 are also given. The Iowa and Illinois results, while but for a single year, are not far from the average of that section for different years:

New Mexico sugar beets compared with Iowa and Illinois sugar beets.

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By referring to the figures above it will be seen that the results from New Mexico are considerably higher than those from Iowa and Illinois, even taking into consideration the entire Territory, and if the comparison is made between those States and Santa Fe and San Juan counties in New Mexico it is seen that the results for the above counties are very much higher indeed.

Different parts of the Territory differ very decidedly in beet-producing powers, and the results for the entire Territory are consequently not a fair indication of what can be done in the best localities. Such differences between different sections are to he expected in a Territory having an area considerably greater than the combined area of the ten smallest States of the Union, and possessing greater climatic differences than are to be found in the area between Colorado and Virginia and Louisiana and Michigan. Such, however, is not the case to anything like the same extent in a State like Illinois, for example, having a practically level surface; hence it is perhaps more nearly logical to compare the results from such a State with those from our different counties, some of which are larger than three or four of the smallest States combined.

In 1899 a 700-ton beet-sugar factory was established in Illinois. If a State producing beets averaging less than 13 per cent of sugar can support a factory, why should not such an enterprise be successful in Santa Fe or San Juan County, this Territory, where beets containing practically one-half more sugar can be grown? This will become more apparent when it is remembered that beets must contain 11 or 12 per cent of sugar to pay, and it is only the amount in excess of that figure that goes to make the profit. It is not a question of lack of land, water, fuel, limestone, etc., for the use of the factory, as all of these can be had in abundance in several of the best beet-producing sections of the Territory. In the opinion of the writer, the principal difficulty in the way of the development of the sugar-beet industry, as well as of a great many other industries in the Territory, is the fact that we have not yet been granted statehood, and as a consequence capital is slow to seek investment here.

TOBACCO CULTURE IN NEW MEXICO.

In a former report I called attention to the subject of tobacco culture and its possibilities in New Mexico, and referred to experiments then being made with a view to ascertaining just what could be done here toward the production of a grade of tobacco that would command the attention of manufacturers of this important article of trade. As a result of the interest aroused through correspondence between Mr. James A. Davis, industrial commissioner for the Atchison, Topeka and Santa Fe Railway Company, and the Albuquerque Commercial Club, samples of the New Mexico product were submitted to Mr. W. G. Pilkington, a Virginia authority on tobacco, who reported as follows: The tobacco you sent me has an excellent flavor, but owing to the fact that it was cut before being thoroughly ripe it cured up green. In as dry a climate as New Mexico, with the proper kind of seed to begin with, tobacco ought to cure a splendid bright red color without using any fire at all. But in order to get the right color and flavor two things are necessary-the right kind of seed and allowing the plant to become thoroughly ripe.

In New Mexico the plant bed should be made in February, and should be from 20 to 50 yards square, according to the size of the crop contemplated, and should be irrigated. The plant bed should be gotten in thorough order and the seed should be sown in it by the 1st of March.

The plant should be ready to set out in June, and if the ground is in good order one rain or one irrigation will make the crop. Tobacco requires less water than any other plant I know of. The great trouble with us is that we have too much rain, which makes it cabbage or bunch up. If we could have moisture just when we wanted it, and not too much, and such soil as you have in the West, we would make the finest tobacco in the world.

Further experimental planting last season resulted most satisfactorily. These experiments were chiefly carried on by Maj. Frederick Muller, at Santa Fe; Mr. Herman Blueher, at Albuquerque, and Mr.

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