Rensselaer Semi-Weekly Republican, Volume 22, Number 98, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 27 August 1901 — A Great Sugar Beet Region. [ARTICLE]

A Great Sugar Beet Region.

Michigan Sugar Beets. The sugar beet crop raised on 10,000 acres of reclaimed swamp land in the marshes of the Kankakee river near Shelby, Ind, the Lake Agricultural Company of which W. E. Shelby, vice-presi-dent of the Grand Rapids & Indiana railway, is the heaviest stockholder, 30,000 tons is now estimated at. Owing to the delay of Chicago parties in financing the matter of erecting a sugar factory to work the crop, this year’s yield will be taken to the factory at Benton Harbor. That this great tract of land, which lies just south of the Michigan line, is capable of raising good sugar beets is not alone shown by the large amount raised but by the chemical tests which have recently been made. A number of beets selected at random showed 14 per cent, sugar and 85 per cent purity. It is believed by Mr. Shelby that this former sjjarnp land is an ideal place for the culture of sugar beets. It was formerly the bottom of a lake and the soil is a black ! loam with just enough sand in it to make it peculiarly adapted for the purpose. It is very fertile as it represents the alluvial deposits of ages. In reply to the question as to whether there would be any more dredge work done for the purpose of reclaiming more of swamp land, Mr. Shelby said that there was no more of their land to drain and that the entire 12,000 acres are ready for the plow. The company has an option on 8,000 more acres adjoining its present tract and if it desires to buy it, the entire farm will be one of the largest in the county devoted to the culture of sugar beets.