Sugar Beet Investigations for 1899. 403 



Results from early and late thinning. — In Bulletin 166 of this 

 station the following statement was made with reference to the time 

 of thinning beets. " Where conditions are favorable, considerable 

 range may be taken as to time of thinning. With the weather cool 

 and the soil moist, thinning may be safely done when the beets have 

 attained a height of three to four inches. However, thinning is 

 such a slow process that it would better be commenced on time, viz., 

 when the second pair of leaves appear the plants should at least be 

 bunched. The bunches may then safely be allowed to remain for a 

 week or ten days before the beets are thinned to a stand of one beet 

 in a place. If one could always be certain that the weather would 

 be cool and soil moist, then there would not be the imperative 

 necessity for beginning thinning early. If thinning be delayed 

 until there exists drought accompanied by hot weather, the growth 

 of the plants may be seriously impaired, if the plants are not entirely 

 destroyed." 



The results of the experiment during 1899 lead us to change in 

 no way the opinion expressed above, but rather enforce the conclu- 

 sions heretofore drawn. 



The month of July, 1899, was especially favorable for late thin- 

 ning of beets. It rained eleven days during the month, an average 

 of .314 inch each day, and on four other days during the month 

 there was a trace of rain, the total rainfall for the month being 3.46 

 inches. The probability is that had the month of July been one of 

 drought instead of one of abundance of rainfall the results might have 

 been far different. Under the conditions which prevailed the late 

 thinning seemed to be in no way injurious to the growth of the beets. 



The yield of beets was not large enough to make the crop a pay- 

 ing one. This was not to be expected upon land which has been 

 continually cropped for six years without the use of manures or fer- 

 tilizers. The late planting occasioned by the failure to secure a 

 stand from the first planting no doubt materially lessened the yield. 

 The quality of the beets was all that could be desired. The per 

 cent of sugar and the per cent of purity seemed to be affected in no 

 way by the time of thinning. 



Variety tests. — The variety giving the largest tonnage of beets, 

 13.1 tons per acre, was the Zehringen Elite from seed grown by 



