170 BOARD OF AGRICULTURE. 



The ground selected for the experiment is a portion of the 

 farm garden, a rich, sandy loam, to which no manure was 

 applied this year. 



Each variety was sown on a plat ten feet square, in rows 

 eight inches apart, with the plants fourteen inches distant 

 from each other. Each jjlat was divided in the center, and 

 one-half of it sown with small seeds selected from an average 

 lot ; the other half with large seeds selected from the same 

 lot. The weight of the one hundred aud forty-four seeds 

 required for each plat was obtained and recorded for future 

 reference. 



It is yet too early in the season to give results from the 

 experiment. Only one point has been ascertained, it is this : 

 In every plat the number of vacant places is greater by more 

 than one-third where small seeds were sown, indicatinsf 

 greater vitality in the larger seeds, — a fact well worth regard- 

 ing in buying beet seed. When the beets are harvested, we 

 shall determine the yield per acre of the several varieties, and 

 an analysis will be made to learn the per cent, of sugar in 

 each. From the completed experiment, we hope to get 

 knowledge that will be helpful to those who may grow beets 

 for the enterprise already undertaken in the State, w^hich 

 proposes to manufacture sugar from the beet, and estal)]ish 

 a new industry that shall be profitable to both the farmer and 

 the manufacturer. 



We began, last year, a series of experiments in cutting 

 grass for hay, to learn at what period of growth it will 3'ield 

 the best returns when quality and quantity are both taken 

 into account. We expect also to learn from this experiment 

 whether early or late cutting has the greater tendenc}' to 

 exhaust the soil and deteriorate the crop. One acre of land 

 is devoted to the trial. This is divided into two equal parts 

 marked I and II. Each of these is again divided into four 

 plats marked a, b, c, d, making in all eight plats, each con- 

 taining one-eighth of an acre. One year ago these were all 

 mowed, dried and weighed at the same date, and the weisrht 

 of the crop from each plat recorded. This gave the natural 



