Part II. 



EXPERIMENTS WITH SUGAR BEETS AT THE COR- 

 NEIvE UNIVERSITY EXPERIMENT FARM, 1898. 



BY L. A. CLINTON. 



In bulletin No. 143 of this Station was published results of 

 fertilizer experiments with sugar beets in 1897. ^"^ ^^98 it was 

 decided to conduct in addition to the fertilizer experiments, 

 investigations relating to the culture of beets. The following 

 lines of investigation were decided upon : 



1. Rows 24 inches apart and beets thinned to 6 inches in the 

 row compared with rows 20 inches apart and thinned to 9 inches 

 in the row. 



2. Effects of tillage. 



3. Effect of bunching and thinning at various periods 

 of growth. 



4. Effect of subsoiling the land immediately previous to 

 planting. 



5. Test of varieties. 



JVzde Planting of Rows vs. Narrow Plantirig — It is generally 

 recommended that beets be planted in rows 20 inches apart. 

 Most farmers are not familiar with the methods of tillage required 

 when rows are so planted. If the rows could be planted at a dis- 

 tance apart of 24 inches it would very much facilitate culture, 

 especially until the farmers become familiar with intensive 

 methods required in sugar beet production. Plats 33 and 34 of 

 the permanent series of plats were selected for the work. These 

 plats have for five j^ears been heavily cropped and no fertilizer 

 has been applied since the winter of 1893-4. '^ti^ soil is gravelly 

 loam and especially subject to effects of droughts. Land was 

 plowed in the fall and replowed in the spring. The following 

 table shows the results from the two plats : 



