Sugar Beet Investigations for 1898. 421 



apparent by a careful inspection and study of the experimental 

 areas as well as many fields of beets grown for the factories. 



The Binghamton Beet Sugar Co., Binghamton, N. Y., 

 planned and carried out a very complete system of inspection 

 and records of the fields of beets grown under contract for their 

 factory. These records, through the courtesy of the company, 

 have been open to the inspection of representatives of this Sta- 

 tion and have furnished part of the data upon which are based 

 many of the conclusions stated in this bulletin. 



I 

 Lessons From the 1898 Sugar Beet Fields. 



Hilly la7id. — It is not wise to attempt to grow beets on hilly 

 Mand. The seed-bed must be thoroughly fined ; the plants start 

 rather slowly and it is some time before they afford much pro- 

 tection to the soil.. In the meantime heavy rains are likely to 

 occur and serious damage will result from washing. Some fields 

 were reworked and planted to other crops and others were partial 

 failures from this cause the past season. The crop on the Uni- 

 versity farm was materially injured in this way. 



Stony la7id. — Avoid stony land. The beets require close culti- 

 vation, and small stones interfere with this and increase the 

 expense. Nevertheless some verj^ satisfactory crops, both as to 

 yield and cost, were grown on land that when inspected by the 

 Station representative was noted as "too stony for beets." These 

 farmers knew their soil and were somewhat experienced in grow- 

 ing similar crops, and their skill enabled them to secure better 

 results than were obtained by some others on far more favorable 

 land. The credit is to the farmer and not to the soil. 



Kind of soil. — The heavier grades of soil seem to have been 

 more favorable in 1898 than the lighter ones. The drought of 

 this year came in July and though not of long duration, on 

 account of the intense heat and high winds, was severe. The 

 beets evidently had not yet thrust their roots very deeply into 

 the soil, and those on light land were greatly damaged. Those 

 on heavier soils seemed to suffer less and recovered more com- 

 pleteh^ when the rains came. The drought of 1897 came later 

 in the season, and although much more prolonged and apparently 



