584 Report of the Department of Field Crops of the 



It will be an undoubted gain, too, if we can add another cash 

 crop to those which we already regard as yielding fair returns for 

 the labor expended and a moderate rental for the land. Crops 

 which find a steady sale at living prices are needed by the Ameri- 

 can farmer. Every new, successful crop also tends to prevent 

 overproduction along other lines. 



THE OTHER SIDE. 



There are many facts to be considered on the other side of this 

 question, which, while not necessarily arguments against an at- 

 tempt to produce and manufacture beet sugar in this State, never- 

 theless are worthy of the most careful attention. 



In the first place, the sugar beet is a highly bred plant, sensi- 

 tive, so far as content of sugar is concerned, to the conditions 

 under which it is grown. The farmers who cultivate it success- 

 fully must be those who are willing to adhere faithfully to defi- 

 nite, careful methods. This does not mean that a minority of our 

 farmers will not succeed, but that the average results are almost 

 sure for a time to be disappointing, and it is average results which 

 will determine the success of the business when broadly con- 

 sidered. Beet-sugar factories cannot be maintained unless the 

 average experience of farmers in the growth of this crop is satis- 

 factory. 



We are greatly elated over the high percentages of sugar which 

 have been found in New York beets this season, but we must 

 bear in mind that high quality and a large production, as some 

 regard production, are not consistent. 



Some samples which have been sent to this Station for analy- 

 sis have been accompanied by a statement that the crop of beets 

 produced was at the rate of thirty tons per acre. It is probable, 

 either that the method of estimating these crops was not a safe 

 one, or that the beets were not properly grown. Erroneous and 

 greatly excessive figures are very likely to result from computa- 

 tions based upon the theoretical possibility of growing a certain 

 number of a certain size of beets per acre, or from the weight of 

 a short section of a row of beets. Nothing short of the weighing 



