328 Bureau of Farmers' Institutes. 



One-half the cost will be saved if the ground is plowed 

 early and harrowed several times to kill the weeds. Sugar 

 beets pay better than any other crop grown on my farm. One ad- 

 vantage is that the crop is sold before it is grown, while the soil 

 is left in fine condition for succeeding crops. One firm in Syra- 

 cuse grew 132 acres last year and this year will put in 300. 

 Around Hornellsville, some are offering to take 50 acree. Mr. 

 Rogers at Binghamton had 37 acres. The total cost was $655,52; 

 the yield was 14^ tons. After paying for fertilizers and every 

 item of cost, the expense was $25.77 per acre. All work except 

 the thinning can be done with a horse. The hardest thing is to 

 get a good stand and plenty of seed should be need; and do not 

 put it over an inch deep. Cultivate with a small toothed culti- 

 vator. The secret of success is never to let the weeds get a half 

 inch high. A good fertilizer is one containing 4 per cent, nitro- 

 gen, 8 per cent, phosphoric acid and 10 per cent, potash. 



Will Mr. Rogers, who is present, give us some data as to results reached 

 from the sugar beet crop, at the- Biughamton beet sugar factory since it 

 was opened? 



Mr. Rogers's answer is condensed. He is president of the Bing- 

 hamton beet-sugar factory and has had much experience vnth 

 sugar-beet growing and the manufacture of beet sugar. He has 

 used every means for the purpose of ascertaining if the growing of 

 the beet by the farmer, and the manufacture of sugar from them 

 could be made profitable. The results so far have proved highly 

 satisfactory, and his company has been enabled to increase its 

 contracts for next season's crop nearly 100 per cent, over those of 

 last year. He said that the number of beet-sugar factories and 

 the manufacture of beet sugar has nearly doubled in the United 

 States during the last two years. The average production per 

 acre in the Binghamton factory's bailiwick last year, although 

 it was one of the driest seasons he has ever known, was fully 

 two tons per acre more than it was the year before, which shows 

 that the farmers had become better educated in the knowledge 

 of how to grow the sugar beet. There is no crop that will pay 

 better, if one has a fairly good soil, than will sugar beets. It 

 is possible to grow beets, and get good pay for our labor, the 

 fertilizers used, and the interest on the value of the land, and 

 give a good profit. All the work done was done with a good 



