184 



EXPERIMENTAL FARMS 



4-5 EDWARD VII., A. 1905 



sugar content, with a corresponding low co-efficient of purity. In 1903, excellent beetj 

 v/ere grown here, showing a very satisfactory sugar content. Mr. Sharpe reports ' a 

 very poor season (1904) for mangels, carrots, and sugar beets,' so we must suppose 

 the present unsatisfactory results have been due to specially unfavourable climatic 

 conditions. 



CHEMISTRY OF THE SUGAR BEET. 



Within the last few years, as is well known, there has been a revival in certain 

 centres in the Dominion of the beet sugar industry, and factories are now in operation 

 at Berlin and Wallaceburg, Ontario, and at Raymond, Alta, N.W.T. 



The commercial success of the undertaking at any point depends very largely on 

 obtaining an adequate supply of beets. It is necessary, if the extraction of the sugar 

 is to be profitable and the return to the farmer a lucrative one, not only that the beets 

 be up to a certain standard of richness and purity, but also that the tonnage available, 

 in other words, the acreage be sufficiently largo. According to the size of the ' plant ' or 

 factory so will the tonnage be necessary for its profitable operation, but we may safely 

 assume that not less than 30,000 tons will be required for a modern factory — one 

 Ontario factory stated 40,000 tons as a minimum, and another, 50,000 tons. If we 

 allow a yield of 10 tons per acre (the average over large areas is somewhat less), the 

 area imder beets, within reasonable distance of a factory necessary to satisfactorily 

 supply its requirements, will be from 3,000 to 5,000 acres. These considerations and 

 the further fact that on some part of the farm the crop must be grown annually (or 

 otherwise there will be a shortage of beets for the factory) , have led to many inquiries 

 as to the effect of the sugar beet on the soil, i.e., as regards the exhaustion of the more 

 esential elements of plant food. 



To answer these inquiries we have submitted to analysis beets — roots, collars or 

 crowns and leaves, separately — at three stage of growth, determining, among other 

 constituents, the percentages of nitrogen, phosphoric acid, potash, and lime present. 

 The variety selected was Klein Wanzleben and the collections were made on July 29, 

 September 8, and October 19. The soil of the plot (Experimental Farm, Ottawa), was 

 a fairly rich, warm, well drained sandy loam. 



Immediately on taking the samples the beets were cleaned and the proportions (by 

 weight) of the leaves, collars, and dressed roots (as ready for the factory) determined. 



Proportion of Leaves, Collars and Roots in Sugar Beets. 



Date of Collections. 



First collection, July 29, 

 Second m Sept. 8. 

 Third .. Oct. 19. 



Lea^ 



CS-3 

 46-4 

 .37 -8 



Collars 

 or Crowns. 



6-4 

 12-7 

 13 -4 



Roots. 



25-3 

 40-9 

 50-S 



The proportion of the dressed root had increased from 25*3 per cent to 50'8 per 

 cent between July 29 and October 19 (practically an increase of 100 per cent), while 

 the relative weight of leaves had decreased from 68 per cent to 37 per cent, or 44'6 per 

 cent. The proportion of crowns or collars, the part from which the leaves spring and 

 which with the leaves is left on the ground when dressing the beets for the factory, 

 increased from 6'4 per cent to 12'7 per cent, practically 100 per cent, between the dates 

 of the first and second collection. On October 19, when the last collection was made 

 the proportion of collar was somewhat less, viz., 11'4 per cent. 



