Sugar Beet Investigations for 1899. 399 



PART II. SUGAR BEET EXPERIMENTS AT CORNELL 

 UNIVERSITY EXPERIMENT GROUNDS, 1899. 



By L. A. Clinton. 



The land upon which the experiments were conducted was a part 

 of the series of permanent plats. These plats have been subjected to 

 intensive culture without the application of any fertilizer since the 

 fall of 1893, wlien about ten tons of barn manure were applied per 

 acre. Each fall after the removal of the crop from the land some 

 cover crop as wheat or rje has been sown. But the lateness of the 

 sowing prevented the cover crop from making much growth, and, 

 as a consequence, but little organic matter has been returned to the 

 soil. The result is that the humus has been depleted and the soil, 

 instead of remaining loose and friable, becomes very hard and com- 

 pact under the action of rains. The fact is emphasized that where 

 intensive culture is practiced, for best results it must be accom- 

 panied by a liberal application of barn manures or green manuring 

 must be adopted, at least the organic matter of the soil must be 

 maintained if the soil be kept in good physical condition. 



The land for beets was plowed May 2 — all except plat 27, which 

 was plowed immediately before the beets were planted. After 

 plowing the land was harrowed and rolled. Between time of plow- 

 ing and time of planting the land was harrowed frequently. 



Planting the beets.— On May 15 and 16 plats 21, 22, 23, 24, 26 

 and 27 were planted to variety Kleinwanzlebener, seed for which 

 was furnished by the U. S. Dept. of Agriculture, Washington, D. C. 

 Plat 27 was plowed deeply immediately before planting and har- 

 rowed and rolled. The object in leaving plat 27 without plowing 

 until time of planting was to determine the effect of deep plowing 

 immediately before planting. Plat 25 was planted to varieties — 

 Mangold, Biendorf Elite Kleinwanzlebener, Vilmorins Improved 

 and Zehringen. These plats were all planted with the rows 20 

 inches apart and the seed was covered to a depth of about one-half 

 inch. 



Effects of a hailstorm. — Within a few days after planting and 

 before the beets had appeared above ground a severe hailstorm 



