New York Agricultural Experiment Station. 29 



Sugar beets. — During the past season, much attention has been 

 given to the sugar beet crop. Besides somewhat elaborate experi- 

 ments on the Station farm, we have co-operated with 18 

 farmers growing half acres of beets in eleven counties in Central 

 New York, and have distributed small quantities of seed to a large 

 number of other farmers. In all, 343 samples of beets have been 

 analyzed, including those from the Station experiments and those 

 grown from seed distributed by the Commissioner of Agriculture 

 in Eastern New York. The observations of 1898 are in line with 

 all previous records. In quantity and quality New York beets 

 appear to compare very favorably with those produced in other 

 parts of the world. 



Composition or Sugar Beets Grown in 1898. 

 Total of season's results, 343 samples: 



Sugar Sugar Purity 



in beet. in juice. of juice. 



Lowest 7.4 7.8 64.1 



Highest 20.2 21.2 90.0 



Average 14. 2 15 . 85 . 2 



The yields reported from the plats grown by farmers in co- 

 operation with the Station varied from 8,670 to 58,990 lbs. per 

 acre, the lowest yield being on plats receiving no fertilizer and 

 the highest occurring on muck land, the average being 26,720 

 lbs. In these experiments the average per cent of sugar was 15.5 

 per cent, which is over 1 per cent higher than the general average 

 for 33 counties, which is probably due not so much to location as 

 to better conditions of growth and culture. 



The figures given as the costr of growing these beets are chiefly 

 valuable as showing the distribution of time, the expensiveness of 

 neglect in one or two cases and of a general unpreparedness for 

 the work. Should the growing of sugar beets become generally 

 established, experience and the possession of better machinery 

 would certainly considerably reduce the labor cost of the crop, 

 especially with large areas. 



