EXPERIMENT STATION BULLETINS. 177 



SUGAR BEET EXPERIMENTS, 1902. 



C. D. SMITH, DIRECTOR. 



Bulletin No. 207. 



The work with sugar beets in 1902 was largely in continuation of the 

 experiments reported in Bulletins 150, 179, 188 and 197. The amount of 

 land available for beets on the college farm is not large and had been 

 nearly all used prior to 1902, hence, it was found necessary to carry 

 on part of the experiments at points some distance away and on land 

 over which complete control could not be exercised. The season was 

 unusually wet and cold, necessitating re-seeding in some cases and 

 utterly ruining the crop in others. The investigations carried on dur- 

 ing the year were as follows: 



A. Distribution of beet seed through the Upper Peninsula and an 

 analysis of samples of beets grown there. 



B. Compilation of the analyses made in 1902, and former years, of 

 beets grown in all counties of Michigan. 



C. Variety tests. 



D. Spraying to prevent disease. 



E. Distance apart of rows. 



F. Exhaustion of the soil by beets. 



G. Production of beet seed. 



A. Sugar Beets in the Upper Peninsula. 



The details of this investigation are reported in Special Bulletin 18. 

 Sugar beet seed either donated by the Chemical Division of the National 

 Department of Agriculture or purchased from the Lansing Sugar Com- 

 pany, of Lansing, Michigan, was distributed among a large number of 

 farmers selected by Supt. L. M. Geisniar, in thirteen of the counties of 

 the Upper Peninsula. The soils varied from a sandy loam to a heavy 

 clay. The seed was sown in late May. The plots were cultivated almost 

 entirely by hand and were too small to allow computation of yields per 

 acre. Samples of beets for analysis were received at the college from 

 153 plots. The sample beets were sent through the mails enclosed in 

 cloth sacks, and were, therefore, somewhat shriveled on arrival. The 

 chemist, Mr. F. W. Robison, studied the loss of water by the beets 

 shii)ped long distances and found the shrinkage in weight of the beets 

 to vary from 10;^ to over 21^ although at the time he made the tests, 

 it was imjiracticable to simulate the conditions obtaining in the mail 

 bag in transit. Such a shrinkage in weight of beets means that the 

 per cents of sugar actually in the beets when pulled were much less 

 than indicated by the polariscope at the college. Unfortunately no 

 constant factor can be suggested whereby this source of error may be 

 eliminated. The fact of this error must be kept in mind when consider- 

 ing the following table which records the average per cent of sugar and 

 purity found in the samples of beets from the thirteen counties named: 

 23 



