EXPERIMENT STATION BULLETINS. 



239 



SUGAR BEET GROWING IN MICHIGAN 



Special Bulletin No. lOG 



J. F. COX and e. b. hill, farm crops section 



The production of sugar beets is one of Michigan's stable industries. 

 It returns the growers, annually from |9,000,000 to !f!n,000,000 and re- 

 quires a standing investment of over |30,000,000 in factories and equip- 

 ment for sugar manufacture. Climatic conditions, proximity of markets 

 and good transportation facilities prevailing throughout lower Michigan 

 and the southern part of the Upper Peninsula are generally favorable 

 to sugar beet production. 



During average seasons an ample supply of properly distributed rain- 

 fall is assured, and the characteristic long summer days furnish ample 

 sunlight and the right temperature (about 70% Fahrenheit average 

 during June, July, and August) for the development of large yields of 

 beets with a high sugar content. While the industry is substantially 

 developed on suitable soils, it can be largely expanded to include ex- 

 tensive areas of adapted soil, not at present producing beets, in regions 

 of proper climatic conditions, if expansion is encouraged by economic 

 conditions. 



The accompanying map shows the location of important Michigan 

 sugar beet producing areas, and of beet sugar factories now in opera- 

 tion. Michigan ranks third in the United States in importance as a 

 sugar beet producing state. It is the leading state in sugar production 

 east of the Eocky Mountain region. Mr. V. H. Church, Crops Statis- 

 tician of the U. S. Bureau of Crops Estimates, Lansing, Mich., gives the 

 following statement of the yield and value of the Michigan sugar beet 

 crop for the years 1909 to 1919 : 



MICHIGAN'S SUGAR BEET CROPS— 1909 to 1919 



