396 STATE BOARD OF AGRICULTURE. 



This shows on the averajj,o an abundant rjiinfall for May,. June and 

 July, the period when the sugar beet requires plenty of soil moisture, 

 when it is grappling with the soil and sending down its tap root to 

 secure a hold upon the subsoil and derive its su])ply of food, both liquid 

 and solid, from the dee])er soil, and without absolute dependence upon 

 the surface soil. In August there is an abruy)t drop in the amount of 

 rain, and a progressive fall in September and October — the season of 

 our "summer dry spell," often becoming a veritable drought for many 

 croT)S. This is the season of little cloudiness and abundant sunshine, 

 when the beet is rapidly growing and packing its cells with sugar. 

 If May, June and the first half of July are warm and moist, to establish 

 and strengthen the growing plant, and if the balance of summer and 

 autumn is hot and dry (short of drought), we have the ideal season for 

 growing sugar beets. Essentially sugar is condensed and crystallized 

 wind, water and sunshine, and requires for its development warm and 

 sunny weather; if the weather is cloudy and rainy during these critical 

 ripening months we would secure large beets and little sugar. 



The distribution of rain during the growing months is a matter of 

 importance. If we assume for most crops two inches. of rain per month 

 as the minimum, we find that during a j^eriod of 36 years in central 

 Michigan, for the months of May and June, there was less than two 

 inches per month for five times; in July, eleven times; in August and 

 October, eighteen times, and in September, fourteen times. If the crop 

 is not a surface feeder, like the grains, but a deep feeder, such as the 

 tap-root plants, even less than two inches will suffice for a time. But 

 if the plant is a sunshine feeder, the absence of moist w^eather is a 

 matter of less consequence during late summer and early autumn, 

 and may even be a benefit during the ripening season of the sugar beet. 



It must be conceded that by reason of her soil, climate and penin- 

 sular position. Michigan is well adapted to the production of beets for 

 making sugar. Another important condition is the intelligence and 

 energy of our people. Some Europeans hold up their hands in horror 

 at the presumption of our people in supposing that without years of 

 training and drill, we have the fiudacity to assume that we can make 

 sugar from beets in competition with the trained workers of Europe. 

 What might be called presumption in others may be enterprise with 

 Americans. After putting their hand to the plow our people are not 

 inclined to look back. One evidence of our inclination to press forward 

 is the bounty law of 1897, ''to provide for the encouragement of the 

 manufacture of beet sugar, and to provide compensation therefor." 



The law^ provides that for a ])eriod of seven years a bounty of one 

 cent a pound shall be paid to the manufacturer for sugar made in 

 Michigan from sugar beets grown in this State, provided he shall paj 

 to the producer $4 a ton for beets containing 12 per cent of sugar. 



Under the stimulus of this bounty nine factories have been erected 

 in this State and more are projected in the near future. The comfort- 

 able price paid at their very doors for this new crop made this change in 

 rotation of crops very acceptable to farmers. To the three cash crops 

 on the farm, wheat, meat and wool, the addition of sugar beets was 

 welcome to intelligent farmers, and the price of farm lands in the vicin- 

 ity of the factories increased rapidly. To look at this subject through 

 the farmer's eyes, inquiry was made of a farmer who had just unloaded 



