EXPERIMENT STATION BULLETINS. 



205 



YIELDS PER ACRE OF OATS, BEETS AND CORN. 



It is noted at once that plot 3 which had been abused by being compelled to bear 

 three successive crops of beets gave us a much smaller yield of all three crops, 

 oats, beets and corn, than did the plots on either S'de, and that plot 4, although 

 located where the ground was normally somewhat richer than plots 1 and 2, gave 

 a less yield of beets and corn than any other plots save plot 1. Further comment is 

 not needed as the sole aim of the experiment was to find out how seriously fol- 

 lowing beets with beets for three successive years would injure the productive 

 capacity of a light sandy loam. 



r\'. DISTANCE APAET OF BOWS. 



This station has conducted experiments for several years to accumulate data 

 bearing on the question of the most economical and profitable distance apart of 

 rows for sugar beets under normal conditions. In 1902, the conclusion Is reached 

 that "In this country, where the work Is to be done largely by horses and where 

 the land is seldom as well fertilized as in Europe, the distance between rows may 

 well be maintained at twenty inches to twenty-two inches, and certainly at not less 

 than eighteen inches." The experiments in 1902 compared the distance sixteen 

 inches, eighteen inches, twenty inches, twenty-two inches, and twenty-four Inches. 

 There was no relation between the width of rows and the per cent of sugar in the 

 beets nor did the yields vary widely as between these different distances. In 1903, 

 It was found Impossible to continue the experiments on the college farm by 

 reason of lack of suitable soil. Gov. A. T Bliss consented to have the experiment 

 tried upon his farm at Carrollton, under the supervision of his most efficient 

 foreman, Mr. J. W. Wood. Here the distances were as follows: — The first thirty- 

 six rows were twenty-one inches apart, the next twenty-seven rows twenty-eight 

 inches apart, the third thirty-six rows twenty-one inches apart, the fourth twenty- 

 seven rows twenty-eight inches apart and on the fifth and sixth plots there were 

 44 rows each, eighteen inches apart. The first four plots were therefore 756 inches 

 wide while plots 5 and 6 were 798 inches wide. Calculating the yields to the even 

 width of 756 inches, we have the following table: 



Plot. Yields, lbs. 



1 8,879 



2 10,905 



3 11,090 



4 12.149 



5 12,942 



6 ■ 10,270 



It thus afSpears that the two plots with rows eighteen inches apart yielded 23,212 

 lbs., the two plots twenty-one Inches apart, 19,969 lbs., and the two plots twenty- 

 eight inches apart, 23,058 lbs. Here there seems to be no relation between the 

 yields and the width of rows. There is a difference, however, in the amount of 

 work required to cultivate the crop on an acre, depending on the width of the 

 rows, and if It is possible to grow as many pounds of beets as rich In sugar in 

 rows twenty-eight inches apart as in rows eighteen inches apart, the former 

 distance should be adopted. 



