EXPERIMENT STATION BULLETINS. 309 



showing by eharts that the climate of Michigan was as well adapted to 

 sugar beet growing as that of Halle, in Germany, and Cambrai, in France, 

 gave full directions, first for the selection of suitable plots in which to 

 grow experimental areas of the roots, and secondly for the cultivation 

 and harvesting of the crop. 



In Bulletin 82, the results of the investigation carried on by the Sta- 

 tion in the season of 1891 are set forth. Sixteen hundred pounds of 

 selected seed were imported from France and distributed in large or 

 small packages to any one who applied and promised to plant the seed 

 and cultivate the beets according to the printed directions, and to fur- 

 nish a report of the results of the trial, with sample beets for analysis, 

 to the Station at the end of the season. Seed was sent to nearly four 

 hundred persons with full directions for planting and cultivating and a 

 form for the report. Two hundred and twenty-eight samples were 

 analyzed and the reports given in the bulletin. The weather for the 

 season of 1891 was characterized by a warm and dry April and May, a 

 cool June, a very cold and dry July, a cold August with plenty of rain, 

 and a warm September. The heat and cold were badly distributed for 

 the beet crop, which suffered also from the unusually prolonged mid- 

 summer drouth. As a result the records show variations in per cent 

 of sugar from 13.14 to 16.09, and in coefficient of purity from 71 to 98.5, 

 but averaging not far from 80. The reported yields per acre were from 

 13.5 to 15 tons. 



Considering the character of the season and the complete inexperi- 

 ence of the farmers, the results were far from discouraging. 



INVESTIGATIONS IN 1897. 



In March, 1897, five hundred pounds of sugar be?t seed were received 

 fnm the Department of Agriculture, Washington, D. C, and late in 

 April a second consignment of two hundred pounds from the same source 

 arrived for distribution. The Station was charged with the duty of try- 

 ing such experiments on the home grounds as were deemed wise and most 

 helpful to a decision of the questions relating to the adaptability of the 

 soils and climate of Michigan to the production of sugar beets rich in 

 sugar, and with the farther duty of distributing the beet seed, received 

 from the department, to such farmers as would plant and care for th<- 

 crop as directed by the officers of the Station and would later send in 

 representative beets for analysis, accompanied by a full report of the 

 essential facts of the cultivation and yields. 



The report of the work of the season divides itself naturally into two 

 parts, experiments at the Station and tests made by the farmers through- 

 out the State. 



EXPERIMENTS AT THE STATION. 



Plots. Four one acre plots were selected for the sugar beet experi- 

 ments on the level, well drained tract of sandy loam in the western half 

 of Field 6, of the College farm. These acre plots are thirty-six rods 

 north and south by seventy-three and one-third feet east and west. Plot 8, 



