312 



STATE BOARD OF AGRICULTURE. 



the growth of large specimens with a low per cent of sugar. Thinning 

 by hand is an arduous and extremely disagreeable undertaking, but 

 under present conditions is absolutely necessary. Nothing has been 

 invented that can take the place of the human eye and the human hand 

 in selecting from a thickly growing bunch of beets the strong plant to be 

 left growing. 



The time spent in thinning the four acre plots was as follows: 



Plot 8— 85.5 hours. 



Plot 9— 81.5 hours. 



Plot 10—70.0 hours. 



Plot 11— 8G.0 hours. 



This difference in the time required to thin and weed the beets was 

 due to the fact that Plots 8 and 11 were much worse infested with grass 

 and weeds than the other two acres. 



A half acre of sugar beets grown by Bert Cook of Owosso, Mich., on a 

 fall plowed clay loam, following oats in '96, corn in '95, and clover in '94, 

 with the ground thoroughly fitted with a cutaway harrow, followed by 

 an Acme, and cultivated with a Breed's weeder twice before thinning, 

 required forty-four hours labor to do the thinning for the half acre, or 

 at the rate of eighty-eight hours per acre. 



No attempts were made to fill up gaps by transplanting as the seed 

 had been evenly scattered and few gaps longer than eight inches to a 

 foot were found. 



Nothing farther in the way of cultivation was done to the crop after 

 the thinning. The mean temperature and rainfall by weeks during the 

 season are shown in the following table: 



Mean Weekly Temperature and Weekly Bainf all from May 1, to October 22, 1897. 



Week ending 



May 7 



Mav 14 



M„ y £\ 



May 28 



June 4 



June 11 



June 18 



June 25 



July 2 



July9 



July 16 , 



July 23 



July 30 



August 8 



Augut-t 13 



August 20 



August 2? 



September 3.. 

 September 10. 

 September 17. 



September 24 . 



October 1 



October 8 



October 15 



October 22 



69 



63 

 65 



Rain- 

 fUl. 

 In. 



1.45 

 .22 



1.07 

 .45 

 .53 



.69 



1.10 

 .05 

 .30 

 .00 



2.61 



1.24 



4.34 



.88 



.23 



.40 

 .10 

 .56 

 .00 

 .35 



.00 

 .00 

 .16 

 1.22 

 .61 



