expeei:mext station bulletins 235 



EXPERIMENTS WITH SUGAR BEETS. 



BY J. D. TOWAIi. 



Bulletin ISS, — Aaricullural Department. 

 SUMMARY. 



1.' Clay loam soils produce largest tonnage and highest per cent of sugar. 



2. JMiick soils may produce beets of a high per cent of sugar, but most pure mucks 

 yield beets showing a per cent of sugar too low to work with profit. 



3. .Seed planted between ^lay 10 and 25 gave a crop of the largest money value per 

 acre, although any time between the last week in April and the last of May is safe 

 for planting in this latitude. 



4. Planting beets three years in succession on the same ground has not yet develoj^ed 

 any serious fungus disease nor encouraged the spread of insect enemies. 



5. Beets planted in rows 21 inches apart gave 5 per cent greater yield than in rows 

 18 or 24 inches apart. 



The experiments recorded in this bulletin were conducted during the summer of 

 1!)0U with, soil ranging from sand to loam on the older portion of the College Farm. 

 The ground is high and a considerable distance from the watertable and has not recently 

 been treated with farm manures: many of the plots have produced beets two years in 

 buccession and some three years. The reader will tind the yields somewhat low, 

 and naturally conclude that the industry is not profitable. It must be remembered 

 that this soil is not adapted to the growing of large crops of beets and the value of 

 these results consists entirely in their relation to each other. The variety test was 

 made on ground which received reasonably good preparation and may serve to give 

 the reader an idea of the probable yield on medium loam, though a heavier soil more 

 favorably located with reference to soil moisture would have given nuich larger yields. 

 The chemical work connected with this bulletin was done under the direction of Dr. 

 K. C. Kedzie, tlie chemist of the Experiment Station. 



KIND OF SOIL. 



Numerous inquiries come to this oflice relative to the kind of soil best adapted to 

 Ihe growth of sugar beets, \\hile the results thus far obtained throw some light 

 on the subject generally, tliere is yet a good deal to learn with regard to our Michigan 

 soils for this purpose. 



Clay Loam. — In Bulletin 17'.), p. 107, we published results from 42!t ditTerent trials 

 wherein the averages slmw most decidedly in favor of clay loam, which almost invariably 

 gives the highest tonnage witii a maximum jier cent of sugar. 



Muck. — Next in that rejtort to the clay loam, when we consider the money value 

 of the crop, is the so called muck. The figures are somewhat misleading, for the term 

 nuick is applied to such a variety of soils, including the deep marsh muck and the 

 swamp, where the subsoil is so near the surface that the beet roots penetrate deeply 

 and enjoy conditions wholly unknown on tiie nuick where it exists in the pure state. 

 For the past two years we have grown beets on some of the College muck land, and 

 under no condition have we yet been able to secure beets that will test 12 per cent 

 sugar. 



About tliirty sanijdcs were this year tested from the Brook Farm of Michigan 

 Asylum for the Insane at Kalamazoo. The soil is from a field adjacent to the celebrated 

 Kalamazoo celery farms and appears to be identical witii the celery nuick. The 

 highest jier cent of sugar obtained was lO.tio, the lowest 8.1!), and the average 9.40. 

 Highest coefiicient of purity is 77.28. 



Mr. C. K. Ferguson and Darius Allen, of Almont, have conducted an extensive 



