238 



STATE BOARD OF AGRICULTURE 



ar<,'iUHl tliiit the prcator distance between llie rows the less tlie work in all the opera- 

 tions connected with p:rowin<; the crop. The per cent of sugar in the beets was prac- 

 tically the same in each case. 



With ISinch rows it takes 29.040 feet (514 miles) of row to make an acre; with 

 21-ineh rows, 248!>1 feet (4 o-T miles), and wit'h 24-in(li rows, 21,780 feet (4% miles). 

 After the ground is prepared, all the operations, such as drilling the seed, thinning, 

 hand and horse cultivation and pulling the beets, are practically in proportion to the 

 length of row in an acre. In strong land, capable of growing a large tonnage of 

 beets, there might be danger of growing beets too large if planted in rows over 18 

 inches apart, but in loamy and sandy loam soils it seems to be wise to adopt the 

 21 or 22 inch row. 



DO SUGAR BEETS EXHAUST THE SOIL? 



This is a question that frequently arises Avhen considering whether to grow sugar 

 beets or not. The direct answer is "yes," the same that one inight give in reply to the 

 question were it asked of almost any other crop. In the case of clover, there is so 

 much left in the soil in the form of roots, stubble and leaves that its growth, even 

 though harvested for hay, generally leaves the ground in better condition than before 

 it was growH. Wheat, oats, corn, timothy, beans, peas, millet and in fact all farm 

 products, except perhaps clover, are exhaustive, and their continued production year 

 after year on the same ground will eventually result in complete loss of fertility. 



How' exhaustive, then, is the sugar beet crop, and is it more exhaustive than any 

 other crop, are the questions that naturally follow. Two experiments the past 

 season give ns results suggesting a reply, one in connection with the soil test experi- 

 ment on the College Farm and the otlier with a similar experiment on the farm of 

 L. B. Walton, Dryden, !Mich. The soil on the College experiment was a loam and so 

 tar as the comparison is concerned was very uniform. In 1899 a strip 2 rods wide 

 running across the 13 plots of the soil test experiment, making a strip 2 rods by 

 2G rods, was sown to sugar beets : an adjoining strip of the same size was planted to 

 potatoes. In 1900 the 2-rod strip, occupying one-half of the potato ground and one- 

 half of the beet ground of the former year, was devoted to the beet crop. Aside from 

 the fact that one strip grew beets last year and received then the cultivation required 

 for sugar beets, and the other grew potatoes with normal potato culture, the other 

 conditions, such as fertilization, character of the soil, previous treatment and manage- 

 ment, this year were exactly the same. It was observed all during the fall growth 

 that the beets on the ground that produced beets the previous year were much inferior 

 to those groAvn on ground raising beets for the first time. 



In the experiment on 'Mr. L. B. Walton's farm in Lapeer county, a similar condition 

 existed. The soil, a clay loam, was extremely uniform in character. In 1899 one-half 

 the area was planted to beans and the other haif to sugar beets. Below is the table 

 of the results: 



In each of the above experiments the tops were left on the ground. While this 

 result is in no way conclusive, it indicates that sugar beets on even strong land are 

 more exhaustive than potatoes or beans. Several experiments (on the College Farm) 

 have been conducted during the past year on the same soil where they were in progress 

 one year ago. While a few, in the variety test in particular, were on soil growing 

 beets this year for the first time. In no case did the soil which produced beets two 

 years in succession, even though much better fertilized, produce yields as high as the 

 soil growing beets this year for the first time. It has been said that sugar contains 



