MICHIGAN BEET SUGAR 391 



Avhitli ill tlic i)ast has always been sn]»])lied to the fanners at a price 

 clicajMM- tliaii it could be bonjzht of the wliolesale seed dealers. It should 

 be understood that the su^ar beet seed used in the «irowin<i; of beets 

 for tlie manufacture of su^ar is a very different article from the beet 

 seed that our farmers have been in the habit of growinj;:, and also from 

 that otlered for sale by the larfje seed dealers. In this connection, as 

 well as in the chiuse of the contract requiring- tiie nund»er of acres to be 

 grown, no factory could hazard its season's business in growing beets 

 from seed of an unknown and unreliable sonrce. It is barely possible 

 that it will not be necessary for the factories to insert this clause in 

 their contract after the beet growers are educated to the importance 

 of securing only the very best kind of beet seed. The present system, 

 however, guarantees not only to the factory a quality of beets of suffi- 

 cient sugar content for profitable manufacture but it insures the farmer 

 against the unscrupnlotis seedsmen who might impose npon him with 

 an inferior quality of seeds. The seed thus far used in this State has 

 all been imported from European seedsmen of establislied reputations. 

 And while there may be slight differences in the quality of seeds pro- 

 dnced by the various Euro])ean seed growers there has been general 

 satisfaction on the part of our farmers in this connection. It is hoped 

 that the future may see our ^Michigan farmers producing their own 

 seed, and the process of improvement carried on in the same way that 

 it has been conducted in the past by our French and German neighbors. 



THE SOIL. 



I^efoi-e a farmer signs a contract for giowing an acreage of sugar 

 beets he should have some idea of the adaptability of his soil for that 

 purpose. Too many farmers wlio have npon their low muck lands 

 grown in the past enormous crops of roots, have made the mistake of 

 assuming that here would be an ideal place for the growth of sugar 

 beets. \Vhile this land will oftentimes yield the largest tonnage, it 

 fre(]uently i)rodnces a beet that is profitable neither to the farmer nor 

 the factory. From observations at the Michigan Experiment Station, 

 c(»i r(»lioiated by the lecorded experiments of other stations, the soil 

 which reseml>les the loam with a liberal admixture of clay, produces not 

 only the beets highest in sugar conttMit but generally a large tonnage, 

 and always m the combination of tonnage and sugar content, the crop 

 of highest money value. As we dei»art from tin' loam by gi-ealer ad- 

 mixture of clay we i)roduce beets of inferior (juality owing to the fact 

 of their unshapely form, t'sually the tonnage in the heavier soils is 

 good, but the <]uality of the beets is more than correspondingly jtooi-. 

 -\s we (lei»art from the loam with an excess of sand, we juoduce beets 

 well uji in sugar content but generally lower in tiuinage. There is, how- 

 f*ver, an adNantaye in emi)loying the lightei- soils fiom the fact that 

 the\ ai-e much nioi'e easily worked, can be \\(U-k<Ml earlier in tln^ spring 

 and aie n<»t rendered unlit for cult i vat ion so long after a rainstoiin. Fur- 

 thernnue, the lighter soils do not cling so persistently to the beets at 

 the time of harvesting, and thus reduce the amount ()f tare at the factory, 

 together with the attendant increased load which is hauled away from 

 the farm. Thus we are forced to ad\ise the soils which are generally 



