496 



STATE BOARD OF AGRICULTURE. 



SUMMARY OF RESULTS. 



Total yield of fall planted 4,111 lbs. 



Total j'ield of spring planted 4,10G lbs. 



In favor of fall planting .5 lbs. 



Level cultivation 4,247 lbs. 



Hilled up 3,970 lbs. 



In favor of level cultivation 277 lbs. 



Sprayed 4.141 lbs. 



Not sprayed 4.076 lbs. 



In favor of sprayed 65 lbs. 



SUGAR BEETS. 



Aside from the usual tests with sugar beets, some preliminary tests were made 

 in order to ascertain the effect upon the sugar content of the beet and upon the 

 beet itself by being left unharvested until spring. A further test was made in 

 order to determine whether such beets would ripen seed For this purpose a 

 portion of the two plots which had been in sugar beets in 1903 was left unhar- 

 vested, and as soon as the ground was dry in the spring of 1904 every alternate 

 row of beets. was harvested and enough more in each of the remaining rows to 

 leave the beets about two feet apart in the row. The rows were thus left three 

 feet apart, and of the beets which had been harvested, samples were sent to the 

 Agricultural College in order to test the sugar content of the beets, the result 

 being as follows: 



Varieties. 



Frederickswerther Elite. 

 Jaensch'a Victrix 



Sugar 

 content. 



14.2 

 15. 



As tested at the college during the preceding fall the average tests of fall har- 

 vested beets from the same plots was as follows: Frederickswerther Elite 14 8 

 per cent sugar, Jaensch's Victrix 16.4 per cent. Inasmuch as the sugar content 

 of beets of the same variety, growing alongside of each other and under uniform 

 conditions, varies considerably, it is safe to assume that the test of the spring 

 harvested beets is practically the same as that of the fall harvested beets, and 

 that the sugar content of the beets in this trial was not influenced one way or 

 another by leaving the beets unharvested until spring. No attempt was made to 

 ascertain the influence upon the yield of the beets, for accurate results would 

 have been scarcely possible, considering the small size of the plot. In the present 

 trial it was observed that the crown of a few beets was diseased, thus requiring 

 the cutting away of from one to two inches more than is necessary with beets to 

 be delivered at factories during fall. With more available land for extensive 

 trials, it will be possible to determine whether such a loss is due to a disease which 

 could be rendered harmless by spraying. That the damage was not due to the 

 action of frost was plainly apparent from the fact that the soundest beets were 

 those whose crowns had been more or less exposed owing to the shifting or melt- 

 ing of the snow having carried away some of the top soil. The beets left for 

 seed started a new growth of leaves before the snow had entirely melted away 

 from the plot, and began to blossom July 13 when the seed stocks were about 

 three feet high. The seed on the lower half of the stocks began to ripen during 

 the latter part of August, but the plants continued to grow and blossom, and 

 averaged seven feet high when the tops were damaged by frost on September 22. 



