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Tlio importance of the effort to build up the sutjar-beet industry in 

 the United States is appreciated by the experiment stations, as is shown 

 in the abstracts of their experiments in this and otlier numbers of the 

 Experiment Station Record. 



Bulletin jSI"o. 27 of the Division of Chemistry of the Department of 

 Agriculture, just issued, contains an historical sketch of the beet-sugar 

 industry, a full discussion of the soil, climate, and fertilizers suitable 

 for beet culture, together with brief descriptions of the methods of 

 manufacture and of the machinery to be used therefor. It also treats 

 of the present condition of the beet-sugar industry in the United States, 

 locates approximately those portions of the country which are best 

 suited for the production of the sugar-beet, and indicates the line of 

 work necessary to the successful introduction and extension of the beet- 

 sugar industry in this country. 



Prof. H, W. Wiley, by whom the bulletin referred to was prepared, 

 has, at the request of the Director of this Office, made the following 

 suggestions regarding the work of the stations on the sugar-beet: "In 

 my judgment the work of the stations in respect to the beet-sugar in- 

 dustry should, for the present, consist in the careful study of soil and 

 climatic conditions, and an experimental demonstration of the best 

 methods of producing beets for sugar and for seed. There is no neces- 

 sity for an experimental study of the methods of manufacture, and no 

 opportunity for the production of beets on a large scale. If the sta- 

 tions can teach by actual demonstration the proper methods of beet 

 culture and seed production, it is all that can reasonably be asked of 

 them." 



In this connection the following statements, kindly furnished by Dr. 

 A. T. Neale, director of the Delaware College Experiment Station, are 

 of decided interest. The author has spent several years among European 

 experiment stations, particularly in Germany, was for some time assist- 

 ant in the experiment station at Halle, in Prussia, which is located in 

 the immediate vicinity of the beet-sugar district of the Province of 

 Saxony, and has devoted especial attention to the sugar industry. 

 The description of the methods used by seedsmen for improving varie- 

 ties of beets, and of the experiments by which different varieties are 

 tested by the Halle Station, with the co-operation of sugar-beet farmers, 

 are from notes of a recent visit there. 



Continental seedsmen in general, and Germans in particular, have 

 followed well-known methods for raising the standard of the sugar-beet. 

 The efforts in Germany have been supplemented and in a measure in- 

 cited by the control and comparative tests executed by the Prussian 

 Experiment Station at Halle, under the direction of Professor Maercker. 

 The first ten years of that control have now passed and a review of its 

 work may be suggestive to officials of American stations. 



Laws enacted twenty years ago by the German Parliament levied a 

 a tax of $4:.25 upon each and every ton of beets admitted within the 



