424 



reprint of Bulletin No. 5 of the station (See Experiment Station Eecord, 

 Vol. I, p. 297). 



Report of director, C. O. Flagg, B. S. (pp. 105-109).— A brief 

 outline of experiments begun by the agricultural division of the station 

 with fertilizers and various crops. 



Eeport of agriculturist, L. F. Kinney, B. S. (pp. 110-114).— A 

 brief account of the work begun at the station with vegetables, small 

 and orchard fruits, and forest trees. 



Eeport of chemist, H. J. Wheeler, Ph. D. (pp. 115-117.) — An 

 account of preliminary work by the chemist of the station, who began 

 his official duties September 1, 1889. 



Eeport of apiarist, S. Cushman (p. 118). — A brief reference to 

 the needs of this division of the station. 



South Dakota Station, Bulletin No. 19. December, 1890 (pp. 28). 



The sugar-beet, L. Foster, M. S. A., and J. H. Shepard, M. 

 A. — " The station began its work in the cultrvation of the sugar-beet 

 three years ago, the single object of the experiment-being to determine if 

 the sugar-beet, containing a per cent of sugar large enough for profita- 

 ble manufacture, could be grown in South Dakota. Methods of plant- 

 ing, fertilizing, and cultivating came in as secondary matters only, those 

 already established in France and Germany being followed as nearly as 

 seemed practicable for our new soil and higher-priced hand labor. The 

 high sugar per cent being now satisfactorily settled the attention of 

 the station may in the future be directed to the economic production of 

 the crop." 



Statements are made to show that the soil, temperature, and rain- 

 fall in South Dakota are favorable to the cultivation of the sugar-beet. 

 Methods of soil preparation, fertilizing, planting, cultivation, thinning, 

 harvesting, and storing, as practiced at the station, are given, together 

 with the " oflHcial advice of the Oxnard Beet Sugar Company [of Grand 

 Island, Nebraska] to its patrons on the subject of beet culture." There 

 are also notes on the methods used at the station in sampling and 

 analyzing sugar-beets. The varieties tested at the station in 1890 were 

 "Bulteau Desprez's Eichest, Dippe's Vilmorin, Florimond Desprez's 

 Eichest, Dippe's Klein Wanzleben, Simon Legraud's White Improved, 

 and one variety from the Oxnard Beet Sugar Company," With one 

 exception the seeds came from French and German seedsmen. "The 

 soil used by the station is the ordinary upland sandy loam of the Big 

 Sioux Valley and has been for twelve years under cultivation. A 

 mechanical analysis made by the station chemist is reported." 



The ground was plowed to the depth of 11 inches in the spring just 

 before planting. Well-rotted barn-yard manure, at the rate of 24 cubic 

 yards per acre, was evenly distributed on the land the previous fall. 

 The planting was done about the middle of May in rows 30 inches apart. 

 The plants were thinned to 8 inches in the row and were hoed twice and 

 cultivated four times before July 20. To decide when the beets reached 



