748 



functions of experimental work ; record of work in cane improvement 

 by culture experiments at Medicine Lodge and Sterling, Kansas ; studies 

 of the different varieties of sorghum ; work on crosses ; culture experi- 

 ments at College Park, Maryland ; experiments at Starkville, Missis- 

 sippi, by the Mississippi Station ; and culture experiments at Fort 

 Scott, Kansas. 



The experiments carried on in Kansas for several years have indi- 

 cated that sorghum may be developed in any particular direction by 

 continuous selection of seed from cane having the qualities desired. 

 At Sterling, for example, not only has the percentage of available 

 sugar been increased by selection but an earlier maturity of the cane 

 has been secured. In the development of varieties the soil and climate 

 of particular localities must be taken into account. The experiments 

 reported indicate that varieties which do well in Kansas give poor 

 results in Mississippi, and that, therefore, experiments in selection must 

 also be made in the latter State in order to secure varieties adapted to 

 the peculiar conditions prevailing there. 



Bulletin No. 30. 



Experiments with sugar-beets in 1890, H. W. Wiley (pp. 

 93). — This contains brief statements regarding the purchase and dis- 

 tribution of seeds, experiments at factories, and financial returns to 

 beet growers; analytical data relating to beets grown in twenty-five 

 States chiefly in Nebraska and Minnesota) from seed furnished by this 

 Department; accounts of experiments with sugar-beets in Wisconsin 

 and Kansas ; analyses of beets made at the Minnesota Station ; brief 

 articles on the effect of soil on beet production, culture of the Klein 

 Wanzleben original, and the systematic study of the different varie- 

 ties of sugar-beets in Saxony (averages of Professor Maercker's analyses 

 in 1888) ; some general conclusions regarding the sugar-beet industry 

 in the United States; and, in an appendix, notes on sugar-beet culture 

 in France and Germany, by W. Maxwell. 



The results of tlie analyses at Grand Island and other places show that beets of high 

 sugar content and great purity can be grown in many parts of the United States. 

 The average size of the beets, however, in many places is too small to assume that 

 their culture would prove ijrofitable. It would be far better for all interests to grow 

 beets averaging from 600 to 700 grams in weight, even if the percentage of sugar 

 should drop one or two points. * * * The Department has organized au experi- 

 ment station for the culture of the sugar-beet at Schuyler, Nebraska, and it is con- 

 fidently expected that rich beets, witli high tonnage, can be produced. * * * When 

 we consider the varying qualities of beets which have been grown from the same 

 seed, we are at once struck with the immense importance of the factors of soil, cli- 

 mate, and cultivation in the production of the sugar-beet. In view of the fact that 

 the seed of the Klein Wanzleben variety of beet in the hands of different farmers will 

 show a variation of from 6 to nearly 20 jier cent of sugar, it must be confessed that we 

 have in soil and climatic conditions, and in methods of cultivation, a more potent 

 means of inliuenciug the sugar content of the beet than is found in the germ of the 

 seed itself. 



