FIELD CROPS. 



241 



of cooperative culture experiments with sugar beets in 1897. Chemical 

 analyses of soils from five different sections of the State and instruc- 

 tions for the growing' of sugar beets are given. The results are tabu- 

 lated in detail and sugar-beet culture is discussed in general. From 

 the results obtained it is concluded that good sugar beets can be raised 

 in any part of Colorado which is adapted to any kind of farming, and 

 that large crops of good beets can be grown in districts supplied with 

 water for irrigation. The length of the campaign for the State is esti- 

 mated at 120 days. The ripe crop of beets in 1897 averaged 15.5 per 

 cent of sugar and 81. G per cent purity. The average yield per acre 

 was about 10 tons. 



Influence of drying on beets (pp. 29-31). — On October 29 beets were 

 taken from the held and divided into 3 equal lots: Lot 1 was kept for 

 a day in a cool, dark place; lot 2 was left for a day in the open field; 

 and lot 3 was piled up and covered with a few inches of dirt and left in 

 the field for 5 weeks. The analyses gave the following results: 



Influence of drying on beets. 



Lots 2 and 3 lost weight by drying out, but no fermentation of the 

 sugar in the beet took place. It was found that green beets when left 

 to dry sustain a loss of sugar by fermentation. 



Influence of freezing on beets (p. 31). — Two beets, one slightly, the 

 other decidedly frozen, were divided into three parts by weight and 

 each third analyzed to ascertain the effect of freezing. Of the beet 

 described as decidedly frozen, the upper third was all frozen, the middle 

 third partly frozen, while the lower portion was left uninjured. The 

 following table gives the results : 



Effect of freezing on sugar beets. 



Sugar-beet growing in Iowa, 1897, C. F. Curtiss ami J. Atkin- 

 son (Iowa Sta. Bui. 37, pp. 20, fig. 1).— -This is a popular bulletin on 

 sugar-beet culture, giving the results of culture experiments at the sta- 

 tion and throughout the State. Results are given in a table. 



