14 STATE BOARD OF AGRICULTURE. 



manufacturers of beet sugar on condition that the farmer receive a fixed 

 price for beets of a certain grade. The State moreover assures the farmer 

 against fraud in weighing and testing by appointing at each factory a 

 weighmaster and analyst, ofiScers to stand between the factory and the 

 farmer to insure absolute justice. There is no question as to the benefits 

 to the State from the introduction of this new industry, this further 

 diversification of crops, but it is to be hoped that farmers will not rush 

 inconsiderately into the business. The questions relating to sugar beets 

 will at this time be discussed from three standpoints; first, that of the 

 farmer; second, that of the manufacturer; and third, that of an unbiased 

 and unprejudiced but observant and interested experimenter. 



SUGAR BEETS— FROM THE FARMER'S STANDPOINT. 



J. Y. CLARK, ORION. OAKLAND COUNTY. 



It was my good fortune the past season to have charge of an experi- 

 mental acre of sugar beets, raised under the supervision of the Michigan 

 Experiment Station, with the especial object in view of determining the 

 exact cost of production. 



The plot selected, which had received no fertilizer since 1891, was a 

 June grass sod, plowed for potatoes in the spring of 1897, plowed and 

 subsoiled to a depth of from 15 to 18 inches in 1898 for the beets. The 

 soil, both surface and sub-soil, varied from sandy loam to heavy red clay. 

 May 19th, after thorough tillage, the acre was sown with improved Klien- 

 wanzlebener sugar beet seed furnished by the Experiment Station. The 

 beets received frequent and thorough cultivation and grew thriftily. At 

 the harvest two-thirds of the plot yielded at the rate of 10.58 tons per 

 acre with a percentage of sugar of 17.81, co-eificient of purity 84.8. 

 The remainder of the acre, owing to a partial failure of the seed, was 

 resown three weeks later and gave a much smaller yield. Had the stand 

 been uniform the account would have stood as follows: 



EXPENSES. HOURS. 



Man and team— plowing and subsoiling 12 



Man and team— preparing 7 



Man— suwir.g 6 



Man— cultivating witJi wheel hoe 15 



Man— thinning by hand 70 



Man and horse — cultivating (4 times) 20 



Man and team — harvesting 16 



Man— harvesting 64 



Total 155 55 



155 hours— man— at IC cts. per hour $15 50 



55 hours— man and team— at 25 cts. per hour 13 75 



Total cost when secured in the pit $29 25 



CONTKABY, VALUE AT FACTORY. 



16.58 tons of 17.81 sugar percentage at $5.45 per ton $90 36 



Apparent profit, from which seed, freight, hauling and dockage must be deducted 61 11 



DATES. 



Sowing— May 19. 



Hand thinning— the week following June 20. 

 Cultivations— June 9. June 20, June 29, and July 9. 

 Harvesting— the week following October 25. 



