CULTURE OF THE SUGAR BEET. 33 



CHAPTEE in. 



METEOROLOGY AS APPLIED TO BEET-ROOT CULTURE— CONDITIONS MOST 

 FAVORABLE— COMPARISON OF CONDITIONS IN THE BEET-GROWING DIS- 

 TRICTS OF EUROPE— LIMITS OF CONDITIONS GOVERNING THE EXTEN- 

 SION OF THE CULTURE— LOCATION OF SECTIONS OF FAVORABLE CON- 

 DITIONSjLN THE UNITED STATES— CONCLUSIONS. 



In the meteorological conditions of various sections we believe will be 

 found the most important influences that have a bearing upon the limits 

 to the extension of the industry we have under consideration. In estab- 

 lishing the culture of the beet and the manufacture of sugar therefrom, 

 much of course depends upon the social and commercial relations of a 

 community, but these are to some extent variable according to the de- 

 sire of the population composing the community, and may be modified 

 by human influences. Deficiencies in the physical or chemical characters 

 of soils may be modified by the application of human intelligence, skill, 

 and labor, but the influences which may affect the culture of the beet 

 for good or evil, and over which we have no control, are those which 

 constitute the subject for consideration in the present section of this re- 

 port. In this branch of the subject there is nothing to be done but to 

 make a comparison of the conditions of the section in which an attempt 

 at the culture is contemplated, and those of sections in which the in- 

 dustry is most prosperous, and enter into or abandon the enterprise, 

 according to the results of the comparison as they are favorable or oth- 

 erwise. 



The principal conditions to be studied in this connection are very nat- 

 urally those of temperature and moisture with which the plant may be 

 surrounded, and we are perfectly aware that, in order to make this work 

 complete, the examination and comparison of the conditions abroad and 

 at home should be much more extended and exhaustive than we have 

 been able to make on account of the various limitations to which we 

 have been subject. However, the results we may here make public will 

 not be without value as a guide to those defining to attempt establish- 

 ing the production of sugar from the beet root in any portion of the 

 United States or, indeed, elsewhere. 



The ajiount of moisture at the disposition of the plant at all seasons 

 of its growth is the most important factor in its normal development 

 that will affect to any marked extent the quantity and quality of the 

 crop and consequently the existence and progress of this culture. 



Temperature has an influence it is true, but, except it be too low, it 

 has not the same power for evil that deficiency of moisture may have, 

 and we have nothing to fear concerning too low a temperature during 

 the growing season in the United States. In fact, the plant is more 

 likely to suffer from too high a temperature during the summer months 

 than from a deficiency of heat. 



In determining whether a section be favorable to the culture it is, of 

 3 SB 



