176 CULTURE OF THE SUGAR BEET. 



and put in turnips, using no manure except Stockbridge's special manure for turnips. 

 I got a fair crop. In the spring of 1878 I underdrained the land and then plowed it 

 once 9 inches deep with Frye's No. 3 steel plow. Then I harrowed it thoroughly with 

 Share's harrow. I marked out my rows 30 inches apart and 2 inches deep with a light 

 horse-hoe. I then strewed Stockbridge's special manure for sugar beets in the drills, 

 at the rate of three bags ($5 per bag) to the acre. I then covered the manure about 1 

 inch deep. I then ran my seed-drill over the fertilizer and used plenty of seed. This 

 was late in May. My drill covered the seed about 1 inch deep. When the beets were 

 about the size of a slate-pencil I thinned them out, leaving only one beet to each 8 

 inches in the rows. This thinning out and first weeding was the only work I did by 

 hand. I afterwards cultivated them with horse-cultivator twice only. My crop was 

 22^ tons per acre. The only manure I have used on the land for the past two years has 

 been the Stockbridge fertilizer. Upon land which was thoroughly manured last year 

 a good crop of su gar beets can be raised with Stockbridge sugar-beet manure alone. 

 I am going to plant 10 acres of sugar beets this year on contract with the Maine Beet 

 Sugar Company. I shall use no other manure than the Stockbridge; it has the great 

 advantage that it introduces no weeds. If barnyard manure alone is used, 8 or 10 

 cords per acre will be needed. With early planting and good cultivation at least 20 

 tons per acre should be an average crop of sugar beets in the State of Maine. 



W. W. HARRIS, 

 President Maine State Board of Agriculture. 



Every farmer who cultivates beets for the Maine Beet Sugar Company will 

 please send his address by mail on a postal card to The Maine Beet Sugar Company, 

 Portland, Me. 



MAINE BEET SUGAR COMPANY. 



The instructions given in the circular were pretty generally followed, though in 

 some cases the farmers followed the teachings of their own experience in growing 

 other root crops. Thus crops were planted upon low bottoms that were not very well 

 drained, and even where very peaty soil prevailed. Such conditions, of course, in- 

 sured roots of large volume, which, according to the experience of European growers 

 and sugar manufacturers, are not compatible with high yields in sugar in the factory 

 as compared with the number of tons worked. 



But these difficulties will remedy themselves in time, and it remains to be seen what 

 will be the value of the crops produced under the varying conditions that may be 

 found. This we shall endeavor to learn definitely by means of a circular of questions 

 we have prepared for distribution among the farmers who have grown beets this year, 

 and hope to be able to make public the information we shall doubtless obtain in a sub- 

 sequent more detailed report. For the present we must content ourselves with the 

 comparatively limited information we were able hurriedly to obtain in a short time 

 before the time for harvesting the crop had arrived. The prospects for an excellent 

 crop are very favorable, and hopes of success and profit from the enterprise, both to 

 the farmers and the manufacturers, run high. It is believed by all concerned that the 

 average quantity obtained per acre from this year's crop will reach 15 to 20 tons, of 

 very excellent quality, though the latter has not yet been accurately determined. 

 Should the expectations be realized, the extension of the culture next year will be 

 rapid and sure. 



The seed purchased and distributed by the company consisted of seven-eighths "Im- 

 perial," obtained from Halle, in Germany, and one-eighth "Pink top," from the house 

 of Vilmorin, Andrieux & Co., in Paris. Of these, the German seed seems to find greater 

 favor among the growers, because it has not the property of growing out of the ground 

 as much as the French variety. But the value of the two varieties for working in the 

 factory remains to be determined. 



The methods of culture adopted by the farmers maybe briefly summed up as follows: 



The seed was sown in drills from 18 to 30 inches apart, according to the notion of 

 the farmer, and in Quantity varying from 8 to 14 pounds per acre. The quantity of 



