230 



THE IRRIGATION AGE. 



THE SUGAR BEET BELT. 



BY W. C. FITZSIMMONS. 



PROFESSOR WILEY, of the Department of Agri- 

 culture, alleges that after a number of years of 

 careful experiment, it has been found that the 

 sugar beet attains its greatest perfection, as far as 

 temperature alone is concerned, in a zone of varying 

 width, through the center of which passes the iso- 

 thermal line of seventy degrees Fahrenheit for the 

 months of June, July and August. 



This isotherm begins at the city of New York and 

 follows the Hudson river to Albany, thence to Syra- 

 cuse, thence to Sandusky, Ohio, thence northwesterly 

 to Lansing, Mich., its most northerly point in that State. 

 From there the line drops to the southwestward and 

 tpuches South Bend and Michigan City in Indiana; 

 thence rises to Chicago, Madison and St. Paul, after 

 which it moves a little to the southward into South Da- 

 kota, thence, turning northward, crosses the Missouri 

 river on the forty-fifth parallel of latitude. From this 

 point the isothermal line takes a direction almost due 

 south and nearly following the one-hundred-and-first 

 meridian of longitude until it passes out of the State 

 of Nebraska into Colorado near its northeast corner. 

 Bearing southwesterly it reaches Pueblo, Colorado, 

 near the one-hundred-and-fifth meridian, thence turns 

 southeasterly into New Mexico, then turns to the 

 westward and crosses the one-hundred-and-fifth 

 meridian near the thirty-second parallel of latitude. 

 Continuing westwardly it passes on into California in 

 an irregular line, thence by the same circuitous route 

 across that State, Oregon and Washington. 



Within a belt about 100 miles wide on each side of 

 this irregular line, Mr. Wiley considers it safe, under 

 present conditions, to plant sugar beets as a com- 

 mercial enterprise. That is to say: The beet sugar 

 area of the United States may be considered to lie 

 mainly within this territory. No doubt there are many 

 sections of limited extent outside of the belt above 

 defined where sugar beet culture will be found a prof- 

 itable business, while in many other sections within 

 the belt it will be found by experience not to be de- 

 sirable. But it is not merely a question of summer 

 temperature. Soil, rainfall or irrigating facilities 

 will be found to be equally important factors in the 

 general determination. Were the entire territory 

 embraced within the lines suggested herein adapted 

 to beet culture, it could not of course be so utilized 

 except to a limited extent. For, estimating that a 

 ton of sugar may be produced upon one acre of land 

 as an average, an area of less than seven million 

 acres in extent would suffice to yield all the sugar 

 now produced in the world, whereas the area we 

 are here considering in the United States would com- 

 prise over four hundred million acres. 



It will be thus seen at a single glance that we have 

 a sugar beet belt in the United States capable of 

 producing all the sugar that can be used not only in 

 this country but in the entire world. And since other 

 countries will continue producing sugar on a very 

 large scale, it follows that nearly all of the territory 

 above outlined must for all time be devoted to the 

 production of other crops. Only those localities 

 where the most favorable conditions prevail should 

 therefore be brought under beet culture. The ex- 

 periments thus far tried in Nebraska, California, 

 Utah and a few other States have to some extent out- 

 lined the areas which may be most profitably devoted 

 to the cultivation of the sugar beet. If the industry 

 is to depend upon the natural rainfall, Professor Wiley 



deems it important to select such localities as are 

 sure to enjoy from two to four inches of rainfall per 

 month during the summer. It may be said, how- 

 ever, that experience in California and other places 

 proves quite conclusively that with proper conditions 

 of soil and cultivation, the sugar beet may be success- 

 fully grown with a small amount of rainfall or irriga- 

 tion. 



In general, it may be said that any soil which will 

 yield good crops of corn, wheat or potatoes will also 

 yield profitable crops of sugar beet. A sandy loam, 

 however, other things being equal, may be regarded 

 as best adapted to the culture of the beet. The 

 question of early and late frosts is a serious one in 

 connection with beet culture. The best results, if 

 other conditions remain the same, are to be reached 

 in those localities where the longest season between 

 killing frosts is found. So far as beet culture has 

 yet extended in the United States, Southern Cali- 

 fornia meets this latter condition most fully. But in 

 the arid regions there are millions of acres nearly as 

 well adapted by reason of soil, climate and other 

 necessary conditions to the cultivation of the beet as 

 Southern California; hence it is fair to presume that 

 the future of sugar beet culture in America will be 

 determined in the arid belt. 



In the Poultry Yard. It the slovenly custom 

 of selling poultry by the " dozen " prevails in a given 

 community, it may not be worth while to devote 

 much energy to caponizing the male stock with a 

 view to getting heavier fowls. But every man inter- 

 ested in progressive poultry raising should exert him- 

 self toward the discontinuance of the indefensible 

 custom of buying and selling poultry by the dozen. 

 The same is also true in lesser degree, perhaps, as 

 regards eggs. Both poultry and eggs should be 

 bought and sold by the pound, and if farmers and 

 poultry fanciers in a given neighborhood unite in 

 such a demand, the country storekeepers will most 

 likely adopt the system. This one thing would prob- 

 ably do more to encourage the production of best 

 breeds of poultry, both for flesh and eggs, than 

 almost any other agency. Let everything in the 

 poultry line be handled on its individual merits, and 

 not bunched together indiscriminately in dozens 

 without regard to size or quality. Relative to the age 

 at which capons should be marketed (by the pound of 

 course) authorities differ. Some allege that capons 

 should not be kept beyond eleven months of age, and 

 assert that if held beyond that age the flesh becomes 

 " soggy " and far less palatable for the table. Ex- 

 periments' at the Oregon Station, however, would 

 indicate that capons may be kept beyond the age 

 above given, and that even fowls kept to the age of 

 nineteen months showed none of the inferior qual- 

 ities sometimes ascribed to birds held from the mar- 

 ket to the age of say one year. The final recom- 

 mendation of that station was to market capons at 

 the age of thirteen or fourteen months from hatching. 



Desert Cr.ops. James A. Hudson, of Chicago, 

 recently spent a few days at Garden City, Kansas, 

 the cradle of irrigation in that State, and carried home 

 with him, to show what can be grown under irriga- 

 tion, a goodly boxful of farm, garden and orchard 

 products. Among the lot are a fifty-pound water- 

 melon, an eighteen-pound beet, three "prizetaker" 

 onions from a small patch which produced at the 

 rate of 1,400 bushels per acre, several varieties of 



