THE IRRIGATION AGE. 



203 



THE SUGAR BEET. 



Nothing in the field of agriculture, has 

 received so much attention recently as the 

 sugar beet. Papers and journals devoted 

 to the interests of agriculture have given 

 more or less space to the discussion of 

 this subject, and experiments have been 

 conducted during the past year at the var- 

 ious agricultural stations to study the char- 

 acteristics and needs of this vegetable. 



That the raising of sugar beets is a pay- 

 ing industry under favorable conditions 

 has been demonstrated beyond a doubt in 

 numerous instances. The following is the 

 report made at the beginning of the year 

 by the refinery at Chino, Cal. : "The 

 Chino beet sugar factory and refinery closed 

 its campaign for the season on Dec. 10, af- 

 ter running day and night since July 17; 

 98,742 tons of beets were treated and over 

 25,670,000 pounds of sugar produced. 

 About 350 men have been employed at the 

 facory in day and night shifts and the pay 

 roll has averaged $22,000 each month since 

 the factory opened, or about $113,000 for 

 the whole season. The average price paid 

 for beets was $4 per ton, making the total 

 sum paid to the beet growers $394.968. 

 The Chino beet sugar factory was built 

 in the midst of a barren cattle ranch 

 in the winter of 1890-91, after the pass- 

 age of the McKinley tariff law, which 

 put the first bounty on sugar making, and 

 over 11,000 acres of comparatively useless 

 land has been made valuable by the estab- 

 lishment of the industry." 



This is one of the many instances that 

 has caused farmers in other sections to in- 

 vestigate the beet. While there are a great 

 many varieties of sugar beet, named from 

 the localities where they were first culti- 

 vated or the men who devoted the most care 

 to develop them, probably the best 

 known and most widely raised are the two 

 varieties called the Vilmorin and the 

 Kleinwanzlebener, the latter being the 

 favorite. The former poduces from 12 to 

 16 tons per acre and the latter 14 to 18 

 tons. The Vilmorin contains more sugar, 

 but the Kleinwanzlebener contains from 



13 to 15 per cent, and will grow well in 

 alluvial soils of average richness. Califor- 

 nia probably takes the lead in the sugar 

 beet industry, but New Mexico is a close 

 second, both having a number of factories 

 in successful operation. In many of the 

 other states the growing of the su^ar beet 

 has been carried on merely as an experi- 

 ment. Nebraska has been very successful 

 in this regard. 



From the reports that come from the ex- 

 periment stations of the different states 

 we learn the following in regard to soil, 

 climate and cultivation: 



First class seed must, of course, be used. 

 Gravelly loam, sandy loam, loam and clay 

 loam are soils that are suited to the beet, 

 but the sandy loam is considered best. 

 Any soil that is well suited to potatoes will 

 do equally well for sugar beets. It is best 

 to. plant them after some other crop, not 

 upon new soil, and where the soil deficient 

 in nitrogen, as in arid soils in Arizona, it 

 was found well to plant a crop of alfalfa, 

 clover or cow peas, and the vegetation of 

 these decaying provided the soil with the 

 necessary element for the growth of the beet. 

 The sugar beet is not as some suppose, an 

 exhausting crop to the soil for if the leaves 

 are allowed to remain on the ground and 

 rot, the essential elements are returned to 

 the soil and it suffers no loss. Among 

 the other requirements to success are thor- 

 ough drainage, so that the sub-soil may be 

 porous, not hard and water soaked, and 

 deep plowing. This latter must be espec- 

 ially emphasized, as the ground must be 

 so loosened and prepared as to allow the 

 beet to bury itself in the soil and send its 

 tap root deep down in search of nourish- 

 ment. 



The beet pulp that is left after the su- 

 gar has been removed, is good food for 

 cattle and hogs, making one of the cheap- 

 est foods and being weli liked by the cattle. 

 Experiments in Nebraska prove that as a 

 food for fattening cattle it is very valuable. 



As before remarked, sugar beets may be 

 grown in a number of states, but aside 

 from the suitable climate and soil there is 



