68 THE SUGAR INDUSTRY. 



sugar beets every year since that time. We have probably three or four acres grow- 

 ing on the station grounds at present. Seed has been sent to a majority of the coun- 

 ties of the state, so as to give us wide and comprehensive reports regarding the abil- 

 ity of our state in its several counties to grow beets with a sufficient percentage of 

 sugar to make the industry proritable. 



We also, in 1891, conducted an experiment on the college grounds with a piece of 

 land over an acre in extent, having different kinds of soil and treated different ways, 

 so as to ascertain what soil is best and what method of cultivation is advisable. 

 From the whole Oeld, we got an average of 20 tons to the acre with 14.14 per cent 

 sugar in the beets, and 76 per cent average purity of juice. We grew this field of 

 beets under twelve different conditions. We used different kinds of fertilizers on 

 three pieces, but got no evident beneflc; we got our highest average of sugar from 

 the piece of ground from which woods had been cleared off, 15.17 per cent of sugar 

 with 82.3 purity of juice. We let one part of the field on low, rich Joam grow the 

 beets as large as we could possibly grow them by thinning them out; the average pu- 

 rity of juice went down to 72.8 and the sugar in the beet was 11.52. Only three of 

 the twelve conditions gave us sugar in the beet under 13 per cent. We got the great- 

 est tonnage from early planting; subsoiling gave us the best shaped beets. The per- 

 centage of sugar was affected by rains in October causing a second growth. Our high- 

 est analyses came from beets averaging 13 ounces trimmed, and yielding 12 and 13 

 tons per acre; our highest yield of sugar per acre came from beets averaging 21 

 ounces trimmed, and yielding over 28 tons to the acre. Clay soil gave us the highest 

 per cent of sugar, comparativelj higher purity, and lowest tonnage per acre. We had 

 no distinctively sandy soil. 



Reports from different counties in the state show a wide range of sugar per cent 

 and purity co-efficient. The highest we have received comes from Muscatine county; 

 over a hundred farmers reported from that county in 1891. About 10 per cent re- 

 ported a sugar per cent under 12, while half of the number report the sugar in the 

 beet over 15 per cent, and some run as high as 19 per cent. 



I have no doubt that a large area within the state will grow sugar beets profita- 

 bly. The purity of the juice is not as high in our state in all parts as it is in others, 

 but the yield per acre has much to do with the profitableness of the crop, and from 

 reports of the growth of beets west of us, I am satisfied that our tonnage is much 

 heavier than is common in drier states. Iowa soil is so well supplied with plant food 

 of all kinds, organic and mineral, that no fertilization is required. We sent to Louis- 

 iana and got the most approved sugar-cane-growing fertilizers, but were unable to see 

 any improvement whatever from their application. Our soil has abundant lime, pot 

 ash, phosphoric acid and nitrogenous compounds, so that apparently only capital 

 and skill are necessary to make all of the sugar in Iowa that the United States may 

 require. [James Wilson, (Director Iowa experiment station; Professor of Agriculture 

 Iowa Agricultural college; Secretary of Agriculture for the United States 1897-1901). 



IX THE WEST. 



There is no longer a shadow of a doubt as to the adaptability of vast areas to the 

 sugar beet, although it is true that more extended experiments are necessary in some 

 sections to further demonstrate the quantity and quality that can be raised. Espe- 



