CHAPTER III. 

 CULTURE OF THE SUGAR BEET. 



CLIMATIC CONDITIONS. 



EETS THRIVE BEST in a temperate climate, which in 

 the United States covers a vast area. While the 

 plant develops under a great variety of weather con- 

 ditions, more recent experience seems to confirm in u 

 measure the previously accepted theory that the sugar 

 beet as a rule does best in regions where the average 

 temperature for the months of June, July and Au- 

 gust is about 70 degrees F. This isothermal line has 

 been carefully determined by the United States de- 

 partment of agriculture and is indicated on map No 3. 

 (See frontispiece. ) Dr Wiley in 1890 regarded the 

 sugar beet belt as extending about 100 miles on each side of this line. Experience 

 since shows that the area adapted to this crop is by no means limited to this belt and 

 that it is far larger than has been supposed. The map referred to indicates in a 

 general way the area in which both soils and climates can be found peculiarly adapt- 

 ed to the sugar beet. 



Sunshine is required to make sugar. Hence, the number of clear and sunshiny 

 days that can usually be depended upon in any section is an important consideration, 

 which has not been sufficiently emphasized in much of the literature heretofore pub- 

 lished. This explains the advantage of many parts of the so-called arid west for this 

 industry, especially California and the Southwest. 



Another important climatic consideration is favorable weather during the ripen- 

 ing and harvesting period. Clear sunshine, absence of fogs and moisture, are impor- 

 tant at this period. We have seen how in 1895 a fine crop of sugar beets in Nebraska 

 was almost ruined by a warm, wet spell ea^y in the harvesting time. While tl.is ia 

 unusual in many of the eastern and central states, it is liable to occur in most of the 

 country east of the 100th meridian. Such weather starts a new growth of the beets 

 that consumes the sugar or changes it to starch, and it requires several days of sharp 

 sunshine and warmth, without too much humidity, to restore the sugar content. 



The beet must also have sufficient moisture at the right time to produce the best 

 results. This moisture must come either from the rainfall, from irrigation or "the 

 soil must be of that peculiar quality that will allow subterranean moisture to reach 

 the rootlets of the plant," which is the case in parts of California and some other 

 states. While proper cultivation of a subsoil soil will enable the beet to thrive with 



