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station at Lincoln. Our work is to be taken for the advancement of 

 the beet-sugar industry in general, and it has been carried on in a 

 locality as nearly central as possible. 



The plat of land which was finally selected was, in general, the best 

 adapted to the purpose. No piece of land could lie more favorably for an 

 experimental station. It has a gentle slope toward the south, and yet 

 is practically level, but with a sufficient difference in altitude between 

 its southern and northern portions to give excellent natural drainage, 

 and yet not sufficient to produce washing during heavy rains. The soil 

 is a deep sandy loam, and the only objection to it was that it was prac- 

 tically a virgin soil. Part of it had never been plowed, but the whole 

 of it had been closely pastured for several years, so it was not exactly 

 of the nature of the virgin prairie. The only fear entertained in select- 

 this piece of land was that the beets would grow to a remarkable size 

 and be deficient in sugar content. This, however, as will be found in 

 consulting the experimental data, was prevented by close planting, which 

 kept the beets down to below normal size and secured in them a normal 

 development of saccharine matter. 



Being unable to give my personal supervision to the work of the sta- 

 tion, it was placed in charge of Mr. Walter Maxwell, who brought to 

 his work a large experience in farming and a thorough comprehension 

 of the nature of the problems to be investigated. The scope and extent 

 of the work was thoroughly explained to Mr. Maxwell before his de- 

 parture to take charge of the station, and the thoroughness with which 

 he carried out the instructions in the conduct of the work will be more 

 clearly perceived by a perusal of his report, which follows. 



During the planting season I spent sometime at the station, and also 

 during the analytical season. 



Seed of the best European varieties was especially imported for the 

 purpose of starting the crop for the first year, and in all cases an ex- 

 cellent stand was secured, although the conditions for germination were 

 somewhat unfavorable. At the time of planting, the earth was remark- 

 ably dry, and continued so until near the end of May, after which time 

 a period of exceptional humidity prevailed, accompanied by repeated 

 and heavy rainfalls. 



In spite of these unfavorable climatic influences, however, a good 

 stand was secured in all the plats from planting 15 to 20 pounds of 

 seed per acre. The general scope of the work may be outlined as fol- 

 lows : 



In the first place, it was proposed to thoroughly prepare the soil in the 

 best approved manner. Fortunately, on account of the laud having 

 been closely pastured, the sod was plowed without difficulty. The plow 

 was followed by a subsoiler and the soil thus loosened to a depth of 

 from 15 to 17 inches. No difficulty whatever was experienced in secur- 

 ing a perfect tilth of the surface and an excellent seed bed. Not will- 

 ing, however, to trust the first year's experiments to a soil so wholly 

 19864 No. 33 8 



