116 



toral portions of the country. The influence of the sea water in modi- 

 fying the climate of adjacent agricultural regions is too well known to 

 need elucidation, and the extraordinarily favorable results reported 

 from the Pacific coast with the beets grown by farmers in general are 

 illustrations of this fact. So, also, the vicissitudes of climate are well 

 known without consulting the meteorological data kept by the station 

 at Schuyler during the past season. Prolonged periods of drought in 

 such climates are followed by heavy and repeated rains ; cold and hot 

 days follow each other in rapid succession, not only in the spring and 

 autumn, but even in the middle of the summer. It is thus rendered 

 important to be able to be in a measure independent of climatic condi- 

 tions, and therefore the proper preparation of the soil for the seed bed 

 and the careful cultivation of the plants are more important factors in 

 growing beets in intercontinental areas than in localities where the 

 climatic conditions are more equable. 



A striking illustration of such changes may be cited by referring to 

 the fact that we had scarcely secured the beets selected as mothers in 

 the silos at Schuyler, early in November, before the temperature fell 

 below F. By reason of these extremes of climatic conditions, also, it 

 would be proper to call attention to the fact that the silos for preserv- 

 ing the mother beets during the winter season must be constructed with 

 great care. It will be necessary to wait until the spring in order to 

 determine how successful we were in preserving the beets during the 

 winter which is just passing. Three different silos were made, varying 

 in the principles of construction, in the hope of determining which of 

 the methods of preservation would prove more successful. The attend- 

 ant left in charge of the silos during the winter was also instructed to 

 watch carefully the forecasts of the weather and add extra covering to 

 to the silos whenever the temperature was expected to be extremely 

 low. In the same way care was directed to be paid to ventilating th< 

 silos in periods of high temperature, which occur frequently, even during 

 the winter, in that locality. 



The success which attended these efforts at scientific culture wei 

 well attested by the magnificent appearance of the fields of beets dur- 

 ing the latter part of the summer and as they approached maturity. 

 The plots were seen to be absolutely free of weeds and grass, and in n< 

 place, in looking over the field, could the ground be seen. The beet 

 leaves formed a complete coveting and presented in every respect 

 most satisfactory appearance. 



An outline of the principles underlying the analytical period of the ex- 

 periments will indicate the general line of work. 



First of all it was proposed to determine the yield in cleaned am 

 topped beets per acre that is, beets ready to send to the factory foi 

 each period of planting and for each variation in the width betweei 

 the rows, and the number of beets per acre. To secure this a carefully 

 measured portion of each plot, under the condition* above mentioned, 



