14 



total precipitation for the six months, however, \\a- -I i- hi ly greater 

 at Lafayette, while the average temperature, as might he expected, 

 was a little higher at Indianapolis. 



1'nder date of October ^s. Professor Huston, in eonum-nt ing on the 

 prevailing meteorological conditions during the beet season of 1 ( .<>1. 

 says: 



As you an- doubtless aware, the summer season lias been niiite unusual in i\\\> 

 tion, the drought being so severe that the corn crop will be reduced fully one-half; 

 on our own farm we have practically no corn. 



Your circular of September 1"), was received, but since the beets had not appeared 

 to approach maturity, but were simply standing still from lack of water, I did not 

 deem it wise to send samples at that time. On September 20, I sampled a field, and 

 the results you will find on inclosed card; on October 5, I sampled again, and you 

 will see that between these dates the beets had made a very substantial gain in 

 both sugar content and purity. No rain fell between these dates. On < >ctober 11, a 

 general rain set in, and in four days we had 4.:>r> inches of rain. The beets started 

 to grow, but you will see, from the results of the analyses on October !><>, that tlie 

 sunar content was not reduced. This is an unusual result, and from now on we shall 

 sample the field every few days to see what takes place. The drought reduced the 

 stand of beets fully one-half, but those remaining are of marketable si/e and very 

 good | utility. 



I regret, very much that the beetsare not so situated that we could have tried irri- 

 gation on them, for it would have been a banner year for the purpose. 



EXPERIMENTS CONDUCTED BY THE IOWA STATION. 



The beets were planted at the Iowa station on May 22, thinned on 

 June 20, and harvested for the first time on October 7. Mr. James 

 At kinxni. ai>tant in agriculture at Ames, writes as follows concern in g 

 the beet crop on September 23, 1901: 



I may say that, while our beet crop has run the gauntlet of many foes this year, 

 still it looks exceedingly well at the present time. You are, no doubt, aware that 

 our crop suffered considerably from the hot winds and drought during the summer. 

 I found that the beet crop stood it about as well as any other crop, although it was 

 not by any means exempt from injury. The blister beetles also gave us considera- 

 ble trouble, and we were compelled to light four broods of them with Paris green 

 and London purple. However, it appears at the present time that we have come 

 out on top and that we shall have beets of good quality to harvest. Sugar 



making has scarcely commenced yet, the beets being only slightly sweet to the taste. 

 I think the first harvesting will IK- ready about October 1. 



The ivsult>of the analyses made at Washington of the three samples 

 of beets forwarded are found in the following table: 



<n, I,, ,/* iji-mr,, <it ///, fn/ra I'l.ifx rim, at S 



