REPORT. 



Hon. L. L. Polk, Commissioner of Agriculture, 



Dear Sir : I have the honor to lay before you the f ohow- 

 ing report upon the Sugar Beets grown in this State, and sent 

 to the Experiment Station for analysis. It is a matter of pro- 

 found regret to myself, as i^is to you and the other members 

 of the Board of Agriculture, that so few and meagre returns 

 have been made for the trouble you have taken, and the seeds 

 sent out. 



The correspondence of those experimenters who have made 

 any report will point out many of the causes of failure. Chief 

 among them, perhaps, is the fact that the seeds did not reach 

 their destination until late in April, or early in May, a full 

 month too late. There are other causes undoubtedly wdiich 

 had their influence, and prominent among them, no doubt, 

 was a lack of full knowledge as to the proper means of culti- 

 vation. With this in view, I have embodied in my report at 

 some length, a synopsis of the best German experience. Owing 

 to a desire to awaken an increased and intelligent interest in 

 the subject, I have also added a brief resume of the present 

 state of the Sugar Beet industry in this country, and some 

 other matters which may be found practically valuable. 



Though the results of your efforts to have the State fairly 

 represented have been so unfortunately few in number, yet 

 the analyses of the product of the ten counties represented in 

 my report are by no means discouraging. While in no case 

 does the per centage of sugar reach 12, yet the average of all 

 is much higher than that obtained in some States, and quite 

 encouraging. At any rate I hope that the present report may 



