UNITED STATES DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE 



BULLETIN No. 995 ^ 



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Contribution from the Bureau of Plant Industry 

 WM. A. TAYLOR, Chief 



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Washington, D. C. 



October 14, 1921 



THE BEET-SUGAR INDUSTRY IN 



STATES IN 1920. 



THE UNITED 



By C. O. Towksekd, 

 Pathologist in Charge, Office of Sugar-Plant Investigations. 



CONTENTS. 



Page. 



Beet-sugar mills in the United States_ 1 



Soil ; ___ 7 



Subsoil ,_ 1 8 



Topography 1 9 



Climate—- 10 



Sugar-beet stand If! 



Water 19 



Drainage _. 22 



Seepage 24 



Soil fertility 26 



Crop rotation 30 



Competing crops — 32 



Farm equipment 35 



Page. 



Beet by-products and live slock 41 



Labor problems 42 



The successful grower 44 



Diseases 45 



Insects 48 



By-products 49 



Roads 50 



Contracts 51 



Area competition 54 



Sugar-beet seed 55 



Publications of the United States 

 Department of Agriculture relat- 

 ing to sugar and the production— 57 



BEET-SUGAR MILLS IN THE UNITED STATES. 



In the United States in 1919, 98 beet-sugar mills were standing and 

 equipped for extracting and refining sugar from beet roots. The 

 oldest one of the mills now standing was built in 1870 at Alvarado, 

 Calif. During the summer of 1919, 1 of the 98 mills had been erected 

 and equipped for the campaign of 1919-20, 6 additional ones were 

 built and equipped for the handling of the 1920-21 crop, and two 

 others are in process of construction, making a total of 106 beet- 

 sugar mills now standing. (Table I.) 



56830° — Bull. 995 — 21 1 



