UNITED STATES DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE 



,,„ BULLETIN No. 721 ,„ 



J^^ Contribution from the Bureau of Plant Industry 



-ji^^^^i-nt, WM. A. TAYLOR, Chief 



•^^^r%^u 



Washington, D. C. 



November 22, 1918 



THE BEET-SUGAR INDUSTRY IN THE UNITED 



STATES. 



By 0. O. TowNSEND, 

 Patliologist in Charge, Office of Sugar-Plant Investigations. 



CONTENTS. 



Beet-sugar mills in the United States 1 



Soil 6 



Subsoil 7 



Topography 8 



Climate 10 



Sugar-beet stand 13 



Water 18 



Drainage 21 



Seepage 23 



Fertility 25 



Crop rotation 29 



Competing crops 31 



Farm equipment 35 



Beet by-products and live stock 40 



Labor problems '41 



The successful grower 43 



Diseases 44 



Insects 47 



By-products 48 



Roads ; 49 



Contracts 50 



Area competition 53 



Sugar-beet seed.. 54 



Other publications of the United States De- 

 partment of Agriculture relating to sugar 



and beet-sugar production 55 



BEET-SUGAR MILLS IN THE UNITED STATES. 



In the United States in 1916, 84 beet-sugar mills were standing 

 and equipped for extracting and refining sugar from beet roots. 

 The first of these had been built in 1870 at Alvarado, Cal. During the 

 summer of 1916, 7 of the 84 mills had been erected and equipped 

 for the campaign of 1916-17, and 15 additional were built and 

 equipped for the handling of the 1917-18 crop, making a total of 99 

 beet-sugar mills now standing. (Table I.) 



During this period of 47 years, 5 other mills were built, 3 of which 

 have burned, 1 has been dismantled, and 1 has been utilized for some 

 purpose other than that of making beet sugar. Of the 99 beet-sugar 

 mills now standing (fig. 1), 19 were first erected at some point other 

 than the place where they are now located ; but owing to certain limit- 

 63212°— 18 1 1 



