THE CLYDE SEEIES OF SOILS. 49 



SUGAR BEETS. 



The climatic zone within which sugar beets may be advantageously- 

 grown under humid conditions crosses the northern part of the 

 United States, including practically all of the Great Lakes region. 

 Within this section of the country there is a wide diversity in soils 

 and upon many of these different soils the cultivation of the sugar 

 beet has been attempted at one time or another during the last 20 

 years. As a result of the gradual elimination of soils not well suited 

 to the crop the industry in the north-central States has become some- 

 what concentrated within areas which are dominated by the soils of 

 the Clyde series. The first intimation of this was obtained by the 

 Bureau of Soils in the summer of 1904, when soil surveys were made 

 in several areas through the southern peninsula of Michigan for the 

 purpose of determining the kinds of soil best suited to the growing 

 of sugar beets upon a commercial scale. 



While sugar beets may be grown upon quite a variety of soils 1 it 

 soon became evident from a field study of the soils of the beet-pro- 

 ducing region that a typical beet soil must be one which is in such 

 physical condition as to maintain a considerable supply of soil mois- 

 ture during the growing season without becoming waterlogged ; that 

 the best sugar-beet soils were also sufficiently friable to enable the 

 beet roots to penetrate to a considerable depth; that the most suc- 

 cessful crops were grown upon soils well supplied with organic mat- 

 ter; and that the tonnage of the crop was generally greatest upon 

 soils which were at least mildly calcareous. 



The heavier soils of the Clyde series meet all of these requirements, 

 and it became evident that the sugar content and index of purity of 

 the beets grown upon the different soils of the Clyde series always 

 compared favorably with those of beets grown upon any other soils, 

 while these factors of quality were usually best in beets grown upon 

 the Clyde loam or some very similar soil. 



A consideration of the acreage and yield of sugar beets in the lake- 

 region States will serve to show how closely the growing of sugar 

 beets is associated with the soils of the Clyde series. 



The State of Michigan reports considerably more than one-fifth 

 of all the acreage of sugar beets grown in the United States in 1909. 2 

 Only the States of Colorado and California exceed the Michigan 

 acreage, and the latter State only by a few acres. Wisconsin is the 

 only other Eastern State which produces any large acreage, although 

 portions of Ohio and Indiana show small plantings. 



1 See Farmers' Bulletin No. 568, Sugar-beet Growing under Humid Conditions, for a 

 complete discussion of sugar-beet growing. 



2 Census of the United States, 1910. 



