UNITED STATES DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE 



JfUSr^WTU 



BULLETIN No. 238 



Contribution from the Bureau of Plant Industry 

 WM. A. TAYLOR, Chief 



Washington, D. C. 



July 14, 1915. 



SUGAR BEETS: PREVENTABLE LOSSES IN CULTURE. 



By Harry B. Shaw, Assistant Pathologist, Cotton and Truck Disease and Sugar-plant 



Investiaations . 



CONTENTS. 



Introduction 1 



Striking differences in local yield 2 



Variation in stand 3 



Three types of soil studied 3 



Observations in 1910 3 



Observations in 1911 6 



Observations in 1912 6 



Analysis of observations 6 



Correlation of stand and yield 7 



The significance of poor stands 10 



Losses on a cash basis 12 



How to obtain better stands. i4 



Summary : 20 



INTRODUCTION. 



The cultivation of the sugar beet for the manufacture of sugar has 

 been developed in Europe into one of the most important industries. 

 This industry was transplanted thence into the United States, where 

 the basis of labor costs and farm methods are quite different from 

 those of Europe. Therefore, American beet growers must work out 

 many problems in adjusting their cultural practices to their labor, 

 soil, and climatic conditions. 



It is of vital importance, if we are to compete successfully with 

 other sugar-producing countries and secure the largest possible profit, 

 that the cost of producing each ton of beets be reduced to a minimum. 



Attention must be paid to details, in order to check the leaks 

 responsible for low yields, for with sugar beets, as with most of our 

 field crops, it is unfortunately true that the average yield per acre 

 in the United States, despite its deep, rich soils, is lower than that 

 of any European beet-growing country except Russia, as may be 

 seen from Table I, which shows the yields for 1910 and 1911. 



Doubtless climatic variations between one European country and 

 another and between widely separated parts of the United States have 

 a perceptible influence upon the yield, and it is extremely probable 

 that the countries producing the heaviest yields are those in which 

 the application of thorough cultural methods is the more general. 

 It is also true of the United States, as compared with European 

 countries, that the cost of labor is high and that land values are 

 relatively low, one result of which is that much less labor to the acre 

 is applied in this country than in Europe. 



91241°— Bull. 238—15 1 



