BULLETIN 238, U. S. DEPARTMENT OF AGEICULTUEE. 



Table I. — Acreage of sugar beets and production of sugar of seven of the principal beet- 

 growing countries. 1 



Germany 



Russia 



Austria-Hungary 



France 



Belgium 



Holland 



United States 



Sugar pro- 

 duction. 



Tons. 



2,854,812 

 2,324,486 

 1,678,566 

 783,925 

 312,196 

 239,073 

 510, 172 



Area of 



sugar beets 



sown. 



A crcs. 

 1,169,755 

 1,614,780 

 913,159 

 571,805 

 150, 176 

 122,638 

 398,029 



Yield of 



sugar beets 



per acre. 



Tons. 

 14.84 

 8.93 

 12. 38 

 10.63 

 14.53 

 12.96 

 10.17 



Sugar 



obtained 



from beets. 



Per cent. 

 16.31 

 16.12 

 14.85 

 12.90 

 14.31 

 15.04 

 12.61 



1 Compiled from the corrected figures of the International Association for Gathering Sugar Statistics. 

 See Amer. Sugar Indus., v. 14, 1912, no. 1, p. 24; no. 2, p. 21. 



STRIKING DIFFERENCES IN LOCAL YIELD. 



One of the most striking facts in our agriculture is the enormous 

 variation in yield obtained by different farmers in the same district, 

 and often by near neighbors applying identical methods under similar 

 soil and climatic conditions. These differences can not be attributed 

 entirely to variations in soil, in climate, or in the methods themselves; 

 nor, in the case of sugar beets, can they be accounted for by varia- 

 tions in the quality of the seed, because beet seed is invariably fur- 

 nished by each sugar factory from its common stock. In many dis- 

 tricts the seed is sown by the sugar company. 



True enough, there are variations in soil and in methods, but these 

 are not sufficient to account for the great discrepancies in yield every- 

 where to be observed. For example, within a small area under 

 similar soil conditions, with identical climatic conditions and em- 

 ploying like methods, one may find a farmer rejoicing as he hauls 20 

 tons of beets from each acre to the factory, while his neighbor is 

 almost too discouraged to load his pitiful 7 or 8 tons an acre into Ms 

 wagon. 



Of equal significance is the fact that while the yields from two or 

 more individual fields may differ greatly, yet a glance over these 

 fields after the foliage has attained some size, or even soon after 

 thinning, might fail to reveal any appreciable difference in the stand. 

 However, a careful examination of such fields would show that in 

 general the plants in some fields are more widely spaced than in 

 others and that gaps, not apparent at a distance, occur more or less 

 frequently in the rows. Beet growers fail to realize the significance 

 of these apparently small deficiencies in the stand. 



In the course of field observations on sugar beets covering a period 

 of several years, the local variations in yield were seen to be so re- 

 markable that special studies were begun in order to ascertain the 

 actual conditions prevailing in fields belonging to a number of repre- 

 sentative beet growers in old established beet districts in Utah. These 

 studies were commenced in 1910 and continued through the seasons 



