10 



BULLETIN 238, TJ. S. DEPAETMENT OF AGRICULTURE. 



age distance by counting the plants in each row and dividing the 

 length of the rows by the number of plants. This was accomplished 

 with the simple contrivance shown in figure 1. 



THE SIGNIFICANCE OF POOR STANDS. 



Having shown that progressive reductions in the percentage of 

 stand occur throughout the entire season, and having indicated the 

 factors chiefly concerned in this destruction of plants, an inquiry may 

 be made as to the significance of these reduced percentages. Does 

 the eradication of these beets from time to time during the season 



affect the ultimate 

 yield, or does it hap- 

 pen that the remain- 

 ing beets, being more 

 widely spaced, so in- 

 crease in size on ac- 

 count of the aug- 

 mented area allowed 

 to each plant as to 

 compensate for the 

 diminished number 

 to the acre ? 



It is frankly con- 

 ceded that evidence 

 on this question 

 might be inconclu- 

 sive if based alone 

 on observations of 

 plats or fields on or- 

 dinary farms — that 

 is, farms among 

 which greater or less 

 diversity of condi- 

 tions exist, however 

 much care may have 

 been exercised in their 

 selection; where the application of even identical methods will vary to 

 some degree; and where there are other factors of variation known to 

 everyone who has carried on such experiments. Fortunately many ex- 

 periments have already been conducted under tost conditions, both in 

 Europe and in the United States, which conclusively demonstrate that 

 with such crops as cotton, corn, mangel-wurzels, potatoes, turnips, car- 

 rots, lettuce, sugar beets, and other spaced crops an optimum area for 

 each plant may be discovered. Only a few of these are cited. 1 To 



1 Eolden,P. G., and Hopkins, C G. Tho sugar beet in Illinois. 111. Agr. Exp. sta. Bui. 49,52 p.illus.,1898. 

 Knauer, Ferdinand. DerRiibcnbau . . . Aufl. 9, ncubearb vmi Max Hollrung, p. 61-65. Berlin, 1906. 

 Nicholson, II. II., and Lyon, T. L. Experiments in the culture of the sugar beet in Nebraska. Nebr. 

 Alt. Exp. Bta. Bui. 60, 34 p., 6 fig., 1899. 

 Shaw, G. W. Culture of the sugar beet. Cal. Agr. Exp. Sta. Circ. 13, 21 p., 3 fig., 1905. 



Tig. 1. 



-Graduated wooden rod used in measuring the gaps in a stand 

 of sugar beets. 



