12 BULLETIN 238, U. S. DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE. 



where all the cultural operations were identical and carried on in each 

 field by the same person. These are plats 1 and 2 and plats 3 and 4 

 of group 1, 1912. (See Table II.) In these two pairs of plats the 

 correlation is perfect. 



From these data, then, grave losses have been revealed in the 

 percentage of stand of sugar beets. It has been demonstrated that 

 a close relation exists between stand and yield; therefore it is apparent 

 that such considerable losses in stand as have been indicated repre- 

 sent losses in tonnage. If data were collected from the fields of less 

 experienced beet growers, still greater discrepancies would be re- 

 vealed, which would correspond somewhat closely to their discourag- 

 ing yields. Most of these losses are avoidable. 



LOSSES ON A CASH BASIS. 



The discrepancies among the yields of the fields under considera- 

 tion will appear still more striking if translated into terms of dollars 

 and cents. It is known that year after year some beet growers in 

 the older districts (for example, those represented in groups 1 and 2, 

 Table II) obtain no less than 30 tons of beets per acre, while in the 

 district represented by group 3 (Table II) a yield of 25 tons an acre 

 is not uncommon. Large yields are obtained annually by the most 

 skillful beet growers in other States. It is acknowledged that yields 

 such as those just mentioned are exceptional and are won only after 

 the soil has been worked into splendid tilth by very deep plowing, 

 ample manuring, and intensive culture. Perhaps such a standard 

 might be open to the criticism that like results would be imprac- 

 ticable in general. For the purposes of comparison, then, the best 

 plat in each group will be used. (See Table IV.) 



Emphasis is placed on the fact that the yields mentioned in con- 

 nection with the fields under consideration are not unusual, but are 

 obtained by the same growers year after year with but slight fluctu- 

 ation. Should it be contended that the soil in these fields is richer, 

 deeper, or more fertile than that of other fields in the vicinity, where 

 much smaller yields are obtained, it can be said of them that they 

 are so chiefly because the owners or cultivators of those fields have 

 brought them up to their present condition through better farming 

 practices and not because the soil itself was markedly superior at the 

 outset. 



In regard to the sugar content of the beets, it can be said that 

 the percentages quoted arc those obtained from composite factory 

 samples taken at random at the time of the delivery of the beets 

 and determined by the chemist of the sugar factory. The season 

 of 1912, when these tests were made, was not an exceptional one. 

 It is undoubtedly true that weather conditions, especially in the 

 latter part of the season, influence perceptibly the percentage of 



