68 THE SUGAR INDUSTRY. 
sugar beets every year since that time. We have probably three or four acres grow- 
ing on the station grounds at present. Seed has been sent to a majority of the coun- 
ties of the state, so as to give us wide and comprehensive reports regarding the abil- 
ity of our state in its several counties to grow beets with a sufficient percentage of 
sugar to make the industry profitable. 
We also, in 1891, conducted an experiment on the college grounds with a piece of 
land over an acre in extent, having different kinds of soil and treated different ways, 
s0 as to ascertain what soilis best and what method of cultivation is advisable. 
From the whole fieid, we got an average of 20 tons to the acre with 14.14 per cent 
sugar in the beets, and 76 per cent average purity of juice. We grew this field of 
beets under twelve different conditions. We used different kinds of fertilizers on 
three pieces, but got no evident benefit; we got our highest average of sugar from 
the piece of ground from which woods had been cleared off, 15.17 per cent of sugar 
with 82.3 purity of juice. We let one part of the field on low, rich loam grow the 
beets as large as we could possibly grow them by thinning them out; the average pu- 
rity of juice went down to 72.8 and the sugar in the beet was 11.52. Only three of 
the twelve conditions gave us sugar in the beet under 13 per cent. We got the great- 
est tonnage from early planting; subsoiling gave us the best shaped beets. The per- 
centage of sugar was affected by rains in October causing a second growth. Our high- 
est analyses came from beets averaging 13 ounces trimmed, and yielding 12 and 13 
tons per acre; our highest yield of sugar per acre came from beets averaging 21 
ounces trimmed, and yielding over 28 tons to the acre. Clay soil gave us the highest 
per cent of sugar, comparatively higher purity, and lowest tonnage per acre. We had 
no distinctively sandy soil. 
Reports from different counties in the state show a wide range of sugar per cent 
and purity co-efficient. The highest we have received comes from Muscatine county; 
over a hundred farmers reported from that county in 1891. About 10 per cent re- 
ported a sugar per cent under 12, while half of the number report the sugar in the 
beet over 15 per cent, and some run as high as 19 per cent. 
I have no doubt that a large area within the state will grow sugar beets profita- 
bly. The purity of the juice is not as high in our state in all parts as it is in others, 
but the yield per acre has much to do with the profitableness of the crop, and from 
reports of the growth of beets west of us, I am satisfied that our tonnage is much 
heavier than is common in drier states. Iowa soil is so well supplied with plant food 
of all kinds, organic and mineral, that no fertilization is required. We sent to Louis- 
jana and got the most approved sugar-cane-growing fertilizers, but were unable to see 
any improvement whatever from their application. Our soil has abundant lime, pot- 
ash, phosphoric acid and nitrogenous compounds, so that apparently only capital 
and skill are necessary to make all of the sugar in Iowa that the United States may 
require.—[James Wilson, (Director Iowa experiment station; Professor of Agriculture 
Iowa Agricultural college; Secretary of Agriculture for the United States—1897-1901). 
IN THE WEST. 
There is no longer a shadow of a doubt as to the adaptability of vast areas to the 
sugar beet, although it is true that more extended experiments are necessary in some’ 
sections to further demonstrate the quantity and quality that can be raised. Espe- 
