CHAPTER IIL 
CULTURE OF THE SUGAR BERT. 
CLIMATIC CONDITIONS. 
EETS THRIVE BEST in a temperate climate, which in 
the United States covers a vast area. While the 
plant develops under a great variety of weather con- 
ditions, more recent experience seems to confirm in 4 
measure the previously accepted theory that the sugar 
beet as a rule does best in regions where the average 
temperature for the months of June, July and Au- 
gust is about 70degrees F. This isothermal line has 
been carefully determined by the United States de- 
partment of agriculture and is indicated on map No 3. 
(See frontispiece.) Dr Wiley in 1890 regarded the 
sugar beet belt as extending about 100 miles on each side of this line. Experience 
since shows that the area adapted to this crop is by no means limited to this belt and 
that it is far larger than has been supposed. The map referred to indicates in a 
general way the area in which both soils and climates can be found peculiarly adapt- 
ed to the sugar beet. 
Sunshine is required to make sugar. Hence, the number of clear and sunshiny 
days that can usually be depended upon in any section is an important consideration, 
which has not been sufficiently emphasized in much of the literature heretofore pub- 
lished. This explains the advantage of many parts of the so-called arid west for this 
industry, especially California and the Southwest. 
Another important climatic consideration is favorable weather during the ripen- 
ing and harvesting period. Clear sunshine, absence of fogs and moisture, are impor- 
tant at this period. We have seen how in 1895 a fine crop of sugar beets in Nebraska 
was almost ruined by a warm, wet spell early in the harvesting time. While this is 
unusual in many of the eastern and central states, it is liable to occur in most of the 
country east of the 100th meridian. Such weather starts anew growth of the beets 
that consumes the sugar or changes it to starch, and it requires several days of sharp 
sunshine and warmth, without too much humidity, to restore the sugar content. 
The beet must also have sufficient moisture at the right time to produce the best 
results. This moisture must come either from the rainfall, from irrigation or ‘‘the 
soil must be of that peculiar quality that will allow subterranean moisture to reach 
the rootlets of the plant,’’ which is the case in parts of California and some other 
states. While proper cultivation of a subsoil soil will enable the beet to thrive with 
