D. M. FERRY & CO’S DESCRIPTIVE CATALOGUE. 
UGAR BEET... 
A more extensive planting of the Sugar Beet would certainly prove 
a great improvement in American agriculture. Careful consideration either 
through observation in the feeding yard or a study of the results 
obtained by experiments in feeding definite quantities of known 
chemical composition, will convince any one that the use of a 
proportion of foods of the digestive qualities of beet, turnip, 
squash, etc., is essential to the most profitable feeding of either 
fattening or growing stock, and on the majority of our farms 
such food can be most practically and profitably produced in 
Sugar Beets. 
Considering that we are the largest consumers of sugar in the 
world and our soil and climate are as favorable as any to the 
growth of the Sugar Beet, it is hardly thrifty for us to send abroad one hundred 
million dollars annually to pay for sugar which we might produce so profitably at 
home. A factory for the profitable extraction of sugar from beets costs at least 
$200,000 and requires the product of 2.000 to 5,000 acres of land to keep it in opera- 
tion, so that the first step towards the establishment of such a factory should be 
to ascertain if an abundance of roots of suitable quality can profitably be produced 
in the vicinity, and this can only be done by a large number of farmers each piant- 
ing a few for an experiment, which would not bea costly one, for the crop would 
be worth all it costs, for feeding purposes, besides demonstrating whether it would 
be wise to establish a sugar factory in the vicinity. 
SOIL The best soil for Sugar Beets is a rich, friable sandy or clay loam. 
They cannot be profitably grown on a tenacious wet clay or a very 
sandy or excessively hard and stony soil. -Rich mucky soils will often give an 
immense yield of roots which though excellent for feeding are of little value for 
sugar making. Most farm lands capable of producing a good crop of corn or 
wheat can be made to grow a good crop of beets. 
MANUR Sugar beets do much better when the soil has been made rich 
for a preceding crop than when the fertilizers are applied the 
same season. The use of rank, undecomposed manures. or such as contain a large amount 
of nitrogen, will result in large, coarse 
roots of little value for sugar making. 
If the condition of the ground neces- 
z,. Sitates the use of a fertilizer the cur- 
- rent season, the greatest 
~~ care should be taken to 
oN have it evenly and_thor- 
a oughly mixed with 
45 the surface soil. 
S 
= 
containing the largest percentage of sugar. 
VILMORIN’S IMPROVED 
SuGar BEET- 
SEE There is 
no crop 
where the quality of 
the seed used is of 
greater importance 
than this; inferior 
seed cannot by any 
amount of skill in cul- 
tivation be made to 
give a satisfactory 
crop. A great deal of 
most patient and skill- 
ful labor has been ex- 
pended in establishing and B= 
developing strains of beets 
which are adapted to sugar 
making, and only by the use BE 
of the best seeds of a suitable 
strain ts profitable sugar &G | 
making possible. 
Planting and The great secret of successful and economi- 
: =, F ae of beets is thorough preparation 
of the soil before planting. ‘The seed should 
Cultivating @ © be planted as isan as the soi) can be gotten 
into good condition, which is not likely to be before the middle of April, and the 
seed should be in before the last of May. We plant in drills twenty to thirty 
inches apart, dropping from 12 to 20 seeds to the foot, which will require 
from 10 to 15 pounds of seed to the acre. It is very important that the seed 
be well covered with not to exceed one inch of soil pressed firmly over it. As 
soon as the young plants have started sufficiently to make the rows visible 
they should be cultivated and the field should receive constant attention so as 
to keep the surface soil loose and destroy the starting weeds. When the 
beets are about two or three inches high they should be thinned so as to 
stand six to eight inches apart in the row, and cultivation should be discon- 
tinued as soon as the roots have commenced to form. Often a crop is injured 
by late cultivation which starts the plants into fresh growth when they should 
be maturing and developing sugar. Sugar beets ripen and become fit for 
harvesting as distinctly as do potatoes or corn. and they indicate that they 
are approaching this condition by the outer leaves turning yellowish and the 
top seeming to decrease in size owing to the curling of the central leaves. 
They should be gathered and stored when ripe or mature, for if left they may 
start into fresh growth, which lessens the proportion of sugar. The success- 
ful cultivation of beets rich in sugar requires rotation of crops, however rich 
and good the soil may appear to be. 
sugar. It grows below the surface, and the green leaves 
{' re <6 Cy sb: 
= . > yy =, Me 
A 
gTows 
edges. 
easier 
use. 
spreading. Pkt. 5c; Oz. 10c: 2 Oz. 10¢;% Lb. lie: Lb. 35e 
Improved. 
sort for the experimenter to 
19 
FRENCH VERY RicH 
Sucar BEET. 
French 
Very Rich 
A variety with 
large. long roots 
== yielding from fourteen 
to twenty tons per 
acre, and often con- 
taining as much as 
eighteen per cent. of 
sugar. The roots are 
below the surface and 
the green leaves are 
upright in growth. The 
hardiest and easiest 
grown. Pkt. de: Oz. 
10ce: 2 Oz. 10c: % Lb. 
15e: Lb. 35e 
Vilmorin’s Improved 
In general the most desirable beet for the sugar factory is the one 
1 In this variety we have one 
of the richest sorts in cultivation, not only that, but it will do better on 
— new lands, suffer less from an excess of nitrogen, and will keep the best 
== of any. In size it is medium or a little below. yielding from ten to sixteen tons per 
F acre, and containing, under favorable conditions, as high as eighteen per cent of 
are smooth edged and 
Sucar BEET. 
Klein. 
Wanzieben 
little larger than Vil- 
morin’s Improved, yielding 
from twelve to eighteen tons 
per acre and containing about 
the same amountof sugar. It 
below the surface and 
the green leaves are rather 
large and spreading With wavy 
A little hardier and 
grown than Vilmorin’s 
Probably the best 
Pkt. 5c: Oz. 10¢: 2 Oz. 
10c: %« Lb. 15e: Lb. 35e 
E2"WE WILL SUPPLY 5 LBS. OR MORE OF ANY OF THE ABOVE SUGAR BEETS AT 25 CENTS PER POUND, by Express 
or Freight, at Purchaser's Expense. 
