UNITED STATES DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE 
BULLETIN No. 721 v 
iff"- ">Bh 
Contribution from the Bureau of Plant Industry 
WM. A. TAYLOR, Chief 
Washington, D. C. 
November 22, 1918 
THE BEET-SUGAR INDUSTRY IN THE UNITED 
STATES. 
By C. O. Townsend, 
Pathologist in Charge, Office of Sugar-Plant Investigations. 
CONTENTS. 
Page. 
Beet-sugar mills in the United States 1 
Soil 6 
Subsoil 7 
Topography 8 
Climate 10 
Sugar-beet stand 13 
Water 18 
Drainage 21 
Seepage 23 
Fertility 25 
Crop rotation 29 
Competing crops 31 
Farm equipment 35 
Beet by-products and live stock 40 
Labor problems 41 
The successful grower 43 
Diseases 44 
Insects 47 
By-products 48 
Roads .- 49 
Contracts 50 
Area competition. 53 
Sugar-beet seed 54 
Other publications of the United States De- 
partment of Agriculture relating to sugar 
and beet-sugar production 55 
BEET-SUGAR MILLS IN THE UNITED STATES. 
In the United States in 1916, 84 beet-sugar mills were standing 
and equipped for extracting and refining sugar from beet roots. 
The first of these had been built in 1870 at Alvarado, Cal. During the 
summer of 1916, 7 of the 84 mills had been erected and equipped 
for the campaign of 1916-17, and 15 additional were built and 
equipped for the handling of the 1917-18 crop, making a total of 99 
beet-sugar mills now standing. (Table I.) 
During this period of 47 years, 5 other mills were built, 3 of which 
have burned, 1 has been dismantled, and 1 has been utilized for some 
purpose other than that of making beet sugar. Of the 99 beet-sugar 
mills now standing (fig. 1), 19 were first erected at some point other 
than the place where they are now located ; but owing to certain limit- 
63212°— 18 1 1 
