BULLETIN 238, U. S. DEPAKTMENT OP AGEICULTUEE. 
Table I. — Acreage of sugar beets and production of sugar of seven of the principal beet- 
growing countries. 1 
Country. 
Sugar pro- 
duction. 
Area of 
sugar beets 
Yield of 
sugar beets 
sown. 
per acre. 
Tons. 
A cres. 
Tons. 
2,854,812 
1,169,755 
14.84 
2,324,486 
1,614,780 
8.93 
1,678,566 
913, 159 
12.38 
783,925 
571,805 
10.63 
312,196 
150, 176 
14.53 
239,073 
122,638 
12.96 
510,172 
398,029 
10.17 
Sugar 
obtained 
from beets. 
Germany 
Russia 
Austria-Hungary 
France i 
Belgium 
Holland 
United States . . . 
Per cent. 
16.31 
16.12 
14.85 
12.90 
14.31 
15.04 
12.61 
1 Compiled from tbe corrected figures of the International Association for Gathering Sugar Statistics. 
See Amer. Sugar Indus., v. 14, 1912, no. 1, p. 24; no. 2, p. 21. 
STRIKING DIFFERENCES IN LOCAL YIELD. 
One of the most striking facts in our agriculture is the enormous 
variation in yield obtained by different farmers in the same district, 
and often by near neighbors applying identical methods under similar 
soil and climatic conditions. These differences can not be attributed 
entirely to variations in soil, in climate, or in the methods themselves; 
nor, in the case of sugar beets, can they be accounted for by varia- 
tions in the quality of the seed, because beet seed is invariably fur- 
nished by each sugar factory from its common stock. In many dis- 
tricts the seed is sown by the sugar company. 
True enough, there are variations in soil and in methods, but these 
are not sufficient to account for the great discrepancies in yield every- 
where to be observed. For example, within a small area under 
similar soil conditions, with identical climatic conditions and em- 
ploying like methods, one may find a farmer rejoicing as he hauls 20 
tons of beets from each acre to the factory, while his neighbor is 
almost too discouraged to load his pitiful 7 or 8 tons an acre into his 
wagon. 
Of equal significance is the fact that while the yields from two or 
more individual fields may differ greatly, yet a glance over these 
fields after the foliage has attained some size, or even soon after 
thinning, might fail to reveal any appreciable difference in the stand. 
However, a careful examination of such fields would show that in 
general the plants in some fields are more widely spaced than in 
others and that gaps, not apparent at a distance, occur more or less 
frequently in the rows. Beet growers fail to realize the significance 
of these apparently small deficiencies in the stand. 
In the course of field observations on sugar beets covering a period 
of several years, the local variations in yield were seen to be so re- 
markable that special studies were begun in order to ascertain the 
actual conditions prevailing in fields belonging to a number of repre- 
sentative beet growers in old established beet districts in Utah. These 
studies were commenced in 1910 and continued through the seasons 
