THE CLYDE SERIES OF SOILS. 49 
SUGAR BEETS. 
The climatic zone within which sugar beets may be advantageously 
grown under humid conditions crosses the northern part of the 
United States, including practically all .of the Great Lakes region. 
Within this section of the country there is a wide diversity in soils 
and upon many of these different soils the cultivation of the sugar 
beet has been attempted at one time or another during the last 20 
years. As a result of the gradual elimination of soils not well suited 
to the crop the industry in the north-central States has become some- 
what concentrated within areas which are dominated by the soils of 
the Clyde series. The first intimation of this was obtained by the 
Bureau of Soils in the summer of 1904, when soil surveys were made 
in several areas through the southern peninsula of Michigan for the 
purpose of determining the kinds of soil best suited to the growing 
of sugar beets upon a commercial scale. 
While sugar beets may be grown upon quite a variety of soils 1 it 
soon became evident from a field study of the soils of the beet-pro- 
ducing region that a typical beet soil must be one which is in such 
physical condition as to maintain a considerable supply of soil mois- 
ture during the growing season without becoming waterlogged ; that 
the best sugar-beet soils were also sufficiently friable to enable the 
beet roots to penetrate to a considerable depth; that the most suc- 
cessful crops were grown upon soils well supplied with organic mat- 
ter; and that the tonnage of the crop was generally greatest upon 
soils which were at least mildly calcareous. 
The heavier soils of the Clyde series meet all of these requirements, 
and it became evident that the sugar content and index of purity of 
the beets grown upon the different soils of the Clyde series always 
compared favorably with those of beets grown upon any other soils, 
while these factors of quality were usually best in beets grown upon 
the Clyde loam or some very similar soil. 
A consideration of the acreage and yield of sugar beets in the lake- 
region States will serve to show how closely the growing of sugar 
beets is associated with the soils of the Clyde series. 
The State of Michigan reports considerably more than one-fifth 
of all the acreage of sugar beets grown in the United States in 1909. 2 
Only the States of Colorado and California exceed the Michigan 
acreage, and the latter State only by a few acres. Wisconsin is the 
only other Eastern State which produces any large acreage, although 
portions of Ohio and Indiana show small plantings. 
1 See Farmers' Bulletin No. 568, Sugar-beet Growing under Humid Conditions, for' a 
complete discussion of sugar-beet growing. 
2 Census of the United States, 1910. 
