CHEMICAL DEPARTMENT 
WILLIAM P. HEADDEN. 
The following pages contain the analytical results ob- 
tained in the laboratory of this Station up to the present 
time. The greater part of them have already appeared in 
Bulletins Nos. 7, ii, 14, and 21. The data concerning the 
condition of soil and cultivation, under which the beets were 
grown, are not given in satisfactory fullness in all cases, but 
in others it leaves little to be desired. 
The record of analyses of all samples analyzed is inter- 
esting and profitable to the inexperienced, beet grower, as 
showing the extent to which the sugar content of the beet 
is dependent upon the cultivation it receives as well as upon 
the character of the soil in which it is grown. 
It is evident, from our records, that a great many per- 
sons have furnished the department samples but once, and 
that was the only attempt that they had made in sugar beet 
raising. A complete record of the work done in the labora- 
tory would contain many samples of which this would be 
true and which would give a wholly erroneous impression of 
the facts as to the quality of beets grown in the various 
parts of the State under proper cultivation. 
In 1888, the Station experimented with four varieties of 
beets: Excelsior, Lane’s Imperial, Vilmorin, and Imperial 
Improved, with the following results: 
Varieties. 
Per cent, sugar. 
Tons beets per 
acre. 
Pounds sugar per 
acre. 
Excelsior 
9.47 
29.04 
5,517.60 
Lane’s Imperial 
12.08 
30.45 
7,318.00 
Vilmorin 
11.39 
25.09 
5,695.48 
Imperial Improved 
8.83 
24.15 
4,250.40 
