86 — 
the heavy soil. The same has been noted in northeastern Colorado, 
where the heavy soil, though harder to work, gives a better quality 
of beet. 
Numbers 1, 5, 10, and 17 had had previous experience in 
raising beets, and their crops averaged 16 8 sugar and 85.9 purity, 
showing that care and experience are all that are needed to raise 
the best of beets in the valley of the Grand. 
SUGAR BEET PRIZES. 
It was recognized in the spring of 1898, that the time had 
come when there should be a well organized effort to get the most 
exact information possible on the adaptation of the sugar beet to Col- 
orado soil and climate. Nearly all the estimates of previous beet 
crops in Colorado have been based on the yield from a hundred 
square feet of ground. It was recognized by all that this was too 
small a plot for commercial estimates. It had been adopted because 
the beet growers disliked to spend the large amount of time and 
trouble necessary to make exact experiments on a large scale. It 
was seen that some substantial inducement must be offered before 
it could be expected that better results could be obtained than those 
of former years. 
Acting on this idea, the Denver Chamber of Commerce offered 
$1,000 in cash prizes to those who grew the best crops of beets, these 
to be grown on a commercial scale, and each to cover 2,700 square 
feet of ground. The offer was conditioned on the appropriation of 
certain sums for the same purpose by the County Commissioners of 
each county. This was done by the County Commissioners of the 
following counties: Conejos, Costilla, Delta, Logan, Mesa, Otero and 
Weld. In Larimer county the money was subscribed by the busi- 
ness men of Loveland ; in Fremont county by the Canon City 
Chamber of Commerce ; while in Garfield county prizes were offered 
by the Denver and Rio Grande and by the Colorado Midland rail- 
roads. 
The following instructions were sent to those who desired to 
compete for these prizes : 
