Farm Notes. 
33 
The results are surprisingly conclusive. They show in 
the strongest manner the advantage of early planting. And 
by early planting as used here is meant very early planting, 
much earlier than has heretofore been considered safe. 
From the financial side no argument could be stronger 
in favor of early planting than these results. The planting 
of April averages 27.7 tons per acre, with a steady decrease 
to 15.3 tons for the first of June. It has usually been con¬ 
sidered that from May 10 to May 20 was the best time to 
plant beets in Colorado. The difference between the first 
and third plantings is 7.3 tons per acre, which means a loss 
of $31.00 per acre by the late planting. 
The results at Fort Collins show strikingly how much 
cold the sugar beet plant can stand and thrive. The first 
planting was made April 18. The ground was in fine moist 
condition from a heavy rain and the beets germinated at 
once. The nights were cold, i. e. below freezing, until April 
24; then followed a week of warm weather with four frost¬ 
less nights. The first week in May was cold and on May 
4, the temperature fell to nine degrees below freezing. 
The beets were not at all injured by the cold and made 
the most nearly perfect stand and the largest crop of all the 
different plots grown on the farm that year. 
Such a test as this is not complete until it is known 
whether or not the date of planting has influenced the 
quality of the beet either in sugar or purity. 
Through the courtesy of the Division of Chemistry of 
the Department of Agriculture at Washington, most of the 
analyses of the beets were.made by them. The beets were 
carefully wrapped in oiled paper and sent by mail. In several 
cases the beets were weighed before sending and then 
weighed in Washington before analyzing to determine the 
amount they had dried out. The loss was surprisingly 
small. The average was less than three per cent of 
shrinkage. The analyses are given as made on the samples 
as they were analyzed at Washington and are therefore 
this small amount, about one thirtieth, too high. We are 
indebted to the Colorado Sugar Co., of Grand Junction, 
Colorado for the analyses of nearly a hundred samples of 
beets grown on the College Farm at Fort Collins. In these 
cases the shrinkage in shipping the samples was very care¬ 
fully noted and the analyses, as given later, are all corrected 
to indicate the condition of the beets when harvested. 
