Sugar Beets. 
7 
other words, the experiments were greatly multiplied and made 
simultaneously. So far as quantity and quality of crop was con¬ 
cerned, we only corroborated the results of previous years, i. e., that 
the soils of Colorado produce beet crops which compare favorably 
wdth those produced elsewhere, where the beet sugar industry has 
proved a profitable venture. There was added to this the results of 
a study of the conditions at and around the beet sugar factories of 
Nebraska, Utah and New Mexico, making the statement of facts 
concerning this industry as complete as possible, and giving the 
public the fullest possible data wherefrom to draw their own 
conclusions as to the advisability of engaging in this industry. 
§ 7. At this time, the season of 1897, the Department of 
Chemistry began an independent investigation, whose principal 
object was a study of the chemistry of the crop as affected by an 
alkalized condition of the soil. This work traversed a number of 
questions pertaining to the crop in a fuller and more systematic 
manner than had previously been done. The sugar in the beets was 
determined weekly, beginning September 2, and continued until 
October 13, when the crop was harvested; and from time to time till 
January 8, 1898, in beets left in the ground and covered with straw 
to protect them against severe freezing. This gave us data 
respecting the effect of alkali upon the amount of sugar present and 
its effect upon the time of maturing; the composition of the ash at 
various periods of growth, the distribution of both sugar and ash 
constituents in the beet, the composition of the beets and leaves in 
regard to their feeding value, the total dry matter in the leaves and 
roots, its quantity in the respective thirds of the latter, etc. 
The results of this year’s work are contained in Bulletin 46. In 
1897 the Station carried on two lines of experimentation with sugar 
beets, one economic and the other almost purely chemical, resolving 
itself into a soil study, which it was intended to be. 
The work was continued in 1898 and 1899. Some of the 
results of 1898 have already appeared as Bulletin 51. This 
consists of more extended experiments upon the effects of the date 
of planting, methods of planting, time of thinning, distance between 
plants in the row, experiments with varieties, and a comparison of 
home grown and imported seed in regard to the quality of the beets 
produced. 
§ 8. The following pages record the further observations made 
during the years 1898 and 1899, being, in fact, a continuation of 
Bulletin 46, and for that reason a few of the conclusions of that 
bulletin are reproduced here: 
The effect of the alkali, present in our soil, upon the sugar content of the 
beet is not, of itself, detrimental. 
The maturing, or ripening, of the crop corresponds to an increase of from 
2 to 3.5 per cent, of sugar in the beet, and about one third of the total yield of 
sugar. 
