22 
Bulletin 58. 
but a subsequent experiment showed that the water level is lowered, 
by drainage or otherwise, from 0.7 to 1.0 foot in about 36 days. 
Observations, in 1898, on the rate of the fall of the water level after 
having raised it by irrigating, showed about 40 days as necessary 
for a like fall, i. e., from 0.7 to 1.0 foot, in the different wells. The 
lowest point the water plane has reached below the surface of the 
ground, at the east end of the patch, corresponding to section 3, at 
any time during the three years, was 3.29 feet, which is less than 
the value of capillarity in this soil. Under such conditions of 
moisture it would seem that, in some respects, it would be an ad¬ 
vantage, rather than otherwise, to have a long dry season. Such 
seems to have been the case, but not more so with this plot than 
with others more favorably conditioned. 
THE DRY MATTER IN THE CROPS. 
§ 33. The average percentage of sugar present in the crop of 
1898 was materially higher than in the crop of 1897, and the crop 
grown by the Chemical Department in 1899 was very rich in sugar. 
I have already stated that in the latter years there was a scarcity of 
water, and that the rainfall during the latter part of the seasons was 
small, so that the soil became dry to a depth exceeding the length 
of the beets. I believed that this had the effect of increasing the 
dry matter in the beet, just as drying out under any other condi¬ 
tions would have done, and would account, in part at least, for the 
higher percentage of sugar. Accordingly, samples were taken, 
thirteen in number, ranging in weight from 800 to 10,500 grams, 
and the dry matter determined. The results ranged, in 1898, from 
18.63 per cent, to 25.62 per cent., with an average of 22.00 per 
cent., as against 17.39 per cent, in 1897, when the range was from 
16.69 to 18.01 per cent. These figures represent four varieties and 
seventy-two beets. The highest average obtained in 1897 was for 
the Kleinwanzlebener and Vilmorin, six beets each, which gave 
18.95 per cent, as the highest percentage of dry matter, showing 
that there was an average of 3 per cent, more dry matter present in 
1898 than in 1897, or at least one sixth more. In 1899 we find an 
average of 22.76 per cent., or three quarters of one per cent, more 
than in 1898; but this is with two varieties only, the Vilmorin 
and Zehringen. We did not find any difference between the 
beets which had grown on manured or unmanured sections in this 
respect. There were variations, but they were not constant in either 
direction. I think that this difference of from 3 to 3.75 per cent, 
in the total dry matter is mainly due to the difference in the 
seasons. 
THE DRYING OUT OF BEETS. 
§ 34. During the season of 1898 we received a considerable 
number of samples from different parts of the State and the results 
