10 
Bulletin G3. 
that the beet shall be kept growing ail the time from the sprouting 
of the seed until the harvest. Some of the conditions on which the 
ripening of the crop depends are beyond the control of the grower. 
In Colorado it is true in general that the crop will not ripen until 
the vigor of growth has been checked by frost. The best means of 
determining whether a crop is ripe or not, that is, in condition to go 
to the factory, is by means of an analysis, but a good judgment can 
be formed by cutting a beet and noticing the rate at which the cut 
surfaces darken. 
The increase in percentage of sugar and coefficient of purity 
during ripening is about three per cent, for the former and about 
five per cent, for the latter. 
Some very suggestive facts relative to methods of culture were 
observed during this year’s study. Certain principles of beet grow¬ 
ing have come to be considered as essential to the production of the 
best beets. These principles were violated by most of the growers of 
beets this year, it being their first experience, and yet they obtained 
good results. It is said that beets should never be planted on new 
ground. This was violated with good results, giving, in one case, 
beets of 15.2 per cent, sugar and 82.4 per cent, purity, and in another 
19.4 per cent, sugar, and in others the beets were above the average. 
Ground which had been broken but one year gave uniformly good 
results. So, too, in regard to time of plowing and subsoiling. All 
writers on sugar beet culture agree that beets should not be planted 
on ground that has been recently manured. Sixteen persons report 
manuring with stable manure. The crops were late in ripening, 
but with three exceptions, the quality was good. The results as a 
whole indicate much more gain than loss from the application of 
stable manure. 
The hardest part of beet raising is to get a full stand all over 
the field. The poor growth of the seed is due to lack of moisture, 
too deep planting, and poorly prepared ground. The lack of mois¬ 
ture can be overcome in two ways—by irrigating before or after 
planting the seed. The latter seems to be more promising as a gen¬ 
eral method. Of fifteen persons trying this method, eight re¬ 
port having obtained a thick stand, being twice as large in propor¬ 
tion as those reporting a thick stand by depending on rain or the 
original moisture in the ground. 
Mr. Geo. H. West, of Greeley, contributed an interesting article, 
published in bulletin No. 42, containing the observations and con¬ 
clusions of his study of the subject, which he designates “ Growing 
Sugar Beets for Factories.” Mr. West studied this subject in Ne¬ 
braska, Utah, and New Mexico. Of the growing of beets in Ne¬ 
braska he says: The farmers are largely Germans, with some Bus- 
