Sugar Beets. 
IT 
Alkali does not affect the sugar content of beets grown on soil 
in good, or even fair tilth. 
The ripening of beets may be seriously affected by a rainfall, or 
untimely irrigation. The crop of 1897 showed this plainly. On 
September 8th the beets had already begun to ripen, from the 10th 
to the 14th, 0.74 inches of rain fell; on September 22nd the samples 
analyzed showed a lowering in the percentage of sugar present. 
This loss was not regained for nearly three weeks, the beets, how¬ 
ever, increased greatly in size during this time. 
The ripening in this case took place more suddenly than is 
probably usual, and corresponded to an increase of from 2 to 3.5 
per cent, in the different plots and is equivalent to about one-third of 
the total yield of sugar—that is, if the yield of sugar be 6,000 pounds 
per acre, 2,000 pounds is formed during the period of ripening. 
Beets were covered with straw and left undug until January 
7, 1898, with a slight gain in percentage of sugar and purity, show¬ 
ing that beets under favorable conditions may remain unharvested 
without loss of sugar or weight of crop. 
Distribution of the sugar in the beets. In bulletin No. 11, it 
is stated that the amount of sugar increases in the successive sec¬ 
tions of a beet from the top downward. This is not sustained by 
bulletin 42, which shows that the upper third, including the crown r 
contains only about 0.2 of one per cent, less sugar than the lower 
two-thirds, and these, the lower two-thirds, cannot be said to differ 
at all; sometimes the second and sometimes the third third having 
the higher percentage of sugar, the difference always being so small 
that it is insignificant. 
SUGAR IN THE CROWNS. 
The crown as used in bulletin No. 42, is really a structural 
portion of the beet, and not any indefinite portion which may have 
chanced to grow above the ground. It is very rarely the case that 
sugar beets, Kleinwanzlebener or Vilmorin, grow above ground at 
all with us. The difference between the sugar content of the crown 
and the beet from which it is cut is about one per cent. The co¬ 
efficient of purity is lower than that of the beet, but not necessarily 
poor. The example given shows beets 16.1 per cent, sugar, 88.0' 
purity ; crowns 15.1 per cent, sugar, 82.4 purity. 
EFFECT OF FREEZING ON BEETS. 
Simple freezing does not cause any change in the sugar. If 
thawing can be prevented the crop is not necessarily lost if 
frozen. 
