204 QUEENSLAND AGRICULTURAL JOURNAL. [1 Srpr., 1897. 
obtained, and a more leisurely harvest. In fact, there is no staple crop which 
can compete with the sugar beet in demanding the favourable attention of 
those interested in irrigation. Ifa net profit of from $10 to $20 (£2 to £4) 
per acre can be secured, from $100 to $200 (£20 to £40) per acre can be paid 
for the land. It is estimated that nearly 100,000,000 acres of land in the arid 
regions of the United States may eventually be irrigated, being nearly one-fifth 
of the total area. Of this area perhaps 10 per cent. are capable of easy and 
speedy irrigation. One million acres planted to beets would yield, under 
intensive culture, a quantity of sugar sufficient, with the Louisiana product, for 
domestic consumption. There is nowhere in sight a more promising prospect 
for agricultural development than in the production of sugar beets on irrigated 
lands. 
“ Growth of Beets on Irrigated Lands.—Vhe experience of more than ten. 
years in California has shown that the climatic data, regarded as of prime 
importance in beet culture in Europe, cannot be regarded as rigidly applicable 
to this country. The successful grower of sugar beets in the arid regions of 
our country, with and without irrigation, has introduced a new factor into the 
science of beet meteorology. While the arid area on which the beets can be grown 
without irrigation is probably confined almost exclusively to the coast valleys 
of California, the successful commercial production of sugar beets in Utah 
and New Mexico has opened up a new and extensive field for the extension of 
the sugar industry over large areas suited to irrigation in the western and 
south-western regions of the United States. It is certain now that Colorado, 
Utah, New Mexico, Idaho, and Arizona may become great sugar-producing 
States, not excluding other areasin the arid region. California has already set 
the pace of progress, and the other arid States will not be slow to follow. The 
high cost of good irrigation renders it imperative that the areas under culture 
be devoted to a crop which is capable of producing a more valuable yield than 
is afforded by cereal culture. ‘Of all the home markets for our domestic 
agricultural products, there is none so insistent nor so expansive as that for 
sugar. — With an annual consumption of 2,000,000 tons, and with a certainty 
of rapid increase, the demand for sugar promises to be the salvation of 
American agriculture. 
_ “ Necessary Conditions.—Extending a distance of 100 miles on each side 
of the isothermal line is a belt which, for the present, may be regarded as the 
theoretical beet-sugar area of the United States. There are doubtless many 
localities lying outside of this belt, both north and south, in which the sugar beet 
will be found to thrive; but this will be due to some exceptional qualities of 
of the climate or soil, and not to any favourable influence of a higher or lower 
temperature. A mean temperature of 70 degrees Fahr. in the summer, 
however, must not be regarded as the only element of temperature which is to 
be taken into consideration. In those localities where the winters come early 
and are of unusual severity will be found greater difficulties in the production 
of sugar from the sugar beet than in those localities where the winters -are 
light and mild, although the mean summer temperature in both localities may 
be represented by 70 degrees Fahr. As an illustration of this difficulty may 
be cited Northern Nebraska and South Dakota, where the winters are of great 
severity, and Southern California, where there is scarcely any winter at all. 
“Phe mean summer temperature of these localities is about the same, but 
the continuation of a semi-summer temperature through the winter in 
Southern California greatly favours the growth and manufacture of the 
beets. In Northern Nebraska and South Dakcta the beets, which are to be 
manufactured during the winter time, have to be protected by expensive silos. 
In Southern California and other places similarly situated the beets can be 
protected without any covering, or at most with only a slight covering of leaves 
or straw. The season for planting in a mild climate is also longer. 
“ Conditions of Precipitation.—A though conditions of temperature must 
be taken into consideration in selecting sites for beet-sugar factories, yet in 
addition to the thermal conditions must also be studied those of rainfall. The 
