Democratic Northwest. [volume] (Napoleon, Ohio) 1869-1894, 1892-04-14
FARM AND GARDEN.
RESULTS OF SCIENTIFIC EXPERI-
MENTs ON THE FARM.
Some Focts Concerning the Culture
objects I'm Ohio, and How They
May BE Utilized Spring
Wheat In Ohio.

The second number of 1892 of the
bulletin ofthe0 Ohio Experiment station
summarizes the experience of the sta
tion in culture of maDgolds and sugar
beels. Mangolds have been grown on
the station farm for ten or twenty
years past, to serve as food for the dairy
cows; II to Is tons per acre being an
ordinary yield. The beets are eaten with
great relish by the cows, they cause an
Increased flow of milk, and the milk is
thoughttO he Of better quality. The
milk from this dairy is sold direct to
the consumers, and these have claimed
that they could tell when beet feeding
began in the fall by the improved flavor
OF the milk.
In 1891 number of varieties of sugar
beets were grown along side the man
Colds; it was found that the sugar beets
were considered less productive than
the mangolds, yielding but Z to 8 tons
per acre, against IL to 20 tons for the
mangolds. The sugar beets, however,
showed on analysis about 6per cent OF
sugar, while the mangolds showed but
3 per cent.
The labor cost of producing an acre of
beets is from thirty to forty dollars, as
grown at the station, where they are
planted in rows sufficiently wide 10 ad-
init OF horse culture. By planting in
rows only halfas far apart the crop
might largely be increased, but the cost
of cultivation would also be increased.
In bulletin issued year ago by the
Chemical Division OF the United States
Department ofAgriculture, a table is
given showing that the average cost OF
manufacture in 113 German beet-sugar
factories in 1889-90 was nearly $500 per
ton of beets. If it were possible to raise
an average crop of fifteen tons per acre
beets in Ohio at cost OF $3O.OO
per acre, or s. 90 per ton, or to manufac-
ture, them at cost of $500 per ton,
the total cost for production and man
ufacture would be $500 per acre. Such
crop would yield 1900 pounds OF
sugar, at the rate shown by the sta
tion analysis, worth $72.00 at four cents
per pound, thus leaving no margin
whatever to either producers or man.
ufacturer to cover the losses from bad
seasons on the farm or In the factory.
1t is true the present bounty would af-
ford this margin; but the bounty ends
with 1895, unless renewed, and Its fu-
ture is very uncertain.
Sugar beets grown in the dry climate
and on the rich soils of Nebraska and
Iowa show an average of about l3 per
cent. sugar, or more than twice that
found at the Ohio station, thus follow
ing the well-known law that the sugar
beet reaches its highest development in
northern latitudes. Beets grown in
northern Ohio would probably show a
higher per cent. of sugar than has been
found at the station, but it is extreme
ly doubtful ifthe culture and manufac-
ture of sugar beets can be made profit
able in any part of Ohio in competition
with the more favored regions of the
Northwest and of California, and the
Experiment station would advise Ohio
farmers to be very cautious about
entering upon any large undertaking
in sugar beet culture.
There is probably spots in Northern
Ohio where spring wheat could be
grown, and it is possible cotton might
mature in sheltered coves in Lawrance
county; but it would hardly be advis-
able for the farmers of either section to
enter into competition with the spring
wheat growers of northwest or the cot
ton planters of the Gulf states.