The L'Anse sentinel. (L'Anse, L.S., Mich.) 18??-current, 1898-02-12
Results Achieved by Last Years
Experiments With Sugar
Beets Full Of Promise.
A SURPRISING AVERAGE
Faumers In "a Counties SEN
Samples-GOod Results OBJ
tanned I'm Upper Peninsula.

station at the Michigan Agriculture
College have completed a bulletin
regarding the cultivation OF sugar
be is in the state. The results sci
forth in the publication are based or
experiments conducted at the col
lege farm and in various other places
in GA Michigan counties during the
summer of 1897. The statement is
made at the outset that it is difficult
TO understand why this country
annually send abroad 800, 900, 900 in
gold to pay for crop that can be
successfully raised on our own soil
and manufactured by our own peo-
pie. The bulletin says that in Ger
many it has been found that GER
tain average temperature from the
several months from May to Novem-
Der, and certain average rainfall
during those months, are best
adapted to the crop. Such "sugar
beet bel" sweeps through the lower
pcni nsula of Michigan. Beyond most
crops the sugar beet is less liable to
be injured by the variations in
weather occurring in this state. 1t
is not tender plant and will not be
injured by spring frosts that would
kill Indian corn. Therefore it may
be safely planted many days before
anyone would think of planting corn,
and it will grow and ripen in the
fall for weeks after corn is killed by
frosts. 1t is desirable that beets be
planted early in the spring in order
that they may be well established,
rooted and grounded in the soil dur
ing our season of abundant moisture,
from May to July. When thus es-
tablished in well prepared soil,
properly thinned from 8 to 10 inches
in row, kept free from robber
weeds and given proper cultivation
to secure the mulch of thin layer
of porous soil, the beets can with
stand the August drouth, and thrive
and grow when the corn leaves roll
for want of rain. If the plant is
nourished by the surface soil until it
can tap the subsoil it may thrive in
weather that would burn up the sur
face feeding plants.
In a few localities in this state the
attempt to raise sugar beets was re-
ported failure on account OF the
dry weather, and the bulletin says
that if the climatic conditions in any
locality are too precarious, it would
be folly to attempt the cultivation
of sugar beets.
In reference to soil conditions it is
stated that the plant requires good
supply of potash and phosphates,
but its quality is impaired by excess
of organic matter and nitrates, these
causing decrease of sugar and an
increase of gum-like or non sacchar-
inc matter, which lowers the CO.
efficient of purity. Mucky lands
and soils containing an excess OF
vegetable matter are not suited for
raising beets. Farmers are warned
that beets raised on this class of soil
are good for fodder and for nothing
else.
1t is essential that the body of the
beetshould be entirely covered by the
soil, only the crown and leaves APP
pearing above it. No portion of the
beet that grows above the soil is of
value in making sugar. The soil,
therefore, should be open and porous,
and the sub-soil must be penetrable
by the tap root as it goes down in
search of mineral food and for water
in the season of surface dryness.
Hence the need of very deep cultiva-
ton and OF sub -soiling by the pillow to
break up any hard pan. Inasmuch as
the tap root should not be broken, |
transplanting is failure unless done
with the greatest care. An open soil |
"a loan, sandy or clay loan, sandy |
or gravelly soil-with penetrable |
sub-soil, is the ideal for growing SUI
gar beets. Stiff clay with hard pan |
is the most difficult to manage, and !
muck beds are to be entirely rejected |
Some Michigan farmers made mis-
takes last winter by planting seeds
that were not those of genuine sugar
beets. Attention is, therefore, called |
to the fact that the true sugar beet
is white. There are two kinds of su-
gar beets of such uniform excellence
that no one will make a serious mis-
take by planting either of them.
These are the German beet,
Klelnwanzlebener, and the Vilmorin,
the favorite in France.
Four hundred and sixty eight
separate shipments of seeds were
made to Michigan farmers for ex
perimental purposes last year, and
484 samples of beets were received
for analysis from points in the state
outside Of the college farm The
bulletin embodies table giving the
results of the analysis OF each one of |
these samples, GA counties being
represented in the list.
The average per cent OF sugar in |
the beets of the whole section of the !
state, when grown on the proper |
soil and from the right kind of seed,
is 16. 40, which is surprising, as it
far exceeds that OF the best districts