The Bemidji daily pioneer. [volume] (Bemidji, Minn.) 1904-1971, 1910-07-23
Have Been Tried Near Bemidji on a
Large Scale-Average Fifteen
Tons Per Acre.
ARE WELL SUITED TO SOIL
AND HAVE WITHSTOOD DROUTH
Weigh From One to Three Pounds
When Harvested in Fall-Factory
Needed Here.
Sugar beet have been added to

Sugar beet have been added tc
the list of crops that may be pro.
duced around Bemidji. Expert
ments conducted this year on a
large scale show that the beets
can be grown here proftably and
they are we'll suited to the climate.
The beets planted early this spring
have stood the drouth better than
any other crop and unless the rain
holds off for several weeks more,
a full crop will be gathered in the
fall.
At present, the beets of this
section have to be shipped to
Chaska to the sugar factory there.
The price paid now is 81 per ton,
but if a factory was here on the
ground, the farmers would get S..
50 per ton. An acre will yield fif-
teen tons Of beets so at 81 ton it
means an income of from 500 to
$50 an acre. If the factory was
here, the income would Re from
eighty to one hundred dollars an
acre.
The company which is operating
the Chaska plant says that it will
put one in at Bemidji if at least
5000 acres of beets will be put un-
der cultivation. The beets from
this country have been tested and
found to contain the necessary
amount of sugar. so that it is merely
aquestion of crop with the company.
A plant handling $4,000 tons of
beets requires $50 hands so that
such a factory would bring in many
families to the city. 1t is stated by
those who have grown the beets that
the tops will run three or four tons
to the acre and make better feed
than hay. AS it costs but $18 to
$40 to sow and care for an acre of
beets, the tops are made to pay for
the cost and the money received
from the beets at the factory is
clear profit. One farmer says that
he would rather care for two acres
of beets than one of potatoes as
they are the easier to handle.
w. G. Schroeder has planted beets
this spring and after careful watch
ing has decided that they are a we'll
paving crop. He obtained his seed
from the Chaska company and plant.
ed it about one week before he did
his corn. At the present time, the
beets have covered the field, have
not been bothered by the drouth
and are as big as his wrist. When
harvested the beets weigh from one
to three pounds each.
Mr.. Schroeder says that one Of
his neighbors counted all of the beets
in an acre field and found that il
they weigh a pound each at harvest
the yield will be twenty tons. HI
expects On that basis a yield of al
least thirty tons, which will bring II
$120. The tops pay for the expense
Next year this neighbor will put
most of his land into beets.
Sugar beets require careful
attention during the first thirty
days but after that time, they re.
quire about as much as does corn.
When planted, the seed is put ir
with drills in rows about thirty
inches apart. After the plants are
a few inches above the ground,
they are thinned out with hoe,
so that bunch is left every six
or eight inches. While they are
being thinned out, the weeds be-
tween the rows are also cut.
When the plants are about three
weeks old, they are thinned by
hand, the healthiest one in every
bunch being allowed to live. This
gives one plant for every six inches
in the row. After this final thin
ming, they are cultivated with the
same machine as is used for corn
The reason for planting so thickly
is that it is better to have thin