The Mankato free press. [volume] (Mankato, Blue Earth County, Minn.) 1879-1924, 1915-07-16
From Tuesdays Dairy.

Washington. ID. c.. July Bavaria
tons In the yield OF sugar bects un-
der apparently similar conditions are
so striking that the United States de-
pertinent CT agriculture has recently
conducted an investigation into the
causes for these differences. The yield
of sugar beets per acre i'm the United
States is lower, with the exception OF
Russia. than that of any Of the other
beet producing countries. In Ger
many. the average is IA. "a tons: I'm
Russia, S.93; and I'm the United
States, l0.17. Climatic conditions.
the character Of the soil, and the rel
alive cost of labor and land which
prevents as much work being spent on
each acre as is done in Europe. ac-
count. of course. for much of the diff
ferences in yield. But even when no
such factors have to be taken into
consideration. in the same localities,
or soil OF the same character. under
cultural methods that appear linden
teal, there is the widest range i'm
the yield. IL Is 10 uncommon thing to
find one farmer hauling twenty tons
OF beets from each acre to the fac
tory when his neighbor can barely
muster sever or eight.
The department Of agriculture's in
vestigations into this problem. which
are published in department bulletini
No. 23S. were carried on in Utah for
a period OF three years. The investi-
gators reached the conclusion that
the variations in yield were due 10
AARatA,,-s-a " .- n--G- +
vestigations had shown that the ideal
stand for sugar beets may be taken as
80 200 plants per acre-the result of
leaving beets eight inches apart I'm
rows twenty inches apart. A larger
stand than this under ordinary con-
ditions cause overcrowding. a small
er stand means waste of land. II was
found. however. that without actually
counting the plants. II was impossible
to distinguish between stands OF fifty.
sixty. or eighty per cen of this stand
ard.
The loss occurred i'm the germina-
ton stand before thinning. during the
process of thinning and blocking. and
during the cultural operations between
thinning and harvesting. in the de-
partment's experiment. 10 was found
that the termination stand sustained
an average loss Of close to twenty
per cent. The causes for this NAV
be found in poor preparation OF the
seed bed. imperfect operation oil seed
drills, late frosts, the damping of dis
ease. or the ravages OF such pests as
fie1 beetles. cut worms. or wireworms.
The greatest single source OF loss i'm
the stands ho-ever, was found to be
improper thinning. In this country
this work is usually done by a poor
class OF hired labor or else by CON
tract. II is seldom efficiently supervised
and the laborers receive the same nav
whether IT is properly or improperly
done. The investigators found that
almost invariably the space left be-
tween the plants was greater thar
the farmer intended Il to be. although
this fact was mo- apparent after the
plants attained a moderate growth.
The average less from this source was
estimated to be approximately twen-
ty-five per cent.
After thinning there was further
loss In the field before the harvest.
Some plants were destroyed by the
hand hoe, some by the horses. or by
carelessness with the cultivator. The
total less from these sources was es-
timated at an average of approximate
ly seven per cent. Thus, I'm the x
detrimental plots. which furnished the
data for the Investigations. there was
a total deficiency of over fifty per-
cent In the stand. with a correspond
ing decrease In the yield.
The remedy for this loss g to
be greater care. In particular. the
elimination of contract work Is rec