Prof. S. V. Lebedev.

District-Level Data on the Quality of Sugar Beet in Western Siberia for the Period 1916–1920

The widely distributed experimental and trial plantings of sugar beet in Western Siberia during 1916–1919 have more than once been noted in print, both in Siberia and in European Russia. However, owing to the difficulties in publishing in the years after the war—difficulties that are readily understandable—the results of these plantings have so far been published only in the form of relatively brief summaries and general conclusions. Meanwhile, for assessing the possibilities and conditions of the industrial cultivation of sugar beet in Siberia—an extensive region extremely varied in its natural-historical conditions—not only general conclusions are important, but also specific data on the conditions of vegetation, yield, and quality of the sugar beet grown at different times in individual Siberian districts.

Such information is all the more necessary for assessing the situation in the present case because, during the period indicated, experimental plantings of sugar beet took place under circumstances quite unusual for them. The conditions created by the war and the revolution made strictly planned, continuous work in this matter impossible. In view of this, the programs developed annually and the sugar-beet plantings begun in the spring were interrupted each year, to a greater or lesser degree and at different times; some perished completely, while others were completed, but no longer in connection with the original assumptions, using the minimal possibilities for work, which were very uneven in time and place. As a result, the factual material obtained acquired the character of reconnaissance. Moreover, comparison of the data from individual experimental plantings, because of the sharp differences and unusual nature of the conditions under which they were carried out, is not always possible. Nevertheless, the duration of the work over a number of years and the territorial breadth of the spread of these beet plantings give the data obtained substantial interest, especially in connection with previous cases of beet sowing in Siberia during the period from 1853 to 1915.

The fact that the factual material indicated, concerning Siberia, remains to this day unique makes its significance understandable. It is obvious that, until new, more complete and detailed data in this field are obtained, these materials will inevitably have to be used as the sole guiding thread in all subsequent work in Siberia in this direction. In such a situation, for elucidating the question indicated, not only general conclusions and findings are of substantial importance, but also acquaintance with individual particular cases of sugar-beet plantings, with the conditions of vegetation, yield, and so forth, for individual Siberian districts.

Proceeding from the above, a series of tables below presents district-level data in the form of individual analyses of separate samples of sugar beet, taken at different times from plots of experimental plantings in various Siberian districts. The analyses presented are accompanied by brief information concerning the sowing and vegetation of the sugar beet. Its yield is expressed in twelve-pood berkovets per desyatina. For each analysis, the time at which the corresponding beet sample was taken from the field is given.

As for the analysis itself, it was carried out by the usual methods in the laboratory of food substances of the Tomsk Technological Insti-

here in 1916, under the author’s supervision. Thus, between the moment of digging the beet and its analysis, 3–4 days, and sometimes more, elapsed; this, of course, despite all precautionary measures and efforts to preserve the shipment, nevertheless had an understandable effect on the results of the analyses characterizing the quality of the beet being tested.

In order to eliminate this wholly unfavorable circumstance, in the years following 1916 the analyses of sugar beet in Altai Province were carried out directly after the digging of the beet at the sowing sites, for which purpose a mobile laboratory was organized.

A very significant circumstance in recording the results of experimental sowings is the taking, from the experimental plot, of an average sample to be sent for testing. In view of the vastness of the territory over which sugar-beet sowings in Siberia were spread, and the impossibility, in doing so, of everywhere counting on the proper execution of the usually rather complex methods of taking an exact average sample, it was necessary in this case to simplify this task as much as possible.

Accordingly, the method of selecting the sample, described in detail in the circulated “Instructions for Carrying Out Experimental Sowings,” amounted in general to the following:

A) from each experimental plot of 0.10 square desyatina, 60 roots were taken uniformly over its entire area;

B) the 60 roots taken were divided into three parts of 20 each—large, medium, and small;

C) during testing, 10 roots were taken from each group, so that all 30 roots constituted one sample.

To avoid overburdening the further exposition with numerical material, for the characterization of the results of the experimental sowing the average of the analysis data for the two groups of larger sample roots is adopted. The group of small roots is not taken into account, since it was regarded as an uncharacteristic and incidental phenomenon, representing the consequence of the inevitable unevenness of germination, which is caused by a whole series of the most varied reasons, both general and individual in nature for each separate experimental plot. However, the small roots of the samples do nevertheless present a certain interest in a somewhat different direction—namely, in the sense that they may be viewed as cases of reseeding. Analysis of the sample by the groups of roots included in it clarifies the relation in quality of beet roots of different sizes on the various experimental plots; in this connection, corresponding data of this kind are also given below. Finally, there are a number of analyses in which the samples were analyzed as a whole. The sugar beet was analyzed by the methods ordinarily accepted. The percentage content of sugar in the beet was determined by the method of hot aqueous digestion, according to the “Instructions for Chemists of Sugar Factories” (Izv. Vseros. O-va Sakh. Zav.). As a control, parallel determination was used by Sokollet’s alcohol-extraction method and by Pellet’s alcohol-digestion method.

For a more complete and comprehensive elucidation of the characteristics and degree of suitability of local conditions for sugar-beet cultivation in new, as yet untested, districts of Siberia, of interest are not only the cases of sugar-beet sowings successful in their results, but also certain unsuccessful cases. The latter emphasize those negative factors that must be taken into account when making general conclusions and inferences on the basis of the material obtained. In view of this, several such cases will also be presented below.

The greatest amount of work in 1916–1919 was concentrated in Altai Governorate. The partial analyses of sugar beet for this governorate, given below, are distributed among five groups. These are tied to definite districts of this governorate which, as in previous instances of beet sowing in Siberia, and in the present survey as well, have proved suitable to one degree or another for establishing beet-sugar factories here.

Such districts are:

I. Pavlovsk district of Barnaul uyezd, with its main point the village of Pavlovsk, 55 versts west of the town of Barnaul and 20 versts from the Ob River, on the line of the South-Siberian railway under construction. Within the sphere of this district, in 1860, the first Siberian sugar factory of Shchetolev-Brokmiller was built.

II. Altai district of Zmeinogorsk uyezd, with its main point the village of Plotava, 30 versts from the Aleiskaya railway station and 135 versts south of the town of Barnaul; here, in 1918–1919, preparatory work successfully developed for the organization of agriculture and for the construction of a sugar factory by the “Joint-Stock Company of Sugar and Refinery Factories in Siberia.”

III. Rubtsovsk district of Zmeinogorsk uyezd, with its main point the “Katkov steppe,” 30 versts from the Rubtsovka railway station, lying 260 versts south of Barnaul; in this district, in 1903–1904, the Administration of the Altai Mining District carried out trial sowings of sugar beet, and the construction of a sugar factory in the village of Lokot was planned.

IV. Zmeinogorsk district, with its main points the town of Zmeinogorsk and the village of Shemonaiha—a locality where, in 1901–1902, trial sowings of beet were carried out by Koenig, who planned the construction of a sugar factory here.

V. Biysk district, with its main points: the town of Biysk, the village of Bolshaya Rechka, and the village of Polkovnikovo near the Ovchinnikovo railway station, 89 versts west of Biysk; in this district, in 1919, the Czechs designated a site for the construction of a sugar factory here.

The quality, conditions of development, and yield of sugar beet obtained in Siberia in 1916 are presented in the tables I, II, and III given below.

Some localities of Siberia included in the 1916 survey, owing to the unfavorably developing and already noted circumstances, proved to be very poorly represented in the final results of that year’s work. These include, for example, the Loktevka-Rubtsovsk district of Zmeinogorsk uyezd and the district of the village of Pavlovsk, Barnaul uyezd, Altai Governorate. Meanwhile, both of these districts had previously been recognized as quite favorable for the sugar industry; moreover, not far from the village of Pavlovsk, Brokmiller’s sugar factory had been built in 1860, and somewhat later the Administration of the Altai Mining District raised the question of building a beet-sugar factory in the village of Lokot in connection with the successful results of the trial sowings carried out at that time in this district. Therefore, when comparing individual Siberian districts, it is necessary to supplement the 1916 data for the districts just named, as well as for others, with the corresponding material from subsequent years. Such information is given in Table IV.

The trial sowings, the results of which are presented in the tables, were not only the result of the author’s desire to carry out these sowings here and there throughout Siberia, but they also represent, to a certain extent, a positive re—

a call from the localities to turn to the cultivation of sugar beet. In view of this, the data of the tables presented are indicative above all in the sense that they reveal certain districts of Siberia recognized as suitable for sugar beet already by local, more or less informed persons, such as agronomists, local farmers, employees of the Resettlement Administration, the Ministry of Agriculture, etc.

Thus, with respect to their presumptive suitability for the cultivation of sugar beet, the following provinces and districts of Siberia emerged:

Altai Province with the districts: Barnaul, Biisk, and Zmeinogorsk;

Tomsk Province with the districts: Kainsk, Kuznetsk, Mariinsk, and Tomsk;

Semipalatinsk Region with the districts: Zaisan and Ust-Kamenogorsk;

Orenburg Province with Chelyabinsk District;

Akmolinsk Region with Omsk District;

Yenisei Province with Minusinsk District.

The above list could also have been supplemented by Kokpektinsky District of Semipalatinsk Region and Kustanai District of Turgai Region, where, as was ascertained, in the period 1917–1919 trial sowings of sugar beet were carried out, and, apparently, with positive results; but owing to the generally unfavorable living conditions in the region during that period, the results of the experiments conducted, as well as the corresponding samples for testing the quality of the beet grown, could not be obtained, with few exceptions.

When examining the tables, it may be seen that their data, characterizing the quality of beet in individual localities, differ from one another with respect to the degree of maturity of the beet and the method of testing its separate samples, since in some cases these samples were analyzed as whole samples, while in others—in parts, having first been divided by the size of the roots into groups equal in number of roots but different in their size. In connection with this, in order to clarify to a certain extent the relative quality of sugar beet grown in various places in Siberia, below are compared, by individual districts, the average data from tests of sugar-beet samples: first, those analyzed only as whole samples; second, those taken by districts only for the month of September according to the old style (see Table V).

Some idea of the possible yield of sugar beet in Siberia may be given by the average weight of the beet roots obtained. The size of the latter, conditioned by many causes, depends to a considerable extent on the areas allotted at sowing to each plant. In the cases considered here, according to the “Instructions” under which the sowings were carried out, an inter-row spacing of 8 vershoks was adopted, with thinning to 6 vershoks. Under such conditions the average size of a root, as may be seen from the comparison made, fluctuated from \(7/8\) to \(1 \frac{1}{2}\) pounds. The weight proved considerably greater in sowing plots located in more northerly regions and lying closer to mountainous places and therefore relatively more humid. Thus, for example, Akmolinsk Region gives the lowest weight, Tomsk a greater one, and Minusinsk and Chelyabinsk districts—the highest. Within the

In Altai Governorate, Biysk uyezd surpasses Zmeinogorsk and Barnaul uyezds. In general, in terms of the average weight of the beet root within the limits of the comparison under consideration, with the exception of Zaisan uyezd of Semipalatinsk Oblast, where sowing is possible only with irrigation, the following sequence emerges in the distribution of the individual regions of Siberia: the smallest average root weight is given by Akmolinsk Governorate; it is followed, in successive order, by Semipalatinsk Oblast (Ust-Kamenogorsk uyezd), Altai Governorate (Zmeinogorsk, Barnaul, and Biysk uyezds), Tomsk Governorate (Kuznetsk, Tomsk, and Kainsk uyezds), Yeniseisk Governorate (Minusinsk uyezd), and Orenburg Governorate (Chelyabinsk uyezd).

The yield actually attained, established by direct weighing of beets harvested from the field, ranged, per desyatina, from 800 to 2,000 poods. This applies to cases approximating normal conditions of sowing, care, growth, and harvesting of beets, but without the application of any fertilizers.

For individual uyezds, the yield under the indicated conditions was determined as follows:

Altai Governorate:

Tomsk Governorate:

Orenburg Governorate:

Akmolinsk Oblast:

Thus, the average yield per desyatina is as follows:

With regard to Ust-Kamenogorsk uyezd of Semipalatinsk Oblast and Minusinsk uyezd of Yeniseisk Governorate, there are data concerning only sowings that suffered from drought, pests, etc.; in these cases the yield was approximately 700 poods.

Obviously, under normal conditions it is higher, which for Minusinsk uezd is confirmed by the long experience of the Gusev sugar factory. For Zaisan uezd there are no direct records of the yield, but judging by the weight of the roots obtained and the climatic conditions of this region, it is easy to see that the yield here, under normal sowing conditions with irrigation, can be extraordinarily large, with very high sugar content and good quality of the beet. Although the corresponding analytical data for the samples sent from Zaisan uezd in 1917 are very low, it is precisely these that confirm the indicated possibility; for, when speaking of the sugar content and good quality of beet grown in Zaisan uezd under normal conditions, one must not forget that the sample under consideration from 1917 was analyzed in Tomsk only in December, where the sugar beet arrived already in a spoiled state, having spent too long during its many-week journey from the town of Buran and Zaisan to Tomsk, sometimes in frost and sometimes in warmth, where it was tested.

As regards, in general, the sugar content of beet grown in Siberia, from the average district data cited above to a certain extent for 1916 and 1917 it is evident that it ranged from 15.2 to 18.9%, rising in some individual cases to 19.4%, 20% and higher. The highest average sugar content was observed in the uezds of Altai gubernia—from 15.8% to 18.9%, averaging 17.4%. Next, in successive order, come: Omsk uezd of Akmolinsk oblast—18.7%, and Tomsk gubernia—16.5%, with fluctuations in average sugar content by uezd from 18.2% to 15.8%. Considerably behind are Chelyabinsk uezd of Orenburg gubernia—16.6% and Minusinsk uezd of Yenisei gubernia—15.2%. However, in individual sowing cases the sugar content of beet in Chelyabinsk uezd also proves sufficiently high: thus in 1917 it rose to 17.3%, and in 1918—to 19.6%.

With respect to good quality, considered on average by uezd, first place is occupied by Altai gubernia—87.1%. Then follow: Akmolinsk oblast, Omsk uezd—86.3%; the enumerated uezds of Tomsk gubernia—85.9%; Chelyabinsk uezd of Orenburg gubernia—83%; and, finally, Minusinsk uezd of Yenisei gubernia—82.7%.

Comparing the results of experimental sowings of sugar beet in 1916 and 1917 with what, in this respect, the preceding cases of beet sowing in Siberia led to under the already considered conditions of Shchegolev, Brockmiller, the Administration of the Altai Mining District, Koenig, and Gusev, one can see a significant agreement between those and the other results, both as regards quality and the yield of sugar beet.

In the preceding section, cases of sowing were considered which were, as far as possible, close to normal and desirable conditions of cultivation, tending, and the like. At the same time, the results were given for sowings both in April and in May, and it turned out that April sowings (old style), very often after good emergence, with the subsequent absence of rains, slowed in their development, withered, weakened, and in the end proved unable to withstand to the necessary degree the temporary unfavorable conditions of the period—lack of rains, pests, winds, and so forth—as a result of which such a sowing, being damaged, weakened, or completely perished in the initial stage of its development; or else, having passed through the unfavorable period with loss, ultimately gave a smaller yield and worse quality than the later sowings of the first half of May, old style.

TABLE I.

Quality of the sugar beet crop of 1916, represented by partial analyses of samples taken from individual plots of exploratory experimental beet sowings in various districts of Altai Province.

Continuation of Table I.

TABLE II.

Data from the combined analysis of two groups of sample roots: large and medium; without the group of small roots, by 1916 sowings in Altai and Tomsk gubernias.

TABLE III.

District-level data on the quality of sugar beet in Western Siberia for 1916.

TABLE IV.

District-level data on the quality of sugar beet in Western Siberia for 1917–1920.

TABLE V¹).

Quality of sugar beet in Siberia by provinces and districts according to analysis data for beet samples taken only in September, old style.

¹) The data of Table No. 5 refer to analyses of sugar-beet samples tested as a whole, without subdividing them into groups of small, medium, and large roots.