The Goodland republic. [volume] (Goodland, Kan.) 1891-1907, 1895-08-30

the same may be said Of pioWing the
land, It being Of g 6iaTey character and
requiring $40 ala acre to be expended
N fertilizers before a single seed is
/ planted; there is also a government tax
to pay and a European ton is larger
than an American ton so that the pro-
dueeT is confronted with an expendi-
ture of $40 to $50 an acre before plant
ing his seed.
The average amount of sugar obtain
ed from a ton of beets is $50 pounds.
Improved laboT-saEing implements
lately introduced promise to make the
the beet sugar crop more profitable
even than it has been and simplify and
make easier the planting and cultiya-
ton Of the beets.
Preparation Of Ground.
The Oxnard company sends the fol-
lowing instructions for the preparation
of ground for the sugar beet:
Never select poor land. Use the best
piece available on your farm, for the
richer the soil the better the crop.
The best soil is s0-called "bottom
land" New land should never be Sc
leeted as it never produces high ton
nage-it should be at least two years
under cultivation.
Immediately after taking off the
grain, pillow shallow z or 3 inehesl in
order to prevent weeds from going to
seed. When this is done spread your
field with manure and in the fall plow
deep 10 to II inches). This is very i'm
portant, because the beet is thereby
enabled to penetrate into the subsoil
without much obstruction, thus pre-
venting it from growing out of the
ground and allowing it to extract con-
siderable nourishment from the lower
soil. The deep blowing will also give
you clean ground and viii make it
ready for early planting and thus in
sure large tonnage
In case the blowing has not been
done in the fall, pillow as early in the
spring as the ground will do to handle
without sticking, for two reasons: First
because the sooner the weeds are en-
couraged to grow the more can be
killed before planting the beets;
second, because land plOwed when the
weather is cool viii retain the moisture
much longer than it will if plowed dur
ing warm weather. In the spring never
throw up more than two inches of soil
that has not been stirred before; if
your soil has never been plOWed over
six inches it is better to use a subsoiI
pillow to loosen the soil to the proper
depth. These instructions refer only
to spriug blowing; when good land with
deep soil is pl0wed in the fall, it makes
no difference how much new soil is
turned up as it would decay in winter
through the action of frost. After
spring blowing harrow or better float.
once Immediately, and then leave the
ground as it is until the time to seed.
thus allowing the weeds to sprOut. If
the previous crop was corn it is abso-
iutely necessary to take the stalks and
roots off the ground in the right man
ner in order to permit of easy and
proper horse cultivation; it will not do
to pillow the stalks under, however, as it
cannot be done efectually, the cuItiya-
tor knives bringing them back to the
surface once more, and at the same
time dragging along with them more or
less Of the small beet plants. The best
way to do is to remove the mold board
from the pillow which will enable you to
loosen the roots without turning the
corn stalks under. Then gather them
up with hayrake into piles and after
burning them as much as possible haul
off the remainder.