The progressive farmer. [volume] (Winston, N.C.) 1886-1904, 1897-06-15
RALEIGH, N. c., JUNE Is. 1897.

crops of corn or potatoes is rich enough
for beets. Never apply manure to beets
direct. Always apply it to the corn or
some other crop the year before plant.
ing to beets. The seed are sown by
drills in rows "a inches apart, and three
or four days afterwards harrow the
land lightly so as to kill the sprouting
ing weeds but not disturb the beet seed.
Plant inches deep in land plowed at
least 10 to 15 inches deep. The beet
must be grown under ground. That
part above ground contains little sugar
and much impurity and must be cut
off Start the cultivator as soon as the
rows can be seen. When four leaves
appear, chop out with hoes to punches
5 to inches apart, and thin these
bunches by hand to a single beet, leav-
ing the largest one. Lay by in low
ridges. When the leaves turn yellow
and begin to dry up, cut off the crowns
a quarter of an inch below the surface
OF the soil, with sharp hoe or other
suitable implement, and run a deep
furrow close to the beets. Then walk
along the other side and kick the beets
out into the furroW, from which they
are readily picked up and thrown into
wagons. The stubble shavers used by
Louisiana cane planters, and drawn by
horse power, would doubtless be good
to top the beets with. The tops and
pulp are good feed for all kinds of farm
animals and may be preserved in silo.
They are improved by balancing up
with iuseed meal or oil meal.
Lanes Improved and Vilmorin are
the best varieties. Seed must be bought
every year at the rate of Is or Is pounds
per acre. The production of seed is a
high art in itself. A slice of beets is
anely z9d and those richest in sugar
and having the greatest purity are set
out to produce st ed. By thus constant
ly and carefully selecting seed from
year to year, the sugar content has
been brought up from per cent. 100
years ago, to from IL to 90 per cent
now.
Planting may be done from the mid
die of March to the middle of June. An
8 hoe wheat drill is a good planting inn
plement, leaving open the first, fourth
md seventh rows. This puts the rows
"a inches apart. Begin at right hand
edge of the field, and in returning, run
left wheeE in the track it made going
over first time. In starting on second
round, run right wheel 16 inches from
it's last track. This will put all rows
"a inches apart. Don't leave beets
farther apart in the drill than inches,
or they will grow too large. Large
beets are poor in sugar. An average
of pounds is about right for largest
yield of sugar per acre. The more sun
shine received by the growing crop,
the larger the sugar content.
The Arizona Station suggests that in
climate, as well as in California and in
the Pecos valley Of New Mexico, the
operating season is much longer than
in Europe and the Northern States,
and those sections also produce Canal,
gre in great abundance, and much of
the same machinery used in extracting
sugar from beets can also be used to
extract tannic acid from Canaigre roots,
and as Canaigre roots can, be left in the
ground indefinitely and harvested at
any season, the factories might run on
Oanaigre from the close of one sugar
season to the opening of the next. 1t
estimates the increased cost of a 300
ton factory to operate on both roots at
only $25, 900 more than for sugar alone.
The best sugar beet soil is a deep,
mellow, sandy loan, though almost
any soil will answer. Even alkali soils,
if not too salty, will produce good beets.
The soil should contain a high per cent
age of potash.
Of the $3.50 ALI yearly expense OF
running the factory at Lehi, Utah,
$142, ,283 was paid to farmers for beets,
and $50. .924 was paid for labor. The
rest went for coal, chemicals, bags,
lime, etc. This shows what an immense
advantage such a factory must be to
any community.