Little Falls weekly transcript. (Little Falls, Morrison Co., Minn.) 1894-19??, 1898-11-25
RAISING SUGAR BETS.

RAISING SUGAR BETS.
The State Experimental Farm
managers at Hamlin have been Civ.
ing especial attention as to the
best methods of raising sugar
beets, and give this information
on the subject:
The sugar beet thrlvcs best on a
loan soil containing a fair amount
of sand, with a cay subsoil, which
will store up good supply of
water. The cultivator should go
neither to the extreme Of select ng
the very richest nor the very poor
est ground to sow with the sugar
beet, orthat plant is very sensitive
to conditions. If the richest
ground is selected the plant will
grow rank and will bear; COM
paratively small percentage of
sugar. If the ground is poor the
beet, Of course, will not mature.
A high dry knoll or a low wet
place should never be selected for
sugar beets.
The land must be plow ed deeply
in order to get the best results,
the experiments with shallow
blowing showing that the beets
develop branches and grow above
the ground, resulting in a de.
creased percentage of sugar, and
an Increase in the impurities. A
gain of four o, five per cent of
sugar content is obtained by deep
blowing. The manuring Of the soil
should be attended to the previous
We ar. aud then there should only,
except for exceptional cases, be a
light application.
The best results have been OBJ
tai"ed by planting the beets in
rows 10 inches apart and the beets
from 4 to 5 inches apart in a row.
Of course some consideration
must be given to the nature of the
soil when planting, but in general
it has been found that the dis
tances given are the most eco
nomical.
After the crop is above the
ground and fairly well started,
the cultivation should begin. If
the land is exceptionally weedy
the wedding should begin before
the beets are up. The work Of
wedding and thinning the beets in
the row must be done by hand,
and care should be taken to save
the most vigorous plants. Every
week or ten days till about the
first of August the field should be
gone over with hoe in order to
keep it free from weeds. This
wedding is one of the necessities
in the cultivation process, as it
has been found that neglect of
this particular has the effect Of re.
ducing the amount of sugar in the
crop.
1t usually take from 100 to ITO
days for the crop to mature, and If
the crop is planted about May 20,
the beets will be ready for the
harvest about Sept. 10. They will
test the highest about Oct. Is. A
hot and rainy fall, however, will
not improve the quality of the
beets. No precautions need be
taken to guard the crop against a
light frost. The outer leaves Of
the foliage turn yellow when the
beets are ripe and the central
leaves turn yellowish hue. The
crop should then be harvested to
prevent second growth.
The tops should be removed
with sharp knife and as much of
the dirt as possible removed when
the beets are harvested, and they
may then be taken Immediately to
the factory or put in piles and kept
the same way as potatoes.
The best results have been OBJ
tanned by planting the seed three.
quarters of an inch deep, and
about 10 or 20 pounds of seed to
the acre.
It has been estimated from a
large number of expe >iments that
s1Is~