The daily sentinel., 1899-02-20
SOWING THE SEED.
The Tale Is Well Told, How
To Plant and Care For
Sugar Beets


cultural manager at Lehi, Utah. of the
manner of planting, cultivating and
growing beets, is an article OF the great
est value and Importance to the farmer
just at the present time.
A strict adheranee to the rules laid
down by Mr.. Austin ought to insure a
very excellent crop OF sugar beets:
In the first place all land that is go
ing to be planted into sugar beets should
be we'll plowed in the fall say from II to
IA inches deep, and then il necessary, to
pillow it in the spring, it should be done
much shallower from 6 to 3 Inches deep,
but in this country where we have so
much frost and snow in the winter, we
usually use disc harrow or cultivator
in the spring and work the surface OF
the ground we'll, 90 as to prepare a good
seed bed. 1t is necessary in most cases
to roll the land before planting, but in
doing it great care must be taken not
to work the land when it is very moist
as it will pack too hard for the beet drill
The seed is sown with drill made for
the purpose drawn by horses, which
plants four rows at time from 15 to 20
inches apart as may be desired, this
gives ample room to make the little wa
ter furrowu that are essential for irriga-
ton
We aim to plant the seed from one
half to one and one fourth inches deep
should it be sown deeper than this we
are very apt to have poor stand OF
plants. We arid from Is to 10 pounds
to the acre; this with favorable condi-
tions will insure a perfect stand of
plants. The thinning we carefully do
when the plants have four leaves, by
taking a narrow hoe, say to inches
wide and space the be.ts in lunches
from to 8 inches apart and having a
small boy follow the man hoeing, re-
moving all plants from each bunch ex-
cepting the strongest and healthiest in
said bunch. The required distance be-
tween plants we determine by the
strength of the soil for instance; rich
soil we leave the plants about inches
apart, in very light soil it is necessary
sometimes to leave them as far as 10
inches apart, each farmer being his own
judge in regard to this.
After the thinning is done runa a cul-
tivator drawn by horse through the
rows, but great care is taken not to cul-
tivate too deep or hill up the young
plants, as they require all the air and
sunlight that is possible for them to
have.
After the first cultivation we general
ly hoe them the second time to clean
out all the weeds in the rows and remove
any surplus beets that may have been
overlooked a. the time of thinning.
Right after thus hoeing the beets should
be far enough advanced to commence
preparing for irrigation. We do this by
using the same eultivator only attach
ing small 6 inch furrow on the rear
end, and carry the water without flood
ing the beets. The second watering we
alternate the rows; this method usual
ly gives enough moisture each watering,
but of course it depends entirely on the
slope and condition Of the land. II the
land has much OF a slope and is inclined
to be light sandy loan it may be ne
cessary to water each row every time
you irrigate during the season, however.
this is an exception to the rule with us.
We never commence irrigation until
the beets show they require moisture
usually letting them suffer few days.
and by 80 doing it always gives us a
nice long tapering beet. II the first
watering is applied too early we usually
have short spriggy undesirable beet,
as is the case by using too much manure
or by planting on alkali land.
After six years of practical experience
in Utah with this crop we have demon
strated that sugar beets can be success
fully raised by irrigation. Each farmer
how ever, should make a study of the
business for himself, 20 as to be careful
not to give the beets too much water. as
it may prove a greater detriment than
not having enough.
We generally have to make cross
bitches in our beet field on about every
20 to 80 rods, depending upon the slope
and nature Of the land. II we run the
water further than this it usually satu.
rsto~ tha upDeP mart of the field befor,,