The St. Johns herald., 1900-03-31

Beets sown during October and Nov
 made such slow growth that they wer e
 not harvested. A sowing made durin | December, 1898. previous to cool rainy weather resulted in sneh a poor stand
 that the plat was plowed and resown
 during January.
 WINTER-SOWN FLATS.
 During January and February, 1S9 Q abont an acre of fine adobe soil was sOwn The characteristics of this soil, as deter mined last year by the chemist, were as follows: Maximum water caparity. 57.62 per cent; per cent of material finer than 0 , nm. (1-50 inch) in diameter 99 S21 per cent of hurnus, I.56; per cent of N 5 trogen, 09. Two of the ten plats IRt e which the acre was divided were sown to Viimorin and the remainder to K ltiH
 %anziel'ener. The first sowing was made January IS about the close of the rainy season. in soil irrigated and ploxed during October. but not subsequently, ir- rigated before planting
 The rest of the acre was thoroughly ir rigated through furrows two feet apart just before beng plowed for seeding. The soil became so thoroughly and deep ly saturated by this method that th blowing and seeding were delayed some timc, the intention having been to se ed during early February When the soil had dried sufficiently to bear team, . harrow was run croSswise Of the fur rows filing them with the drier soil the intervening ridges, and thus pre- venting the baking and the crarking so prevalent in adobe soils When it va 8 plowed and narrowed, there were feweT clods than if tie land had been flooded in accordance with the prevailing custom in the region Two sowiDgs were made, one February Is, and one Feb. 26. The seeding was done with Superior four row drill.
 All the ten plats of the acre were euI- tivated as nearly alike as practicable, their treatment differing principally iE lhe times of irrigation. One object " a to determine how early beets sown in moist, heavy soil during cool weather needed irrigation; and second object to determine how many subsequent ir rigatfons were necessary.
 Plat 1, sown January IS, was sample d June I2, giving the following results Average weight of beets, 11.4 ounces; yield of bee:s per acre. 1I.5 tons; per cent of sugar in beets, 12.S; purity zoe ficient, 79.2
 All the plats were sampled four time after the foregoing date At the time | the first two samplings, the tonnage was In each case. a considerable portion of each plat was dug, the beet 8 counted and weighed tOdetermine aver age weight and yield and fractional part sent to the chemist for analysis. Flats 2, 3, 4, and were located where heets were grown the previous year; while the remainder of the plats were upon adjacent land that had been occu- ped by alfalfa until few months befor seeding to beets Hence the results from the four mentioned are to com pared among themselves only.
 EFFECTS OF PREVIOUS CROP.
 Flats 2-5 inclusive gave lower yields than plats 6-l0 sown later This was iue evidently 10 the fact that heets Ina q Deen grown upon the former during the previous year, while the previous crop )n the others was alfalfa. There seems 10 be no other reason why the two ad-
 fContinued next week.)
 Prevention is better than cure. Knn,, ,rn,,,, hlnod ,,,,.n ,.o.1,,. o,,,,o4;to