The Topeka state journal. [volume] (Topeka, Kansas) 1892-1980, 1902-05-20
KANSAS NEWS.
A Sugar Beet Expert is in
Sedgwick County.
Going Out Among the Farmers
Giving Instructions.
LOOKS FOR SUCCESS.
Says That Irrigation is Not at
All Necessary.
Declares Enough Rain Falls to
Answer All Needs.

Wichita, Kan, May 2o.-Mr. w. r.
Padley, the sugar beet expert from
Rocky Ford, Colo, has started out to
instruct the farmers of Sedgwick eoun-
ty the art of raising sugar beets that
will contain the most sugar when they
are matured.
Mr.. Padley is here under the direction
Of the Chamber of Commerce and will
do everything in his power to see that
a profta BILE experiment is made. For
i've years he has been in this business.
He viii start out first to the southeast
and visit the farmers who are making
the experiment with the beet plant.
There has been great deal of talk
on the part of many in this city in
which they doubted the advisability of
making the present experiment of rails
ing sugar beets because Sedgwic6
county is not a network of irrigation
bitches. They figured out that the red
son why the Colorado town made such
a success with the sugar beets was be-
cause Of the irrigation.
This gentleman, whose headquarters
are at the Chamber of Commerce in tie
city building, said to reporter:
This experiment means everything to
me If succeed it is a success for me
as well as for your people and I mean
to succeed if things do not look en-
tirely opposite to what they really are
From what [ know of this country it
could not be better adapted to this in
dustry The soil has that dark, sandy
ioa1n which is the first requisite. Some
rain IS needed, yet no very great
amount Out at Rocky Ford the farm
efs when the water rughes down stream
use too much Of it and when we tell
them it Injuries the crop to flood IT,
lnauv of them pay no heed and think
that because little water is good that
more is better. The plant is a very
sturdy one and hard to kill In the
Spring good rains are just the thing
and some water while the beet is GROW
ings helps its growth.
A hO1f If 10, 49, :
no rain of any consequence fall if the
best result from the crop is gotten It
must have time to mature before har-
Vestlng or the amount Of saccharine or
sugar in the plant will not be so great.
The ground that the seed is planted
in should be plowed deep to get the best
results but this is not necessary, only
help. the rows are placed about six
teen inches apart and the plants eight
inches. This is another way in which
the industry here will be more profit
able than in Colorado. There the rows
must be placed farther apart to allow
the irrigation bitches to run between
them. Out here the rows can be placed
closer together and thus a greater ton
mage to the acre can be procured In
addition to this, there is the great ex-
pense that our men out in Colorado are
put to in their efforts to make that soil
productive of anything. They must level
it off so that the water in the bitches
will reach all parts of it. Then they
1nusE pay OUT large sum OF money for
irrigation bitches. Again, there is the
water tax. Indeed, I can't see why Sedg-
wick county can't make more out Of
this industry than Colorado, yet that
state makes lots of money this way
The principal thing in planting the
seed is to get It in good, clean soil and
on ground that has been p1owed up be-
fore When the plant gets above the
ground the crop must be thinned out
and this is very important for if it Is
not done, the experiment will not be a
success. The beet is often eighteen
inches long and does a great deal for
itself for with its carrot-shaped body
it reaches down into the soil that has
not been dried out by the sun and gets
its own moisture.