Deseret evening news. [volume] (Great Salt Lake City [Utah]) 1867-1920, 1906-04-28
POINTS ON SUGAR
BEET CULTURE.

During a farmers institute recently
held at Greeley Colo, Mr.. w. d. Eb-
bert. of Rocky Ford talked on sugar
beet growing in the Arkansas valley
According to the Greeley Tribune he
surprised some OF the beet growers Of
that vicinity by stating that he would
irrigate sugar beets as little as was
possible to get along with. Mr. Eb-
bert also made some other interesting
statements. Among these were his
testimony to the value OF fan blowing,
wherein he asserts that he considered
II worth from three to six tons per
acre.
The following We're some OF the
points made by Mr.. Gilbert:
We would food the ground good
either before blowing, or after and
then not irrigate again until the beets
showed the absolute need OF more wat
er, For his part he probably would
not irrigate again until July J. or later
He did not believe water necessary
even II the beet tops wilted down In
the heat of the day, so long az the
cool of the nights again revived them.
In the preparation of the soil for the
seed he stated that he wanted a firm
hard bed for the seed. This might
be obtained either by rolling the
ground, on letting It lay for a time be-
fore planting, and letting the clods
all break up In case of rolling the
soil he would never have II lay long IN
this condition after the beets came
up, for fear of a heavy wind coming
on nd .tasa .itafr he 10.
OF the ground BY some means he
would roughen the soil surface. He
had come to the conclusion that the
hard seed bed was the best because.
at the ends OF the rows where the
ground was trampled down by re-
peated turnings of the teams and plow
the stand was always the best
On thinning of beets he stated that
from numerous experiments and from
information gathered by Prof. Oln of
| the Agricultural college as to the pref
erence Of the best beet growers, ten
! and q fraction inches apart was con-
sidered the best condition for the
| beets. He had tried several distances,
but this year would leave his beets ten
| inches apart in the row. In the Ar
| kansas valley they prefer irrigating
| In every row is inches apart on slop-
| ing ground and 20 inches on the level.
In thinning the beots he would do II
as nearly all In one day as possible.
the Idea being that there was a right
time to do this, and one part of the
field needed thinning as much as an
other at that time.
In the Arkansas valley they usually
commence planting beets about April
]. Fall blowing for beets Mr. Gilbert
considered worth anywhere from three
TO six tons to the acre, He would
pillow fairly deep.
One successful beet grower In tho
valley had raised beets on the same
piece of ground for five years IN sue
cession, with apparently no difference
In the tonnage from year TO year. Just
"A little harnyard fertilizer was used
and the yield was from 1t to 30 tons
per acre each year.
In cultivating the small beets Mr.
Gilbert stated that he would keep a
good distance away from the beet with
the so-called bull tongue, not coming
any nearer than about six inches
Otherwise the routs Of the beets
would be disturbed. and often the
whole beet pulled out, Above all. SO
long as the beet plant was doing well
he would not monkey with 1t, believ-