Durango semi-weekly herald., 1906-05-24
SUGAR BEET AND ire CULTURE


the Farmers Institute Saturday.
In every section OF Colorado wher.
the beet factory has been establish
ed land values have increased three
or four times. The cultivation ot
beets is an art and under the proper
hand will make more money for the
proprietor of farm than any otne,
product. AT the present prices the
good former is almost certain of a
net profit of between s35 and $50 per
acre. The farmer contracts with the
neid men for the care of mis- beets at
the rate of 500 per acre He has alb.
solutely nothing to do with the beets
aiter the contract is given to the
field men. Now, allow $40 for prep
aration of the land and $40 for mar
keting and incidentals and with the
usual crop his farm should average
20 tons of beets or 800 per acre.
Now let us go to the selection OF
land as the sugar beet company in
structs:
The beet soil is black ricn sandy
soil or mixture of clay and sand IN
such proportions as to make a fine
loam The best crop TO follow beets
with is alfalfa. as 1t furnishes the
land with all the properties neces'
sary for beet growth. Potato land is
far better than grain land.
Land that is sandy enough to blow,
according ito the instructions of the
iS land
plant beets in. Great care should be
taken in the selection of beet land as
1t costs more to raise a crop OF beets
on poor land than ii does on good
land with correspondingly small re-
turns 10 the farmer. Well rotted
barn manure. with eight or ten big
loads to the acre should be evenly
spread over the ground, The manure
should be plowed under in the fall
Ii possible. Flowing should be from
10 TO IL inches deep. Just as soon as
the land will work in the spring 1T
should be leveled while the ground
is moist. but do not work the ground
while 1t Ia wet Let the land lie for
few DAYS so that the weeds Will
show, then harrow cross-ways,
Weighing your harrow down SO that
the teeth vii. bring the weeds to the
surface. If you have disc harrow
use that following 1t with harrow.
When the plowiug has to be done in
the spring the farmer should plow
just as soon as conditions will permit,
Ry narrowing the ground first the
plow will cut smooth and more salts
factory. With spring plowing y~u
should be careful not to plow oye
two OF three inches deeper thaa the
land was plowed previously.
The time for planting in the north
ern part of the state commence the
last week in March and continues I'M
I'll the Goth or 25th of May The
seed should be drilled in from one
to one and half inches in deyth in
rows 20 inches apart and acreage
from Is to 18 pounds to the acre. AS
soon as the ground begins to crust
it must be broken by very shallow
cultivating. This must be done be-
fore the beets get chance to curl
mp under the surface. When the
ground begins to get dry and the
/ beets 10 look dark in color, showing
that they need water, they should be
furrowed out between every row and
the land put in condition 10 irrisate
easily whenever necessary. This
should be done every time the heets
are irrigated. Beets should be
thipned as soon as they show four
leaves. The farmer should use a 6
inch hoe and should thin them out to
between 6 and inches apart in the
row. The second hoeing will be ne
eessary as soon as the beets are cul-
stivated after thinning noe around
the plants and pull out any double
plants or weeds.
The beets should be irrigated just
as soon as the ground becomes dry
and the beets begin to wilt during
the day. A beet that needs water
will turn to darkish color. First ir
rigation should be done by running a
little water down each furrow until
the ground is moist around the beets,
being very careful not to flood them.
The irrigation should always be done
during the day SO that you may see
what you are doing. Care should ne
taken not to give the beets too mucn
water, The proposition of irrigation
should be left to the judgment of the
grower TO certain extent The su,
gar beet company always have a field
man who notifies the farmer when
10 irrlgate: when TO thin and when
10 harvest. He is employed for the
purpose of giving information to the
growers,
Every farmer In this district should
give the sugar beet proposition the
closest attention and when the con
tracts are asked for, for acreage
should be very careful not to get too
enthusiastic and contract to grow
more than he can attend to.
OTTO MEAfs SAYS