Rocky Ford enterprise., 1907-04-19


The regular business of the farmer
these days Is getting in his seed. and
beet seeding Is the special business
Of these mid-Aprii days in this viein-
ity. The beet grower is learning that
there arc special advantages in early
planting OF bcetS. notwithstanding
some chances involved. The winter
preparation OF ground. too. IS beeom.
Ing more general as beet growing be-
comes an established feature OF our
local agricultural industry. and so
there is more land than usual prepared
to receive the final touches that make
Il ready for the seed. The past year
has seen n marked increase OF our
agricultural population, and beet
growing will occupy marked por-
tion of their time and their acreage.
This and the enlarged demand OF new
sugar factories in tho Arkansas VAL
lev calls for a larger beet area. Both
the factories near at hand. the a. u.
S. nj Rocky Ford and the Holly Co.
at Swink rcpor: increased acreage
contracted for. The latter has doub-
led its acreage of last year. which
was the first year of tho factory AZ
Sw;nk. For this and for the Holly
factory the company has in tho neigh
borhood of fi.ooo acres contracted.
The A. n. s. Co. has somewhere
about 1900 acres contracted. This
indicates that some seeding is being
done these days up and down the
"Arkansaw."
While our farmers are busy putting
in their beet seed !; may be a help
full consideration to reflect that one
great advantage OF beet crop. which
e too frequently overlooked. is that
Il offers an immense advantage 10 the
cereal crop which may follow. The
harvesting of bcets brings from the
lower s,ra,as the plan, foods to the
uppcr suriacc-aeis as sub-soil
piow. The bee, crop demands CON
slant wedding by means OF a eulsi-
ya,or. otherwise the weeds absorb
wi,a, the beet needs, the ultimate re-
sui, is that the land through simple
narrowing is ready for wheat: let the
farmer who points out that he has
spent S,s per acre in cul,ivating his
bee,s this evidently includes all
items Of cost. seed, plowing. etc
ascertain what the cost is for prcpa-
ration of the land for a cereal which
follows in the rotation and he will
then have a practical demonstration
of wha, bccts have done for him: let
him note the yield per acre OF wheat,
corn, etc. before and after bccts:
there will then be surprise awaiting
him.
The use of sub-soiI plowing for
beet cultivation is now Of very gen
eral practice in Continental Europe.
This work to a depth say of eighteen
inches is generally done before the
winter sets in. the barnyard manure
or certain special chemical fertilizers
being then turned under. We arc
pleased to note that several farmers
Of Colorado now realize the import
ance of deep fall blowing.
Manager r. II. Every. Of the Gar
den City company's land department
has been urging upon the farmers
winter irrigation, pointing out its ad.
vantages; and some have taken the
cue and got that desirable start for
an early and successful season oi
beet growth.
A fact that may surprise our read
ers is that small beet containing
a high percentage OF sugar. will no,
keep as well in a si1o as large bee,
of low percentage and containing
considerable water in its compost
ton. This conclusion is the result OF
some recent exact experiments. VIC
would impress our farmers with the
Importance of producing bccts oil
about two pounds in weight contain
ing on an average of IS per cent. su-
gar. Most of the tillcrs who furnish
bcets to the beet sugar factories oi
the country now thoroughly realize
that when the roots are purchased ac-
eording to their sugar percentage,
yields of rs tons at r3 per cent sugar