Ladysmith news-budget. [volume] (Ladysmith, Rusk County, Wis.) 1907-1927, 1907-07-18
SUGAR BEET CROP PLENTIFUL.
New Methods Near Menomonee Falls
Give Farmers Less Worry.

and September. The beets, though in
many cases planted quite late, owing
to the backwardness of the season, are
looking unusually well. The farmer is
realizing more fully every year that
this is one of the few uniformly de-
pendable crops, and with the labor
problem practically solved beet rails
ing has lost much of its irksomeness
and causes the grower no more worry
than other crops.
Since the introduction of the beet
sugar industry in this state many
changes and improvements have been
made in the cultivation of the crop.
Originally the grower did the bunch
ing, thinning and hoeing in the sum-
mer and harvesting in the fall This
plan has been superseded by one
which enables growers to raise a larg-
er acreage than by the old system.
The usual method to-day is to have
regular gangs of beet workers,
ranging in number from twenty-five to
fifty or more, and each gang under
the supervision of foreman, who
keeps the time and sees to it that the
work is properly done. These gangs
are composed of men, women and chill
dren, and are classified as bunchers
and thinners
When a farmer finds his beets are
far enough advanced to be punched
and thinned he notifies the field man
of the sugar company, who then sends
out a gang. This work is generally
done as soon as possible after the
| third leaf appears. Just before the
gang begins work in beet field the
! farmer precedes it with a cultivatOr
to loosen the ground and kill the
weeds between the rows. The bunch
ers follow, cutting out the beets, leav-
ing little punches eight inches apart
in the row, and hoeing away such
weeds as cannot be reached by the
cultivator.
The thinners follow the bunchers
and pull out all but the largest and
! strongest beet in each bunch, so that
when field has been properly thinned
there is but one beet every eight
inches in the rows. 1t must be re-
membered that the beet seed is sowed
quite thickly in drills. This is done
to insure a good stand. Unusually
| from fifteen to eighteen pounds of
seed are planted on each acre, where
as if the seeds were planted in hills
eight inches apart in the rows, less
than four pounds would be required.
Experience, however, has demonstrat.
ed that sowing literally in drills is
the more economical and satisfactory.
A gang of twenty-five bunchers and
thinners will average from four to five
| acres a day, depending somewhat on
| the condition of the ground. The thin
ming is done chiefly by children, who
as rule do the work more quickly
and quite as satisfactorily as grown
persons. The average. boy or girl after
a few days experience finds little diff
Guilty in keeping up with the buncher.
Heretofore, in this locality at least,
the gangs have been mixed. This year
the gangs are composed, some entirely
of men and boys, others only of WOm-
en- and girls. However, a person OBJ
serving a gang at work in a beet field
might easily be deceived in the sex of
of the workers, as he girl thinners in
nearly all cases, wear overalls, the
same as the boys.
While some of the growers, especial
| ly those who have large families, still
do their own work, the great majority
have a gang of workers to do the
punching and thinning. 1t relieves
the farmer of the task of looking for
help, which often consumes considera-
bic time 1t also enables many farm
ers to grow more beets, being sure
that there will be no difficulty in hav.
ing the hand work done in time.
| The younger members of the gang,
besides the money they earn, get con-
siderable enjoyment out of the work,
and they advertise the fun they are
having in going to and from the fields
morning and evening. When the grow
er lives at a considerable distance
from town, say more than half a mile,
! he takes them out and brings them
yells, and when returning home can
be heard long before they reach town
most of them coming from villages
and cities where sugar factories are To-
Gated. A gang seated in a lumber
! wagon Or on hayrack looks much
| like lot of merry basket picnickers
| going out into the country.
After the punching and thinning is
finished the first fields are generally
ready for the second hoeing. This is
also usually done by gangs, smaller in
point of numbers than the former, and
composed generally of adults This
work continues until about the middle
of August.
From the latter part OF September
and through the month of October the
beets are harvested. More or less of
this work is done by gangs of men and
women, usually adults, as this is the
| hardest work on the crop. The grower
uses an implement drawn by two
| horses and known as a litter. With
| this machine he lifts the beets partly
out of the ground and is followed by
men who pull them up. shake off the
loose dirt and throw them into piles.
The beets are then topped. A large
knife resembling a Cuban machette is
used for this purpose and the opera
ton is performed with one stroke.
| The beets are left in piles and covered
| with the leaves until hauled to the fac
tory, which continues from time the
harvest begins until about Christmas.
w
CIoudburst Floods Streams.