Rocky Ford enterprise., 1908-06-19
BEET CULTURE
BUNCHlNG AND THINNING
JESSIE II. BUFFUM
In the Beet Sugar 0azotte
CONTINUED From Last Week.


cate ten inch spacing in the rows.
but I believe such waste of land un-
necessary. Beets standing. eight
inches apart in the row will grow
just as luxuriously and be Of even
higher sugar content than those en-
joyins more generous spacing. This
is an item worth considering and its
merits must be looked into by all
careful growers.
If I were talking to experienced
growers only, would need to say
nothing about the proper time allot-
ted to punching and thinning. 1t is
appreciated that the work cannot be
delayed one hour longer than neces-
sary. There are urgent reasons for
this way: Probably the main object
of care in thinning is to preserve as
siduously the one remaining beet and
give it a favorable send-of. To
achieve this all requisite conditions
must be met. In the first place, the
plant selected must be sturdy and
show evidences of promise and thrift.
1t must at the outset be as strong
and stocky as possible. But granted
these important conditions have been
met, there is another and infinitely
more important consideration, name
ly, that the roofing of this plant shall
not be disturbed. For this reason
very early performing of the thinning
operation is vital and essential. If
the superfuous beet plants, those that
are to be thrown away, are well root
ed, their removal works, naturally,
greater havoc on the one plant that
is desired shall remain. This is
enforcement in argument. Then
thetre is another complication await
ing us above ground should thinning
be delayed, which has the same ef-
feet upon the beet we are to save.
Every day of added growth allows
the punched beets to entwine their
leaves, so when the undesirable
plants are pulled out the leaves of
the remaining one are badly torn or
destroyed altogether. So punching
and thinning must be done early:
Two weeks after thea ppearance of
the fourth leaf is the limitation u.s.
ually placed by the best growers.
If not done within this time, poor
crop is almost sure to result.
The fundamental principle Of this
punching and thinning operation is
painstaking care. which is a simple
enough requirement in ITSELF Pres
ent-day conditions. however. make
this phase of the industry more or
less discouraging. according to local
ties today the prevailing practice is
that of carelessness, owing to the
character of labor employed. Where
a mans patch is SO small that he is
enabled to practically perform every
operation. fculture himself or un-
der his constant personal direction.
the problem Is simplified or entirely
solved. But the element of foreign
labor creates a new and annoying as
pect. l have visited many beet fields
and followed the japanese. German
or Russian laborers as they block
out their rows. This operation is
usually performed at raee-horse
speed. regard being paid only to in
tcrvals. with no thought whatever
for the desirability of the beet or
beets he has left. 1t Is chop. chop,
chop. indiserimihately. with nothing
but the end of the row as an object
i've. And lay tho blame for this on
payments for this class Of work, and
ask il it is not high time that en-
ploying growers and contractors see
to it that some change Is quickly
made. go.
I believe it would be feasible to
adopt the sliding scale Of payment
for beet labor. at least in one or two
items. Probably the usual plan to-
day is to pay six dollars for the com.
pound operation Of punching and
thinning. This means, Of course.
that at the same time the beets re-
ceive their first hoeing. Now when
it comes to paying for pulling, top
ping and piling, why not, instead OF
paying a stipulated set sum per acre
for this work, say eight dollars al
low so much per ton instead OF
stated amount per acre. Supposing
that It is the same contracted labor
doing the topping as handled the
earlier operations OF the field, bunch
ing and thinning for instance. those
earlier operations are going to be
done with greater care If work at the
paid for by grades, as it were, and
obviously be to the laborer's advan-
tage to secure a perfect stand of
bccts when the highest priced opera
ton of the entire scason-topping-
is to have its payment based on con-
ditions almost entirely within his
control. In brief. you largely deter
mine the care and exactitude with
which the punching and thinning
shall be done by adopting the sliding
scale payment for the topping pro-
cess. Many time have I watched
these foreigners in the thinning act,
and with hardly an exception no eff
fort is made to guard the selected
beet by pressure with the fingers or
IN any way to preserve its roofing,
They usually snatch ont the undcsira-
bic hccts with haste; although I do
give them the credit Of leaving. in
most cases, the hcalthicst beet And
could we reasonably expect that this