The Ordway new era., 1910-07-08
TO lRRICATE BEETS
Well Equipped Farm Is Provided
With Necessary Machinery.
After Seeding 10 Done Most Important
Factor 10 Furrowino Out for
irrigation - Implements
and Methods.

The well.equipped sugar beet farm
is provided with a lot of machinery
that becomes nm absolute necessity.
After the seeding is done the most
important thing Is the furrowing out
for irrigation. One good scheme Ia to
use a sled made of 6x6 inch timbers
forty-two Inches long as runners.
spaced wide enough to straddle two
rows. writes F. w. Roeding In Field
and Fancy. These timbers are set to
run on edge and are sharpened ut the
forward point and armed with old fur
rowing shovels which about fit them.
The runners are securely spiked to-
gether at the back end with twoinch
planks upon which the driver rides
and are connected in front by AKA
timber. to which the draft Is attached.
Either one or two horses are used.
two being preferable. as there is not
SO much danger OF the sled shifting
from its line.
This implement makes smooth.
even furrow without clods to interrupt
the flow. With 1t burrows can be
placed in alternate rows or every row
as desired. In the latter case fur.
rowed row would be straddled. More
runners could be placed on the sled to
furrow out more than two rows at
time. except that slight unevennesses
In the surface will prevent the ma.
king OF as good burrows. Smooth fur
rows, especially for irrigating up the
seed, are most essential and no other
implement can be secured to give as
good results as this homemade de-
vice. More crude forms are made OF
two straight limbs Of cottonwood. five
or six inches In diameter. for runners.
The two.row or four-row beet cult.
vator with long-winged furrowing
shovels attached is probably more
largely used in making burrows than
any other implement. Ten acres a
day can be covered with the four.row
cultivator and five acres with the two
row implement with one or two horses
and one man while preparing the field
with the furrowing sled after cultiva.
ton requires about two or three times
as much work. The advantage OF the
sled Is in the lesser cost of the i'm
plement. which Is n decided advan-
tage on small fields and the better
work in making burrows and dis
tributing water. II at the time OF irri-
CATION the soil has become dry and
hard. a cultivation with deer or bull
tongues in the middles to loosen the
packed soil will be found helpful. as 1t
permits the making Of good, deep fur.
rows and overcomes the resistance
which a dry. packed soil has to water.
th0 1nA a
deep. smooth runway for the water IL
| obtained.
When the burrows are made with
the furrowing shovel a deer tongue or
soil.loosening tool can be placed in
front of the furrowing shovels and
the whole operation completed at
once. After the rows have been fur
rowed out II Is necessary to prepare
head bitches from which water can be
turned into the burrows. This is ac-
complished by plowing out ditch
parallel to the field lateral which
serves the area. The head ditch is
then cut into sections with earth
dams, each section serving a certain
number of rows. according to the
grade of the ditch and connected by a
gate TO the lateral ditch. The bank
next to the burrows is cut for either
one or two burrows and the water
turned on.
BY having head bitches the water
can be we'll distributed and several
sections can be running at the same
time II there is sufficient water. The
amount allotted to each furrow should
be small SO that it will run slowly
and secure good saturation as well as
prevent wetting the soil over the
seed. At intervals of 300 to 500 feet
there should be cross bitches which
will intercept waste water from the
rows above them and also supply
water to the lengths of rows below. 1t
Is mistake to attempt to run water
the entire length OF a field II 1t is
more than 500 feet. as the upper end
will become too wet before the water
reaches the lower end. The slope
naturally determines the distance be-
tween cross bitches and where this Is
considerable they can be spaced at
greater intervals. but on flatter areas
800 feet or even less will be found suf-
fcient
Cross bitches are made by simply
plowing out dead burrows with a good
sized plow, either single or double
moldboard. If parallel head bitches
are placed along each cross ditch 1t
will result in the destruction of too
many beets. so that here the water is
run to the lowest point on the cross
ditch and turned into a section of
rows. When these are irrigated a
dam Is thrown in and the water d.
verted to the next section.