Iron County record. [volume] (Cedar City, Utah) 1893-1982, 1910-10-14
TO IRRIGATE BETS
Well Equipped Farm Is Provided
With Necessary Machinery.
After Seeding Is Done Most Important
Factor is Furrowlng Out for
Irrigation Implements
and Methods.


The well-eQulpped sugar beet farm
Is provided with a lot of machinery
that becomes an absolute necessity
After The seeding is done the most
important thing is the furrowing out
for irrigation. One good scheme is to
use n sled made of exc inch timbers
forty-two inches long as runners.
spaced wide enough to straddle two
rows. writes +. W. Roeding in Field
and Fancy. These timbers are set to
run on edge and are sharpened at the
forward point and armed with old fur
rowing shovels which about At them.
The runners are securely spiked to-
gether at the back end with two-inch
planks upon which the driver rides
and are connected In front by a 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 it's line.
This implement makes a smooth,
even furrow without clods to interrupt
the flow. With II 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 az 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, Ave
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 a 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, cultivation with deer or bull
tongues In the middles to loosen the
packed soil will be found helpful, as II
permits the making of good. deep fur
rows and overcomes the resistance
Which a dry, packed soil has to water,
When furrowed out with the sled a
deep smooth runway for the water is
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 blowing out a 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