The Ordway new era., 1910-09-09
TO IRRIGATE BEETS
Land Must Be Prepared for Wa.
ter by Ridging the Rows.
Care 10 Necessary In Arrangement Of
Distributing Laterals So That Wa
ter viii Not Need to Flow
Too Great Distance.

tBy ALVIN KEYsER,. Colorado Agricui-
tural College)
When the condition Of the sugar
beet crop makes 1t unwise to longer
withhold the water. the land must be
prepared for irrigation by ridging the
rows. This Is done by regular ditch
ing shovels which come as regular at
tachments to the beet cultivators.
The process Of ridging has been va
riously called ridging. ditching and
furrowing. In some few localities the
bitches are logged out" SO that
smoother ditch results. enabling the
irrigator to better control the flow OF
water. This Is done by dragging q log
down the ditch or furrow. In the
Arkansas valley ditching sled 10
sometimes used to both make the
ditch and to smooth the bottom. A
sled is made of hewn logs or by 9
timbers. sharpened at the bottom and
having ditching or furrowing shovel
attached to the front end Of each
runner. The shovels do the furrowing
and the runners which are 81 to
feet long. log out" the furrow.
The ridging should be quite heavy,
so that a strong ditch will be formed
between the rows. This will not be
very difficult II the cultivation has al
ready performed a part Of the ridging.
II the cultivation has been shallow,
the ground may be SO hard and dry
under the shallow soil mulch that the
ditching shovels will not furrow deep
enough in spite OF the best effort to
do SO. In this case the soil should be
opened and broken up by a deep cul-
tivation with a small tooth cultivator.
After such a cultivation. the ditching
may be successfully done.
With the land properly ridged and
the crop advanced to the proper state
of root growth. everything Is ready
for irrigation. Care is necessary In
the arrangement of the distributing
laterals so that the water will not
need to flow too far. An extremely
long flow will unduly wet the upper
or receiving ends of the rows before
the lower or discharging ends have
received enough water. When all Is
ready. the water Is turned into the
ditches between the rows. The flow
should be regulated SO as to prevent
surface flooding. On heavy land. the
head may be much less than on sandy
land as the soil takes water more
slowly.
The first watering should be given
more painstaking care than need be
given any subsequent irrigation.
Every effort should be employed to
prevent over-irrigation. II conditions
permit. deep. thorough cultivation
should follow the first irrigation az
soon as the surface has dried sum.
ciently. Over.irrigation. for the first
water application. seems to be moro
apt to injure the crop than too heavy
irrigation applied later. When enough
water has been added to supply the
capillary capacity Of the soil. irriga-
ton should stop. Soil filled with wa
ter to the saturation point loses all its
air. Pudding may result on the
heavier lands. which will almost en-.
tirely stop further growth. Then a
soil too wet. produces a watery beet
of low sugar content and frequently
very low purity.
In order to ripen the beet properly.
irrigation should cease at least
month before harvest time. II the
irrigation has been properly managed.
the soil will contain water enough to
properly carry the crop for this length
Of time.