346 Circular No. 5. 



will receive tillage. If weeds or grass appear in the row they 

 must be removed by hand. 



Thinning should be done as soon as four leaves are formed. 

 This work must not be delayed until the plants become of 

 considerable size or the roots will so interlace that injury will 

 be done to the ones we wish to leave. In thinning large areas 

 the work is done by chopping out with a hoe, leaving a bunch 

 every nine inches, and then thinning out the bunch by hand. 

 On these small plats the thinning would better all be done 

 by hand. Leave a strong, vigorous plant every nine or ten 

 inches. Press the earth firmly around the plants left but do 

 not hill up. The pressure should not be great enough to injure 

 the cells of the plant. 



Harvesting should be done before heavy frost. It also should 

 be done before the tops begin making a second growth. The 

 samples selected to be sent to Cornell University for analysis 

 should be of medium size, not the largest nor smallest but a good 

 average of the lot. The rows indicated in the diagram by the 

 solid black lines should be harvested before the main plats and 

 the beets removed. Then harvest and weigh each plat of four 

 rows. Take as a sample, five average sized beets, put them in a 

 sack and put in the sack with them the record as to culture and 

 yield of the plat. Tie the sack securely and put in a box. In 

 this way take and prepare samples of all the plats, putting in 

 the sack with the sample the record of the plat on which the 

 sample was grown. The following blank form may be used in 

 keeping and reporting the record of the plats : 



This is to be returned at the end of the season to Chief 

 Clerk, College of Agriculture, Ithaca, N. Y. 



Name of Experimenter 



Post Office 



County . . . . 



