State Agricultural Society. 465 



THE PROPER SOIL. 



All land to be used for the growing of the beet for sugar making — 

 whether it be a sandy loom, calcareous, argillaceous, or of any other 

 character — must be free from saline and alkaline constituents. The 

 beet root is a great absorbent of these constituents, and if planted in 

 soils having these salts preponderating to any great extent, will always 

 secrete these salts, to the great prejudice of the saccharine or sugar 

 making quality of the root. The beet will thrive and grow well upon 

 these alkaline soils, and, if grown for stock feed, will produce more 

 pounds to the acre than if grown on sweet land. It has been fully 

 demonstrated that this variet} r of beet, whether grown for sugar or stock 

 feed, is far above any other variet3 r in value. The growing of the beet 

 upon these saline and alkaline soils is the most perfect and cheapest 

 method of reclaiming them from these destructive mineral salts. The 

 rankest alkaline lands, after being cropped three successive years with 

 the beet, will become kind and sweet, and will thenceforth produce 

 heavy crops of wheat, barley, and corn, and is also well adapted for 

 orchard planting, and whoever has this character of land to cultivate 

 can make it profitable to raise beets for stock feed, and at the same time 

 reclaim his land for any other agricultural pursuit. A deep, rich, sand- 

 alluvial soil, with an open porous subsoil, is the very best land to pro- 

 duce the most favorable results in the cultivation of the sugar beet, both 

 as to quantity and quality. Other soils, however, are well adapted to 

 the culture of the root. Clay and sand, at the same time somewhat 

 calcareous, deeply plowed, and finely pulverized, will give good results. 

 Argillaceous soil, heavy and stiff, must be improved by draining, in 

 order to fit it for the cultivation of the beet. The root, however, on 

 these soils is liable to suffer from drought and wet. 



PLANTING AND CULTIVATION. 



There are two ways for planting the seed — in drills and in hills. In 

 Europe the latter method has been practiced of late years. In prepar- 

 ing the land for either method, it should be plowed deep during the 

 Winter — at least twelve inches. California has a vast advantage over 

 Northern Europe and the Atlantic States in this department of the 

 industry. There they are compelled to wait patiently for the Spring 

 thaw; here we can commence as soon as sufficient rain has fallen to 

 mellow the ground, and we can have our beets all planted before they 

 have got cleverly to work. All stiff calcareous and argillaceous soils 

 should be cross-plowed and thoroughly pulverized before planting. If 

 the planting is to be in drills, lay off the drills about thirty inches apart. 

 If the planting is not to be very extensive, it can be done with a com- 

 mon marker, with four to six teeth set thirty inches apart, and the seed 

 dropped very fast by hand through a long trumpet-shaped tube, large 

 at the mouth and small at the lower end, the planter walking alongside 

 of the drill and holding the lower end of the tube in the drill while 

 dropping the seed in at the mouth. If large fields are to be planted, it 

 will pay to get a large drill machine, worked by horse-power. The 

 planting with us should begin, if on upland valleys, about the middle o£ 

 January; if on- the low bottom lands, the middle of February is early 

 enough. The cultivation should be thoroughly done, both by horse and 

 hand'power. If the planting is to be in hills, the hill may be formed by 



