STATE AGRICULTURAL SOCIETY. 295 



they are enriched hy the inundations. Beets require to be planted on 

 thoroughly cultivated land in which the sods are entirely rotted." 



The beet is generally cultivated in rotation with other crops, the same 

 ground being successively sown with beets the first and second }-ears, 

 wheat the third, clover the fourth, and oats the fifth. When manure is 

 more sparingly used, a rotation of crops every four years is practiced; 

 the yearly order being beets, wheat, clover and oats. 



METHODS OF CULTIVATION. 



Beets are grown in two principal ways, in drills and in hills. The 

 latter method has of late years been much practiced in Europe, and is 

 attended with highly satisfactory results. In drill cultivation the Dom- 

 basle plough, drawn b} r ten oxen on heavy and by eight oxen on light 

 soils, is used. The depth of the furrow is never less than twenty-eight 

 or thirty centimetres, and frequent^ thirty or thirty-five when the soil 

 is of such a character as to permit of it. A furrow of this depth allows 

 the root to strike deeply; and though the formation of the furrow 

 requires the exercise of considerable power, yet it brings to the surface 

 in places where good soil is scarce, the argillaceous subsoil, which on 

 coming in contact with the air is fertilized and improved by mixing with 

 the vegetable soil and manure, the depth of the fertile ground at the 

 same time being increased. 



Argillaceous soils are all twice ploughed before winter, and must be 

 ready before the heavy frosts. It has been noticed that after thawing 

 these soils become very friable, and that part of a field which is ploughed 

 before the frost yields a crop far superior to that part of the same field 

 ploughed in the spring. Light soils are ploughed in the spring, when 

 manure can be more freely used, large quantities being produced during 

 factory work, which lasts from September fifteenth till January thirty- 

 first, during which time the largest number of oxen are fattened. The 

 same methods of tillage are employed on soils on which oats have been 

 sown the year before, and on which a crop of beets is to be grown, as 

 on those which have grown one crop of beets and are to be again planted 

 for a second crop. 



Manuring. 



As soon as harvest is over manure is hauled from the stables to the 

 fields, at the rate from fifty to sixty cubic metres to the hectare, on 

 soils on which oats have been grown, and which are to be planted with 

 beets On soils on which a second crop of beets is to be raised the 

 same amount of manure should be used, although growers are often 

 obliged to content themselves with less. Stiff and clayey soils are first 

 manured and ploughed, and the ploughing should commence as soon as 

 the manure is spread over the ground, the weather permitting, in order 

 to have it perfectly mixed with the whole mass of earth. 



Cultivation In Drills. 



When the ground is suitably prepared by ploughing, the sowing is 

 done in drills, about sixty-five or seventy-five centimetres apart, by 

 means of a wheelbarrow drill, or horse machine, which facilitates the 

 subsequent operations of hoeing and digging. Hoeing is very impor- 

 tant, for if the weeds are not torn out in time the tender beet will be 

 soon overgrown and killed. Digging must be done also, without delay, 



