SUGAR BEET FOR STOCK FEEDING. 267 



liberal application of farm-yard manure, at least twenty-five [two 

 horse] loads per acre. I have generally practiced plowing in the 

 manure. From some recent experiments, applying the manure on 

 the surface after plowing, mixing it thoroughly with the soil by 

 the use of the harrow, I am inclined to favor surface manuring, 

 especially if the manure is fine and well rotted. 



Were it not so important to save labor in producing all farm 

 crops, I would recommend for the beet crop applying one-half of 

 the manure before plowing, and the other half at the time of sow- 

 ing, as a top-dressing. Land should be plowed in the fall. This 

 is very necessary if the soil contains much clay, as the action of 

 the frost will mellow it. If, on the stiffer soil, plowing is deferred 

 until spring, it will turn up a cloddy surface, which is difficult to 

 reduce and make mellow and which is a great hindrance to a 

 proper cultivation of this crop. Then again, owing to the early 

 period at which the beet should be sown, it is important that the 

 work of preparation should, as much as possible, be done in the 

 fall. Fresh manure in a long state will obstruct the tap-root, and 

 thus induce a development of fuzzy lateral roots, much to the 

 injury of the crop. The use of coarse manure, therefore, should 

 be avoided. Stones should be removed, and the soil in prepara- 

 tion for sowing, and in its after culture, should be minutely divided 

 and pulverized, as this is one chief means of inducing fertility. 

 Roots need a more thorough preparation of the land than most of 

 the hoed crops, — such as drainage, removal of stones, deep tillage, 

 &c. It has been my practice, when once fitted, to continue to 

 raise beets on the same land for successive years. I know it is 

 generally thought that, except in the case of onions, you cannot 

 take crops of the same kind from a field in successive seasons, 

 without a manifest falling off in the product ; that all plants exhaust 

 the soil, each in its own way, of the specific food suited to its 

 wants ; that to preserve its fertility a system of rotation must be 

 pursued. But I can show land in my immediate neighborhood 

 that has been cropped to beets for thirty successive years, and in 

 many instances from ten to fifteen years, and invariably with 

 increased crops, reaching in several instances in 1869 thirty 

 tons per acre. 



When the autumnal preparation, such as manuring and plow- 

 ing, has been done, the spring preparations are very readily made. 

 Harrow the grouud thoroughly until mellow, ridge with the double 

 mouldboard plow, making the ridges thirty inches apart — flat down 



