New York Agricultural Experiment Station. 589 



SOIL, PLANTING AND CULTIVATION. 



The field selected for the experiment with sugar beets is a clay 

 loam bordering on what is usually termed heavy, having a ten- 

 dency to " puddle " when overcharged with moisture, and to 

 cake or crust over when quickly dried by a hot sun and wind. 

 If not disturbed in times of drought it will soon seam or crack 

 open. 



These features are characteristic of a large portion cf the farm 

 lands of this section, and render the growing of small seed crops 

 more difficult and expensive than on sandy or porous loams. 



From a farmer's point of view, this soil would be considered to 

 be in a good state of cultivation and fertility. The crops in the 

 rotation that have been grown on it during the past ten years 

 have yielded fully up to, if not above, the average of the farm 

 lands in this section of the State. 



The two-acre plat which was selected had been used for fertil- 

 izer experiments with potatoes in 1896. 



On May 7 and 8 the land was ploughed and subsoiled to the 

 depth of fourteen inches, and the surface was worked down with 

 epringtooth harrow, followed by a Thomas smoothing harrow, 

 and finished by rolling. 



On May 11, after working down with the springtooth harrow, 

 and before smoothing, 950 pounds per acre of the following mix- 

 ture of commercial fertilizers was sown broadcast: 



Sulphate of potash 250 pounds, 50 per cent K o O 



Acid rock 300 pounds, 14 per centP205 



Dried blood 200 pounds, 10 per cent N. 



Nitrate of soda 200 pounds, 15 per cent N. 



Total 950 pounds. 



After the fertilizer had been sown and thoroughly worked in, 

 the ground was smoothed and rolled. A marker to be drawn by 

 one horse was then constructed from an old corn marker so that 

 five rows could be lined out at one time, at a distance of twenty 

 inches apart. 



