EXPERIMENT STATION BULLETINS. 



313 



The season was unusually cool and wet. July was so very wet that 

 it was impossible to get on the beet field with a cultivator. In August, 

 the showers were fairly well distributed and the crop suffered from no 

 lack of moisture. September was warm with almost continuous sun- 

 shine, giving just the conditions required to develop the sugar in the 

 beets. The second week in October was wet and the days following 

 warm and murky. It was necessary therefore to harvest the beets at 

 once to prevent a second growth and a consequent lessening of the per 

 cent of sugar. 



The deep preparation of the ground and subsequent thorough cultiva- 

 tion up to the time of thinning had left the soil in such fine tilth that 

 the beets grew well below the surface as shown in the annexed cut (Fig. 

 6). The importance of this matter of having the soil soft and porous to a 



Fig. 6.— Correct position of a mature beet in the soil. Wiley, 

 Farmers' Bulletin, 52, United States Department of Agiiculture. 



good depth cannot be exaggerated. In some parts of the plots the hard 

 subsoil was not thoroughly broken up by the subsoil plow. In these 

 places the beets, instead of having the desired long conical form, were 

 short and almost spherical in general contour, with large branching 

 roots. Such beets would not be received by a factory, and would there- 

 fore be worthless in the hands of the farmer growing the crop for sugar 

 making purposes. 



The beets were harvested October 16. A plow was run alongside each 

 row and close to it, throwing the soil away and leaving the beets stand- 

 40 



