FARMERS' INSTITUTES. 21 



THE SOIL FOR THE BEET FIELD— ITS PREPARATION AND 



PLANTING. 



BY COLON C. LILLIE, COOPERSVILLE. 



Not all soils are adapted to the best development of the sugar beet. 

 Hard clajs, light sands and muck soils should be avoided. Beets will 

 not do well on any of them. A sandv loam with enouoh clay to hold 

 moisture will probably be the best soil. A clay loam is good" but a 

 little hard to work. However, beets will grow on any good soil that will 

 produce clover, wheat, and corn. 



It is not good farming to grow beets on the same field year after' 

 year, hence they must be grown on every field of the farm in a rotation 

 of crops. I am not fully satisfied yet just where the best crop should 

 come in the rotation, — after corn, after oats or after clover. This is a 

 question that can be determined only by experience in growing the 

 crop for several years. 



I am of the opinion that it will pay us to select portions of a field 

 best adapted for beets for this crop and devote the portion not adapted 

 to some other crop. The soil on many of our farms in Michigan' varies 

 so much in character from sand knolls to clay knolls that no one method 

 will usually pay. We want a good crop of beets if we make them pay. 

 There is such an expense for labor in this crop that a portion of the 

 field not adapted to their growth will cut down the profits. Rough 

 hilly portions of the farm should not be planted to beets because beet 

 machinery cannot well be operated on this kind of land. 



The preparation of the soil. — Extra pains must be taken to secure a 

 good seed bed. The surface must be fine and mellow and free from lumps 

 and clods. The land should be plowed deep and yet if the land has 

 been plowed shallow it is not policy to plow deep all at once. The 

 low subsoil turned up is not a good soil for beets. Better plow deep 

 gradually bringing up a little of the subsoil at a time and allow this to 

 thoroughly weather before more is plowed up. 



Fall plowing is undoubtedly the best as it has a chance to weather 

 during the winter but many of the best growers plow almost entirely in 

 the spring. Spring plowing should be done as early as possible so the 

 land may settle down and be in good shape to hold moisture. 



In preparing the seed bed shallow cultivation is better than deep. It 

 is not policy to loosen the ground to too great a depth. The surface 

 should be fine but compact to insure germination. A float and a level- 

 ing harrow should be used in preference to deep cultivation. On fall 

 plowed land, of course, the cultivator or disc or cut-away harrow is 

 necessary. , 



Soiving the seed. — Beets, as a rule should be planted early. May first, 

 or in April, even, is none too early and yet where one grows a large 

 acreage they should not all be put in at one time in order to avoid 



