60 STATE BOARD OF AGRICULTURE. 



Mr. Woodrow, agriculturist of the Detroit Sugar Company, kindly ex- 

 plained his method of pitting which is simple and satisfactory. Having 

 selected a handy place for the pit where drainage may readily be provided 

 two stakes are set to indicate the ends of the proposed pit. These stakes 

 are set ten feet apart. They serve as guides for the plowman who throws 

 a furrow towards the center, so adjusted that the space between the 

 upturned slices is about six feet across. The furrow slices serve to keep 

 the beets in bounds when forked from the wagon. The open furrows 

 provide drainage; they should be extended beyond the lower end of the 

 pit as far as is necessary. Each day a portion of the pit should be com- 

 pleted. The beets are heaped up as high as they will lie nicely, about 

 four feet, and immediately covered. Next to the beets a little marsh 

 hay may be placed, or a thin sod may be obtained by the plow. If the 

 pit is made on sod ground, the sod, laid grass side down, serves admirably 

 to keep the covering soil from falling among the beets. On either side 

 xOf the pit a board, an old fence board will do, is laid lengthwise. The 

 ridge space above the boards, perhaps eighteen inches across, is covered 

 by hay, stalks or tops. The purpose of the boards projecting at the pit 

 ends is to admit of hitching a team to the frozen crust when opening the 

 pit. A few strokes of a pick cracks the cover and the team does the rest. 

 The work of opening the pit is thus done cheaply and cleanly. 



When the storage pit is made, if the weather is yet warm, only a light 

 cover of soil is placed over the beets. The ridge space is never covered by 

 soil, for the beets require ventilation. As the weather grows cold, soil to 

 a depth of eight inches should be shoveled upon the pits. This may 

 readily be provided by plowing. 



A good pit has a smooth, hard bottom. If this condition does, not 

 already exist it may be brought about by i)lowing and working the area 

 to be used for the purpose. The time and energy saved when the pits are 

 opened will pay for the pains taken. 



Under favorable conditions, Mr. Woodrow says it has cost only 4e a 

 ton to pit beets and less than 25c a ton to pit them and deliver them on 

 the car afterwards. 



If the harvest can take place when the ground is dry, it is done pleas- 

 antly and at the minimum of expense. The tare runs low ; but little dead- 

 head weight has to be handled. Good beets properly pitted come out with 

 diminished tare, but where the work has been carelessly done, the heaps 

 made small and soil allowed to run among the beets, where it freezes tp 

 them, the results are disappointing. The grower does not like to haul 

 dirt, and the sugar companies do not intend to pay for it at beet rates. 



The necessity for storing a portion of the crop is somewhat of an advan- 

 tage to the growers since it prolongs the season of delivery till after Jack 

 Frost has built a macadam road to every grower's door. The advantage 

 is with the man whose storage pit is readily accessible so that maximum 

 loads may be hauled, and even after winter sets in, his team may con- 

 tinue earning good wages. 



By every process of hauling, the grower experiences a loss of weight as 

 compared \vith the fresh beets. This is in part made good by the increase 

 in the sugar content provided the grower does not sell on the flat rate 

 plan. Those Miio have occasion to store a part of the crop will likely find 

 it to their advantage to keep the beets from freezing, at least till the pits 

 are opened. In this connection *a word from Mr. Newton Burns, of St. 

 Louis, will be of interest. 



