108 CULTURE OF THE SUGAR BEET. 



report of the proceedings ; and I therefore present below a translation 

 thereof: 



M. Boursier said that it is, above all, necessary to work the ground and put it in 

 such condition that it may be at the same time permeable and firm enough to adhere 

 to the roots. This is effected by deep plowing, and energetic harrowing and rolling. 

 It would, nevertheless, be useful to elucidate this point, whether it is better to give a 

 single deep plowing in autumn, followed by cultures with the scarifier and the harrow 

 in spring, or to give several plowings, the first in advance of winter and the second 

 immediately preceding sowing. For himself he considered it better to give a single 

 deep plowing in the fall or winter. 



M. Debains prefers the system which consists in first giving a plowing to break up 

 the stubble, followed by another to bury the manure, and finally a third before sowing. 



M. Blin said there was no necessity to have an absolute system with this regard. 

 It would be dangerous to give a deep plowing to land having a shallow stratum of 

 arable soil. 



M. Decrombecque had not adopted deep plowing, for the nature of his soils 

 would not permit it ; but in order to submit the greatest possible surface of soil to the 

 beneficial atmospheric influences, he practiced the method of ridging. 



M. Boursier explained that by deep plowing he did not mean absolutely to say 14 to 

 16 inches ; plowing is considered deep when it exceeds by 1 or 2 inches that of pre- 

 ceding culture. A plowing of 10 inches would be deep in ground which had never 

 been broken up more than 8 inches; the depth is modified according to the soil. 



M. Demot called attention to the excellent effects of breaking up without displacing 

 the subsoil (i. c, subsoiling). With this system the production is sensibly increased. 

 The use of the draining plow should be strong! y recommended. 



M. le. Vte. de Chezelle called attention to the favorable effect of deep plowing shown 

 by the vegetation on the sides of ditches opened for drainage. 



M. X. responded that this fact does not constitue an argument in favor of 



deep plowing. In fact, in drainage the vegetal earth is always returned to the top, 

 while plowing brings the subsoil to the surface, and if this is not vegetal (fertile) it is 

 evident that the operation is defective. He also insisted upon the use of the draining 

 plow. 



M. Barral recoguized the fact that deepening the arable layer is always advantage- 

 ous in the long run, and he recommended attacking the subsoil only with precaution, 

 and after taking into account its chemical composition. In this connection, as in the 

 most of agricultural questions, it is impossible to fix an absolute principle, and it is 

 always necessary to take account of circumstances. Besides it cannot be denied that 

 the beet is one of the jdants for which the depth of the arable layer is of the greatest 

 importance. 



M. de Rouge" has proven the excellent effects of deep plowing upon the poor clay 

 soils of the extremity of the Aisne. Like M. Boursier, he counseled plowing in autumn. 

 During the winter the land to be sown in the spring should be impregnated with the 

 substances of the air and submitted to the favorable atmospheric influences. Broad 

 furrows should be made in the first plowings given in autirmn, because the more 

 the earth is formed of large lumps, the more the frost may penetrate by the wide 

 spaces which separate them. 



M. Ch. Gossin remarks two unfortunate effects in the plowing which immediately 

 precedes sowing the beet. 1. This plowing stirs up the soil in the interior. Now, the 

 beet does not like light soils. 2. By this plowing we bring to the surface a quantity 

 of bad seeds, which germinate at the same time as the beet, and cover the ground 

 with weeds, while if the ground be plowed in the fall, the seeds which germinate in 

 the early spring are killed in the operations of culture which precede sowing. There- 

 fore in the triple regard of contact, of atmospheric agents, of the mellowness and inter- 

 nal cohesion of the soil and cleanliness of the ground, fall or winter plowing should be 

 advised. 



