222 CAMPBELL'S SOIL CULTURE MANUAL 



pense will be entailed aside from the danger to the crop. 

 The seed bed should only be made when the land is moist 

 and in order that the land may not dry before seeding, no 

 more land should be prepared than can be seeded each day. 



Seeding In order to secure a good yield, a good stand 

 is necessary. To do this not less than twenty pounds of 

 seed to the acre should be planted. The time of planting 

 varies a little with the season, but April and May are the 

 usual planting months. Beet drills built expressly for the 

 irrigated country may be secured to do this seeding. 



Cultivation Cultivation answers two very important 

 purposes, the loosening of the crust after irrigation or rain, 

 and the preservation of the moisture in the ground. Special 

 one horse cultivators are used for cultivating beet fields. 

 A field should always be cultivated as soon after an irri- 

 gation or rain as possible in order to break the crust which 

 has formed and allow the plant to grow and breathe, and 

 at the same time it serves to kill the young weeds as they 

 come up between the rows. 



Thinning Thinning of the beets takes place usually 

 about four weeks after seeding, when the young plant 

 shows four well developed leaves above the ground. In 

 thinning great care should be exercised in the proper 

 spacing and also the selection of the hardiest plant to be 

 left in the ground; also to see that the plants that are left 

 are disturbed as little as possible. Thinning done at the 

 right time means a great deal towards securing a heavy 

 tonnage and sweet beets. 



Hoeing In case the ground is very foul part of the 

 field, if not all, may have to be hoed before cultivation 

 takes place. This hoeing should be done carefully so as 

 not to disturb the young beet plant. 



