THE IRRIGATION AGE. 



centage of sugar to be obtained from either sugar 

 cane or beets, as the case may be. To discover the 

 chemical process by which nature converts glucose 

 into sucrose has ever been the despair of chemists. 

 In the Hawaiian islands, sugar cane depending upon 

 natural moisture yields a larger percentage of sugar 

 in sections where the rainfall comes regularly in the 

 spring and fall than it does in sections where the 

 rainfall is distributed throughout the year. In irri- 

 gated sections sugar cane yields a still larger per- 

 centage in sugar, but great care is taken in irrigating. 

 During the first half of its growth the plant is given 

 a very large amount of water and the growth forced 

 as much as possible, and no practical sugar planter 

 would ever think of irrigating his fields during the 

 latter months of their growth, no matter how much 

 the plant appeared to need water. There is prob- 

 ably not one sugar planter in ten that could give the 

 reason for this. If asked, he would very likely reply 

 that it would be expensive to irrigate the field, as the 

 cane had covered the ground, and that the plant 

 would live until harvest time. 



Sugar beets in California seldom receive any rain 

 irom planting to harvesting, yet they yield a larger 

 percentage in sugar than beets do elsewhere, and are 

 ready to be gathered fully a month earlier than in 

 any other beet-sugar section in the world. The soil 

 of California retains moisture in a most remarkable 

 manner. The young plant draws heavily upon the 

 moisture deposited in the winter and grows very 

 rapidly. During the latter part of its growth the 

 plant practically receives no moisture and the forma- 

 tion of sucrose is not interfered with by summer 

 showers, as it is in almost every other beet-sugar 

 section. 



I do not claim any special knowledge of the sub- 

 ject and know very little about beet-sugar culture. 

 I do not even know the methods now employed in ir- 

 rigating beets, but if I were placed in a position 

 where it became necessary for me to plant, care for 

 and harvest a beet crop by irrigation, my judgment 

 would naturally lead me to pursue a course about as 

 follows : 



(1) I would select land which retained moisture 

 well; (2) give it a deep plowing and a very thorough 

 preliminary cultivation; (3) I would then flood the 

 land, if possible, letting the water run for 36 or 48 

 hours, or until the land is well saturated ; (4) after the 

 surface has dried out to some extent, plant the seed; 

 (5) during the first half of the growing season I would 

 give the plant all the water it will stand, forcing the 

 growth as much as possible. I should give it a little 

 less water, however, with each irrigation. (6) Dur- 

 ing the last half of the growing season I would give 

 the plant no water whatever. If the land will not 

 sustain plant life for this length of time without addi- 



tional irrigation, I should not regard the soil as suit- 

 able for beet culture. 



I sincerely hope these off-hand suggestions may 

 not lead beet farmers into error, but I should very 

 much like to have the experiment tried. I firmly be- 

 lieve that under some such system irrigated beets 

 will yield a larger percentage in sucrose than is now 

 obtained from non-irrigated beets. If anyone takes 

 the trouble to experiment upon the lines here sug- 

 gested I sincerely hope the results will be published 

 in THE AGE for the benefit of the irrigation world. 



PLANT FOOD. 



There are few more unpromising looking substances, 

 from a farmer's point of view, than granite, gneiss 

 and porphyry hard volcanic rocks, all of them. 

 Nevertheless, says E. M. Skeats, of New Mexico, 

 it is to these we owe two of the most useful soil 

 ingredients, viz. : potash, a valuable plant food, and 

 clay, the great reservoir of plant food and moisture. 



One of the chief constituents of the above named 

 rocks is a substance termed feldspar, a compound of 

 silica, alumina and potash. As the rock is acted upon 

 by rain holding carbonic acid in solution, and by 

 frosts, it is slowly disintegrated, the potash is dis- 

 solved and the silica and alumina left as a fine 

 powder kaolin, or pure clay. This pure clay, with 

 iron, lime and magnesia, constitutes the ordinary clay 

 which forms an important part of the soil. Seeing 

 that clay and potash, then, have the same primal 

 source, we might expect to find them together, and 

 as a rule where we find a clay soil we find potash in 

 plenty. 



The soil of many portions of the arid regions may 

 be said to be a varying mixture of fine sand and clay 

 the alumina (index of the clay) varying in the 

 samples analyzed from 3% per cent, to 7% per cent., 

 and as a rule the larger percentage of alumina has 

 been accompanied with a larger percentage of potash. 



The sandy soils containing the smaller amount of 

 potash are not of wide extent ; they are mostly in 

 regions where sand drifts have accumulated and are 

 largely made by blown sand. If we exclude these, 

 then the soils apparently are well off for potash, 

 and except for crops which require large amounts 

 near the surface, this fertilizer need not be added. 

 For crops such as pasture, clover, turnips and per- 

 haps potatoes, an addition of potash in the top soil 

 would, no doubt, increase the yield, and wood ashes, 

 which contain much potash, would serve the purpose 

 as well as anything else. 



In no case, however, be the land ever so rich, 

 should wood ashes, or indeed any kind of manure, be 

 wasted. We must remember that for every ton of 

 dry alfalfa, for instance, that is sold off the farm the 



