Preparation of Seed-Bed and Planting 109 



made any careful investigations in which costs have been 

 figured. All seem agreed that for beets deep plowing is 

 desirable, since the expanding roots require a soil that 

 may be moved readily; but just what deep plowing is 

 seems to be entirely a matter of local judgment. In one 

 place twelve inches would be called deep plowing; in 

 another locality nothing less than eighteen or twenty 

 inches would be so designated. 



Ordinarily where mechanical traction power is available, 

 the land is plowed deeper than where horse power is de- 

 pended on. In some sections an attempt is made to plow 

 all beet land twenty to twenty-four inches deep. Other 

 sugar-beet areas find half this depth ample. The nature 

 of the soil and other local conditions are doubtless im- 

 portant considerations in this connection. The length 

 of time the land has been cultivated must also be taken 

 into consideration. It would most likely be unwise to 

 plow land twenty inches deep when it had previously 

 been plowed only eight inches. The amount of raw soil 

 thus turned up would probably render the land almost 

 wholly unproductive the first year, particularly if the 

 deeper soil were heavy and compact. 



The use of the subsoil plow was highly recommended 

 for sugar-beets in the early days of the industry in America, 

 but now there is little said of it. In some areas it doubt- 

 less pays to subsoil, but usually subsoiling cannot be recom- 

 mended as a regular practice in connection with plowing. 

 In digging beets the land is in reality subsoiled; this is 

 ordinarily all that is necessary. In some soils that have 

 never produced beets, a subsoiling would probably be 

 beneficial, but it certainly is not necessary to success in 



