Preparation of Seed-Bed and Planting 111 



whether disk harrow, spring-tooth harrow, spike-tooth 

 harrow, float, or roller should be used. Often a combina- 

 tion of several of these implements is required to secure 

 satisfactory results. 



It must be remembered that the young beet seedling 

 is extremely tender, and too much care cannot be given 

 to prepare the land for its initial growth. Thorough 

 disking, harrowing, and floating are the successive steps 

 usually followed. The float may often be followed to 

 advantage by some implement to firm the soil just below 

 the surface, for sugar-beet seed is not planted deep. A 

 number of good implements are available for this firming. 

 Finally, a light harrowing makes a thin surface mulch 

 and kills the weeds that are newly germinated. The 

 weed problem must be kept definitely in mind in this final 

 preparation, because if all the weeds are not killed about 

 the time the beet seed is planted, they will get ahead of 

 the beets and cause much trouble. Weeds are most easily 

 killed just when they are starting. The land cannot be 

 harrowed after the beets are planted; and by the time 

 they are high enough to cultivate, the weeds may have 

 a good start. , 



Rolling the land is often practiced to make the surface 

 smooth and to break clods. Compacting the surface soil 

 with the roller increases capillary movement toward the 

 surface, thereby hastening the loss of moisture. The fact 

 that the soil seems more moist after a roller is used often 

 misleads farmers into thinking they are actually saving 

 water. Probably the farmer is, under certain conditions, 

 justified in sacrificing part of the moisture in the soil in 

 order to secure a better germination than is likely to follow 



