172 IRRIGATION FARMING. 



to twenty pounds of seed. Any good garden drill 

 do, and grain drills can be used by closing soine of the 

 openings. The earth should be pressed close to the 

 seed by a following wheel with a two-inch tire, on the 

 principle of the press drills. The depressed seed row 

 acts as a catch basin for any slight rainfall, and at the 

 same time shelters the seed from drying winds. Rolling 

 the whole ground has proved injurious, as it brings all 

 the soil moisture to the surface to be swept away by the 

 dry wind. Seed drilled on ridges remains dry in the 

 arid climate until the furrows between are filled with 

 irrigation water. Cultivation tends to uncover the tops 

 of beets growing on these ridges, and the uncovered por- 

 tion is unfit for sugar. 



If the ground be so dry that the seed must be 

 irrigated it should not be flooded, for thereby many 

 seeds will be washed away and the sprouting seeds force 

 their way with difficulty through the resulting caked 

 surface. Shallow irrigating furrows should be made mid- 

 way between the rows, and the water will reach the seeds 

 by seepage. These furrows can be made at the time of 

 drilling by an attachment like a corn-row marker, which 

 could also be used separately after drilling. If the 

 ground is moist enough to bring up the seed, the irri- 

 gating furrows need not be made until the operation will 

 kill many sprouting weed seeds. Further cultivation 

 can be done with a hand hoe or the many forms of gar- 

 den and horse cultivators. Tlie soil should be kept mel- 

 low. The more cultivation the more sugar. Hilling is 

 not necessary, as good varieties of sugar beets grow very 

 little root above ground. "When the beets have from 

 four to six leaves they should be thinned to single plants 

 four to eight inches apart in the row. Thin to four 

 inches in very rich ground and to more than eight inches 

 in very poor ground. The long roots of the beets gather 

 so much moisture from the subsoil that they require 1 less 



