176 CALIFORNIA VEGETABLES 



Rotation. Beets make a strong draft on some components of 

 the soil, and it is a common experience that they should not be 

 grown year after year for a long period, but should take their place 

 in a rotation, in the course of which one or two crops of beets 

 should be followed by a crop of grain, and that if possible by a 

 leguminous plant like alfalfa or an annual legume like burr clover 

 used for pasturage, and then to beets again. Beets improve soil 

 for grain, because of the deep running of the root, and because beet 

 culture is not profitable without deep plowing and continuous sum- 

 mer cultivation. This deepens and cleans the land to the manifest 

 advantage of the grain crop, but still the beet reduces the plant food 

 in the soil and some change of crop should be made with reference 

 to its restoration, and this is the reason for the leguminous plant 

 and pasturage if possible. 



Planting. Sugar beets are grown in drills about eighteen to 

 twenty inches apart. Seeding is done with machines. Covering 

 should be as shallow as will bring the seed into soil, which will 

 remain moist; depth depends upon earliness of sowing, character 

 of soil, as already explained in other connections. Sometimes it is 

 desirable to cover as deeply as two inches; sometimes, and usually, 

 perhaps, one inch or a little less. In late sowings, when the sur- 

 face has become quite dry, an attachment to the drill which pushes 

 aside part of the dry surface and brings the seed into moist soil 

 without running too deep, has been found valuable. The greatest 

 care should be taken to have the rows straight. Possibly most beets 

 are grown in crooked rows, as it has long been said of corn, but 

 the whole after course of the field is improved by running the drill 

 straight. It is undesirable to have a rain just after planting, unless 

 the land is very light and dry. If crust forms it must be broken by 

 light harrowing or rolling. 



Cultivation. Weeds should never be allowed to get the start 

 of the young beets ; nor should the soil be allowed to lock them in 

 a hard surface. For this reason cultivation should begin as soon 

 as the rows can be seen. Very effective cultivators, or horse-hoes, 

 have been designed by California mechanics, which make it possible 

 to work two or four rows at once if the beets are in straight equi- 

 distant rows. This cultivation beginning thus early, must 

 be continued at frequent intervals, for the reasons already fully 

 given in the chapter on cultivation. Cultivation is absolutely essen- 

 tial to a good beet; not only must moisture be conserved, but the 



