626 HORTICULTURE, FORESTRY, FLORICULTURE 



the rates are usually not excessive; but it adds one more item to 

 the cost of production without materially decreasing the labor, since 

 the beets must be loaded into the wagon in the field and unloaded 

 into the car, which is often more difficult than unloading at the 

 factory. Unfortunately, but few of the railroads have cars suitable 

 for handling beets. At some points where beets might otherwise be 

 grown to advantage it is quite impossible to get suitable sidings upon 

 which the cars may be loaded, or even to get the necessary cars for 

 transporting the crop. These difficulties, however, are gradually dis- 

 appearing, and the sugar-beet industry is making headway in im- 

 proved railroad facilities and in improved highways, both of which 

 mean much to the general farmer who has many things to transport 

 in addition to his beets. 



The particular field upon which sugar beets are to be grown 

 should be easily accessible, so that the beets may be hauled out with- 

 out any special difficulty. It should be comparatively level, espe- 

 cially if it is to be irrigated. Fields not sufficiently level for irriga- 

 tion may often be made so, provided the soil is of adequate depth to 

 permit of leveling the knolls without laying bare the hardpan. In 

 the valleys where irrigation is necessary, the fertile soil is fortunately 

 of considerable depth. Hillsides should not be planted to sugar 

 beets, for the reason that the plants do not prevent the field from 

 washing. An attempt to grow beets in such a location, even though 

 the soil itself were suitable, would not only result in a failure of the 

 crop, but would also seriously injure the field for succeeding crops. 

 Light sandy fields should be avoided, not only because the soil is 

 unsuited for sugar-beet production, but because the sand is likely to 

 be blown over the young beets and smother them. A low, wet field 

 should not be used for sugar beets until it has been properly drained. 

 (Y. B. 1903.) 



Rotation of Crops. The continued planting of any soil to the 

 same crop will have the same effect on irrigated as on unirrigated 

 land, the beet crop particularly being a heavy drain on soil fertility. 

 Rotation, therefore, is an absolute necessity in maintaining the soil 

 at its full productive capacity. This has been realized in all of the 

 older beet-growing districts, and gradually a system is being evolved 

 which will give satisfactory results. Alfalfa, the principal crop 

 throughout the irrigated areas of the West, is the plant most used in 

 rotation. It not only fertilizes the soil by its nitrogen-absorbing 

 properties, but is deep-rooted and yields good returns. Methods of 

 rotation as practiced in Idaho, Utah, and Colorado vary somewhat, 

 but the best practice is very similar throughout and consists in the 

 planting of beets for two or three years, depending on the fertility 

 of the soil, followed by grain, which produces a heavy rank crop 

 after beets, then alfalfa, or alfalfa with a nurse crop of oats. The 

 planting of alfalfa with a grain nurse crop the first year after beets 

 is not advocated, as the grain grows very rank and does not give the 

 alfalfa much chance to develop, so the planting of alfalfa in the sec- 

 ond! year, with or without a nurse crop, is the best practice. The 

 alfalfa is allowed to remain two to four years, three being the most 



