portant. If the proper amount of seed has been used there will be 

 a considerable excess of plants, due to the nearness of the seeds to one 

 another. A still further excess results from the fact that each partic- 

 ular seed contains from 1 to 6 germs, all of which are liable to ger- 

 minate. 



It is quite evident that, if all the germs in a single seed grow, 

 there is liable to be a bunch of several plants, standing very close 

 together, often intertwining and forming a network of rootlets. The 

 longer these plants are allowed to grow in this way the more com- 

 plex, difficult, and harmful becomes the process of removing the 

 superfluous plants. If this thinning is put off too long it disturbs the 

 position of the plants which are to remain, breaks their tender root- 

 lets, and materially and permanently injures them. Every effort 

 should be made to accomplish this thinning as quickly as possible. 

 A little money spent at this stage proves a very valuable investment 

 in the after stages of the plant. A beet grower should prepare him- 

 self beforehand, and be ready to accomplish this work quickly and 

 not allow it to drag along. With the best of intentions and prepara- 

 tions, he is liable to be more or less hampered by rains and other 

 difficulties, but he should not fail to exert his best efforts to get his 

 crop thinned as soon as possible after sufficiently matured for this 

 purpose. 



The process is known in the common parlance of the grower as 

 "blocking and thinning." Blocking is accomplished by a person 

 walking along the row with a short-handled hoe, sharp and of suffi- 

 cient width, cutting out part of the beets so as to leave bunches the 

 proper distance apart foi the plants in the row. Thinning is accom- 

 plished by a person creeping along on his hands and knees, and with 

 a deft movement of the hands and fingers removing all the plants in 

 the bunch except the one his eye selects as the strongest plant. This 

 all requires agility, attention, and industrious and laborious effort ; it 

 is in a sense a kind of cultivation, because all the soil is loosened 

 around the plant, and should be compressed around it again with the 

 hand before going on. Grass or weeds growing around the plants 

 should also be removed. (0. of E. S. Cir. 11.) 



Cultivation. The methods of cultivation are various. The ob- 

 ject sought is the elimination of the grass and weeds, the conservation 

 of moisture, and the loosening of the soil around the plants. Beets 

 must be kept clean. By this term in sugar-beet growing is meant 

 more than in corn growing. It is desired that these beets shall be 

 rich in sugar. The sun and air are the great reagents which ac- 

 complish this result in the beets. Weeds and grass must be elimin- 

 ated from the crop in order that this may be accomplished. Beets 

 are a vigorous crop, and they should have the full sustaining power 

 of the soil, and not divide it with waste plants and weeds. 



There is a wide difference between the methods of beet culture 

 employed in Germany and those employed in this country, and the 

 difference is not in our favor. In Germany a plan is outlined for 

 rotation which involves the manipulation of the land for a series of 

 years. This land is handled in such a way as to bring about the best 



