THE BEET SUGAR INDUSTRY. 191 



tl-ese improved methods and with an ordinary amount of rainfall, we expect over 20 tons 

 per acre on each and every acre seeded. Our experience in the unprecedentedly dry 

 sec son of '98 shows that this is a very conservative estimate for deep plowing and thor- 

 ough cultivation." 



Of course many soils are of such a nature that too deep plowing or turning up 

 of the subsoil, does more harm than good. In such cases, subsoiling beneath the surface 

 plowing will accomplish the desired result. 



A CAUTION TO THE INEXPERIENCED FARMER. 



He is the one who usually thinks he knows most about raising sugar beets. If he 

 is a westerner, he starts out to raise 100 or 200 acres of beets before he has learned how 

 to grow one acre. The result is failure and disgust. We find that the man who has had 

 the most experience in growing beets is the one who takes the fewest risks, who realizes 

 how much even he has to learn, who does everything thoroughly and who is usually 

 well satisfied with the result. Charles F. Saylor, who made a special inquiry on this 

 point for the United States department of agriculture, truly says in his report (Page 178, 

 document 396, H. R., 55th Congress, 2d session): 



"We found, as a rule, that the farmers who were raising sugar beets for the first 

 time were going more upon their own experience and knowledge of growing field crops 

 than they were upon the directions given them by the department and experiment sta- 

 tions. They seemed to think that these directions were superfluous, calling for work that 

 was difficult, and requiring the planting and the cultivation of the beets in a manner 

 that was totally foreign to their experience and therefore wrong. They failed to appre- 

 ciate the fact that they were dealing with a new feature in farming, or one which they 

 had hitherto neglected, and in modifying the directions they were violating some funda- 

 mental principles on which the success of the sugar beet for factory purposes depends. 

 They seemed to look upon the experiment of growing the sugar beet as a thing in which 

 there was no remuneration, and therefore a thing on which they could not afford to 

 waste much time. In considering these experiments in growing sugar beets, the general 

 public may get an indication of the first great difficulty the industry in this country is 

 to meet and master, and that is the education of the farmer to the necessities of the cul- 

 tivation required." 



IRRIGATING THE SUGAR BEET. 



This subject is so new, and to many sections so important, that to the facts stated on 

 Page 96, the following summary should be added of Mr. Saylor's inquiry for the United 

 States department of agriculture (1898) : 



"Experience has demonstrated that irrigation should be held off as long as possible 

 and applied as little as possible. Water should not be applied by irrigation until the nat- 

 ural supply has failed, and even then the grower must be careful not to apply too much. 

 Too much is as disastrous as not enough. We have learned by talking with those experi- 

 enced in the application of water by irrigation of the tendency of the land to dry out 

 quickly after being irrigated, and of the ground to become packed, so that cultivation 

 must follow as soon as practicable after irrigation. 



"It has been noticed that the beet has a tendency to send down its taproot deep into 

 the soil, and especially is this true in the earlier stages, if the necessities of the case 

 demand it in order to procure moisture, and this is to be desired. If water is applied too 

 lavishly in the beginning, this tendency of the beet is arrested, and it shows a disposi- 

 tion to rely on an artificial supply of water rather than seek its own, and we have thus 

 interfered with a natural tendency that is desirable in the growth and maturity of the 

 beet. The effect will be, under these circumstances, that the taproot will divide and the 

 beet will become bunchy and sprangle out, assuming a form entirely undesirable. 



"The beet may show a tendency to slightly droop its leaves and to become lighter 

 in color, but this does not indicate that irrigation is needed. If the beet recovers its vigor 

 in the evening, it is a sufficient indication that it is getting along all right. When it comes 

 to suffer from drouth, the tendency will be to droop and get darker in color, and it will 



