608 



ENCYCLOPEDIA OF PRACTICAL HORTICULTURE 



After the beets have been pulled they 

 are topped. This consists in cutting off 

 each beet at the line of the lowest leaf 

 scar, which is usually done by one stroke 

 of a heavy knife. The object in topping 

 the beets is to remove the leaves, which 

 contain but a small amount of sugar, and 

 to remove the crown or upper part of 

 the beet, which contains a large percent- 

 age of the mineral matter taken up from 

 the soil. The mineral matter prevents 

 a given amount of sugar from crystal- 

 lizing and for this reason should not 

 be allowed to get into the juices in the 

 mill. When the beets are topped the 

 roots are thrown Into piles, from which 

 they are loaded on wagons by means of 

 specially constructed forks; that is, the 

 fork tines have knobs on the ends to 

 prevent the tines from puncturing the 

 roots. Before the beets are topped the 

 ground where they are to be piled should 

 be freed from clods and refuse material, 

 so that nothing but clean beets will be 

 forked to the wagons. If the beets can 

 not be hauled immediately after topping 

 they should be covered to prevent evapo- 

 ration or freezing. If the weather is not 

 cold enough to freeze the beets it is 

 usually sufficient to cover the piles with 

 the beet tops, but if there is danger of 

 freezing a sufficient quantity of earth 

 should be thrown over the piles to pre- 

 vent the roots from becoming frosted. 

 When the beets are delivered to the 

 sugar mill or loading station, they are 

 tared. The tare consists of two parts, 

 the dirt tare and the crown tare. The 

 dirt tare is the percentage of dirt that 

 clings to the roots when loaded and the 

 crown tare consists of the percentage of 

 crown left on the roots, due to improper 

 topping. 



Crop Rotation 



Every farm sliould have a well-defined 

 system of crop rotation. The object of 

 crop rotation, if properly arranged, is 

 twofold. Each crop should leave the 

 ground in better condition for the next 

 crop than it was before, and each crop 

 should prevent the propagation and de- 

 velopment of plant pests. The fallacy 

 that sugar beets injure the soil has not 



only been exploded, but just the reverse 

 has been found to be the fact. It is true 

 that sugar beets take out of the soil the 

 same elements that are removed by other 

 crops, but in slightly different propor- 

 tions. But, as has been stated, a large 

 part of these mineral elements is in the 

 top, which, if properly handled, will be 

 returned to the soil in the form of ma- 

 nure, so that in the end but little plant 

 food is removed from the soil by the 

 beet crop. Furthermore, the beet crop 

 leaves the soil in good tilth for the next 

 crop. Experience in all sugar beet coun- 

 tries has demonstrated the fact that 

 larger crops of grain can be grown after 

 beets than after any other crop so far as 

 known. This seems to be due to the ex- 

 cellent condition in which the soil is left 

 by the beet crop and to the depth of the 

 root bed occupied by the beet roots. It 

 is not apparent that sugar beets add any 

 fertilizing material to the soil, but the 

 fibrous roots that are left in the ground 

 when the beets are harvested improve its 

 physical condition. 



If sugar beets are to be one of the 

 crops in the rotation system, the crop 

 preceding the beets should be of such a 

 nature that it can be harvested in time 

 to plow the ground for beets in the fall. 

 One of the crops in the system should be 

 a legume, such as alfalfa, peas, beans, etc. 

 These are nitrogen-storing crops, and if 

 the soil is deficient in humus, as is the 

 case in most of the irrigated sections, a 

 green crop should be plowed under. Not 

 more than two sugar beet crops should be 

 grown in succession on the same field, 

 chiefly for the reason that a continual 

 cropping with sugar beets tends to pro- 

 mote the development of serious pests, 

 such as leaf spot, root rot, and insects. 

 It is true that more than two crops of 

 beets may sometimes be grown in suc- 

 cession, but it is a dangerous practice 

 and should be avoided. 



Fertilizers 



As a rule, the soils in the irrigated 

 sections of the country are rich — that is, 

 they contain in abundance the mineral 

 elements necessary for plant growth; but 

 in many cases these mineral elements are 



