94 



THE SUGAR INDUSTRY. 



PLANET JR. TWO-HORSE 

 CULTIVATOR. 



affect the yield. Where weeds or insects are not to be feared, the spacing may be 

 done a few days before thinning. On the other hand, if there is any reason to fear 

 loss of the young plants, it is more prudent to wait a little longer before doing the 



work of spacing, and in this case thinning should 

 follow spacing without any interval. If the land 

 is very rich, the final plants are left as near 

 together as 6, 7 or 8 inches, while in Utah, 

 under irrigation, the plants are even .thinned 

 to 4 inches. The distance apart at which the 

 beets are left depends not only upon richness 

 of the soil, but upon the probabilities of its 

 having sufficient moisture. In the rich moist 

 land the beets can stand closer together than on 

 dryer and lighter soils. By spacing with a 

 hoe a more regular distance is secured between 

 each beet, and all the weeds in the row are destroyed at the same time; the crust is 

 also broken up that has been formed by the pressure of the wheel of the seeder, 

 and it remove* any seeds from the row that may not yet have germinated, thus avoid- 

 ing, when harvest time comes, the appearance of a lot of small beets that had grown 

 up from these seeds. This spacing with 

 the hoe is also apt to increase tonnage and 

 percentage of sugar. 



The leaves of the plant are the means 

 through which it obtains most of its sugar. 

 This substance is composed of carbon and 

 oxygen, both of which are mainly taken in 

 by the leaves, the former as carbonic acid. 

 Mr Ware, in his great work on the sugar 

 beet, summarizes experiments by himself 

 and others to show that the saccharine 

 content of the beet improved with the num- 

 ber and weight of its leaves. "Each leaf 

 has apparently communication with a given 

 portion of the beet, and supplies it with 

 the nourishment it requires. The outer 

 leaf corresponds with the inner portion of 

 the root; these representing the older leaves, we may conclude that they have fur- 

 nished the larger portion of the saccharine elements. During the growth of the leaf, 

 the root increases but comparatively little in size, and as soon as completed, the con- 

 trary action takes place. Evidently, the greater the size of the leaves, the larger the 

 amount of the elements they are able to abstract from the surrounding air, and the 

 total weight of the leaves is, up to a certain period, greater than that of the root." 



The smooth and tapering shape of the root desired depends mainly upon the soils 

 where it grows and. the preparation the soil has received. The variety of seed used 

 has of course some influence on shape of root, but the most desirable seed for this 



ANOTHER FORM OF 

 CULTIVATOR. 



This admirable Planet Jr. tool as a beet 

 horse hoe, has a one and three-fourths inch 

 cultivator tooth, two six-im-h hoes, a twelve- 

 inch special flat sweep, and. a pulverizer. 

 The latter is a very useful attachment, level- 

 ing and fining the surface and killin , small 

 weeds. 



