148 THE SUGAR INDUSTRY. 



ter's rain and store it for the next season's crop. Opportunity is given' for the re-establish- 

 ment of the capillary action in the soil which was disturbed by deep plowing, enabling 

 the plant to draw from the deeper reservoirs of moisture during the dry season. 



It is not advised to plant sod land to beets, but if necessary to do so, it should be 

 fall plowed to give time for the decomposition of the sod, the settling of the soil and the 

 re-establishment of capillary action. It should be plowed deep so as to have plenty of 

 loose earth for a seed bed without disturbing the decaying sod. Sod land will probably 

 suffer more from drouth than other, but with plenty of moisture it will grow large crops 

 of beeis, which, however, may be low in sugar and in purity on account of too much 

 organic matter in the soil. For the same reasons it is best to apply barn manure to the 

 preceding crop rather than to the beets, but if used on the beet land it should be applied 

 in the fall and plowed under. Another effect of the direct application of barn manure is 

 the tendency to produce ill-formed beets. 



"Commercial fertilizers may be applied in the spring, but they should be thor- 

 oughly incorporated with the soil. Observations lead to the belief that commercial fer- 

 tilizers applied on the surface have a tendency, like recently applied barn manure, to 

 cause the development of ill-shaped roots. It is reasonable to suppose that the plant 

 finding its food near the surface would throw out branches at this point. No doubt this 

 tendency would be most marked in very poor soils and in dry seasons. 



"If the land is not plowed in the fall, then plow deeply in early spring, taking care 

 not to turn up much new soil. In the western states experience has taught that subsoil 

 plowing in the spring is an unsafe practice. If abundant rains do not come after the 

 plowing is done, to compact the soil and re-establish capillary action, the crop may suffer 

 more from drouth than it will be benefited by the loosening of the subsoil. It would 

 seem that in this state there would scarcely occur a season when there would not be 

 sufficient rainfall after early plowing to properly compact the soil before the dry weather 

 of summer sets in. As early in the spring as the land is fit it should be harrowed down 

 and left for a week or ten days that the weeds may have a chance to start, when they will 

 be easily killed by another working. If this operation can be repeated several times 

 before seeding, the crop will be kept clean during the season with much less labor. 



"The seed bed should be thoroughly prepared. The sub-surface should be fairly well 

 compacted, the surface fine, level and free from obstructions to cultivation. It is very 

 important that a good stand of plants should be secured and this is much facilitated by a 

 properly prepared seed bed, but just what tools to use and how much to use them will 

 depend upon the character of the soil and the season. 



"Seed It is of prime importance that first-class seed be used. The modern sugar 

 beet is the result of a vast amount of painstaking care and labor in its selection and 

 growth and is a highly artificial product. It therefore quickly deteriorates when the 

 conditions favorable to the maintenance of its high qualities are wanting. 



"The matter of selecting the varieties and importing the seed is usually left in the 

 hands of the factory management. There are a large number of varieties possessing 

 somewhat different characteristics and adapted to different classes of soils. Some are 

 noted for their high percentage of sugar, but are light croppers and are best suited for 

 those localities whore the tendency is to grow too large a crop of coarse beets low in 

 sugar. Others are better croppers but not so high in sugar, and are adapted to soils 

 where the tendency is to produce too light a crop of very rich beets. The Vilmorin and 

 the Dervaux are among the very rich varieties, but are rather light croppers; the Klein- 

 wanzlebener, the Dippe and the Metta Kleinwanzlebener are among the medium crop- 

 pers with a good percentage of sugar, while the Deprez and the Eloir are heavy croppers 



