GROWING CULTIVATED CROPS IN DRY AREAS 301 



seasons, is the lack of moisture to insure germination at 

 the proper season, as in most instances they call for plant- 

 ing that is relatively shallow. Quite frequently there is 

 also a lack of ample moisture during the latter part of 

 the growing season to produce a maximum growth. 

 Sugar beets, especially, may not produce yields that may 

 be desired from this cause, hence the wisdom of growing 

 them under a very light normal rainfall is to be ques- 

 tioned, notwithstanding the high sugar content which 

 they may possess. 



Soils. The best soils for all kinds of field roots are 

 sandy loams underlaid with subsoils of moderately por- 

 ous texture. Soils with a considerable admixture of sand 

 in the clay element which they contain have especial 

 adaptation to the needs of carrots, turnips and rutabagas. 

 Mangels and sugar beets will grow more successfully in 

 clay soils when once started, but none of 'these crops 

 should be planted on stiff clays. 'It is difficult to properly 

 germinate them on such soils. Nor is it easy to keep 

 them in a proper condition of tilth. The silty soils of 

 the river basins are usually too porous for the proper 

 retention of the needed moisture for these crops. Gumbo 

 soils which carry considerable quantities of alkali may 

 be made to produce enormous crops of mangels and sugar 

 beets when irrigated, but when not irrigated it is not 

 possible so to manage them as to secure the requisite 

 tilth for these crops under normal conditions. Dry 

 gravels and shallow soils are wholly unsuited to the 

 growth of these crops. 



Place in the rotation. Normally the place for these 

 crops is after small grain, not only because such a suc- 

 cession furnishes the best conditions under which they 

 may be grown, but because when grown thus the land is 

 being prepared for a crop of small grain to follow. Land 

 that has bee.n summer-fallowed will be more certainly 

 followed by a good crop than stubble land ; hence, under 



