THE CLYDE SERIES OF SOILS. 51 



Both of these difficulties may be overcome by perfecting the drainage 

 and by the careful preparation of the land prior to seeding to beets. 



It is probable that the greatest acreage of sugar beets grown upon 

 any one of the eastern soil types is produced upon the Clyde loam. 

 Yet only a very small percentage of the total available acreage of this 

 one soil has been utilized for sugar-beet growing. 



If this and other well-suited types of the Clyde series were also 

 used for sugar-beet growing the acreage devoted to this crop could be 

 considerably increased in the humid region. 



Until the soils of the Clyde series have been more completely 

 occupied for beet culture there should be little extension of acre- 

 age upon other eastern soils not so well adapted to this crop, although 

 certain upland soils of glacial origin x which are well drained and 

 well supplied with organic matter are also available for an even 

 greater development of the beet-sugar industry. 



The production of sugar beets in the humid regions of the United 

 States is of such recent origin and the areas within which beets are 

 now grown are so localized that an account of the chief steps in the 

 agricultural practice is essential to show under what conditions beet 

 growing may profitably be undertaken upon added areas of the soils 

 of the Clyde series. 



It has been quite generally the custom to plant beets upon land 

 which was in sod during the previous year. The beets thus take 

 about the same place in the rotation as corn and frequently replace 

 a part of the acreage formerly given to that crop. The preparation 

 of the land for beets is about the same as for corn, except that deeper 

 plowing is considered advisable to aid the taproot of the beet in its 

 deeper development. It is essential that thorough cultivation should 

 be given the land prior to planting, so that as many weeds as possible 

 may be germinated and killed before the seeding of the crop. Beets 

 will stand some degree of frost and may be planted at an early 

 period, usually in the latter half of May, even in the more northern 

 localities. The land must be dry at the surface, for standing water 

 will always give an uneven germination and incomplete stand of the 

 plants. 



Special beet drills are used and the rows are variously spaced, but 

 usually at 24 to 28 inches. The drills sow the seed thickly, and the 

 crop must be thinned to a stand after the tops have grown to a height 

 of about six inches. This is done entirely by hand labor. Fre- 

 quently the companies for which the beets are grown contract to 

 furnish all of this hand labor at a stated price per acre. The beets 

 are also hoed once or twice during the season by the best growers, and 

 the sides of the ridges are lightly dressed with the hoe at these times. 



1 The deep phase of the Miami silt loam, particularly in southeastern Wisconsin, is one 

 of the most extensive of these soils. 



