•24 



BULLETIN 735, U. S. DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE. 



and shade it (fig. C), so that the heavy crusts will not form in the 

 furrows where the water has run. The beets are usually ready for 

 irrigation about July 15 to 25. There is a popular belief that early 

 irrigation tends to shorten the root of the beet, but this is not true 

 where the beet is suffering for want of water. If the season is dry 

 the farmer should not wait too long to irrigate. A beet should be 

 kept in the best growing condition possible at all times and should 

 not be allowed to lie dormant or have its growth checked when an 

 application of irrigation water would make it grow rapidly. The 







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Fig. 6. — A flourishing field of sugar beets. When the beets cover the 

 in this picture, cultivation ceases. 



ground as shown 



season in this region is not long enough to permit part of it to be 

 wasted by allowing the bets to stand still for lack of water. If beets 

 are suffering from want of water and a rain comes, none of the 

 farmers would think of its doing any harm to the bets, yet some were 

 of the opinion that an irrigation would harm the beets. 



After irrigation is begun, it is usually necessary to continue to 

 irrigate every 10 to 20 days from the time of the first irrigation 

 until about the first of September. To know how to irrigate, the 

 grower must know his soil well, and he must study the condition of 



