30 



BULLETIN 693, U. S. DEPAETMENT OF AGRICULTURE. 



and thereby requiring more time per acre to do this work, 

 figs. 7 and 8.) 



BLOCKING AND THINNING. 



(See 



Sufficient beet seed is usually drilled in the row to give more plants 

 than are required, provided a good germination is obtained. As 

 soon as the plants are large enough to distinguish the rows, the 

 blocking and thinning are done. The blocking, which means 

 chopping out surplus plants with a hoe, leaves small clusters of beets 

 10 to 12 inches apart in the row. The thinning, which is done by 

 hand, takes out the surplus plants in each cluster, thereby leaving 

 the proper number of beet plants in the row. On the small farm the 

 operator, with the assistance of other members of the family, does 

 this part of the work. The blocking is done with a hoe which aver- 



FiG. 7.— Making openings along the field laterals in order to irrigate sugar beets on portion of field to 

 left of large stream of water. A canvas dam may be seen in the foreground. 



ages about 6 inches in width. The small bunches of beets were left 

 about 10 to 12 inches apart in the row in the Garland and Provo 

 districts. At Idaho Falls the estimated distance was about 14 

 inches. The laborer has instructions to leave the strongest and 

 most vigorous plants, and these are disturbed as httle as possible. 

 When this precaution is not observed it usually takes the young 

 plants a few days to recover from the setback they receive. A 

 perfect stand can be obtained only by exercising care at this stage of 

 the cultivation of the crop. 



The handwork with sugar beets may be considered from the 

 standpoint of contract labor covering all the items in question, or it 

 may be discussed from the viewpoint of the farmer who does a part 

 or possibly all of the handwork. The actual cash outlay furnishes a 



