CHAPTER X 
IRRIGATION AND DRAINAGE 
THE sugar-beet plant responds readily to a favorable 
moisture condition in the soil. It cannot be classed as 
either drought-resistant or a water lover; it requires an 
intermediate amount of moisture similar to that de- 
manded by such crops as potatoes and the grains. The 
amount of labor expended on a crop of beets is so great 
that every effort should be made to maintain the most 
favorable moisture-content in the soil in order that the 
yield of the crop may justify the expense necessary to 
raise it. The practical methods of affecting the soil 
moisture are by irrigation water where the rainfall is not 
sufficient, and by drainage on land that is too wet. 
IRRIGATION 
(Plates XII, XIII; Figs. 13-22) 
Beets adapted to irrigation farming. 
Most of the sugar-beets raised in America are produced 
with the aid of irrigation water. Michigan is the only 
important beet-producing state in the United States that 
is not in the irrigated region. The beet-sugar industry 
was started in the humid part of the country, but it made 
no great success till it was carried to irrigated lands. The 
126 
