BEETS 
the field or garden; or it may be sown in 
the rows where the beets are to grow. In 
this case it should be sown in sufficient 
quantities, so that the plants may be 
thinned to the proper distance apart. In 
the garden, the seeds are generally sown 
in drills, about 15 inches apart, and the 
plants thinned to about 8 inches. The 
stock beets and sugar beets, growing to 
much larger size, must be planted farther 
apart. The ground should be rich and 
loose, because the beet is a heavy feeder, 
and requires a fertile soil. In the arid 
regions where irrigation is practiced, 
where the alkali leaches from the soil and 
is deposited on the low lands, it has been 
demonstrated that sugar beets and stock 
beets will stand a much larger content 
of alkali, than most other crops; there- 
fore lands that have been abandoned for 
general farming, because they were too 
strong in alkali to grow crops successful- 
ly, have proven to be valuable for the 
growing of sugar beets. 
Varieties 
Eclipse, Edmund Blood Turnip, Crosby’s 
Egyptian, Blood Red, Dreer Excelsior. 
GRANVILLE LOWTHER 
Sugar Beet Growing Under Irrigation 
C. O. TOWNSEND 
Pathologist, Cotton and Truck Disease 
and Sugar Plant Investigations 
Introduction 
The present sugar beet belt of the 
United States, that is, the area within 
which the soil and climatic conditions 
admit of the successful production of 
sugar beets for the manufacture of sugar, 
extends entirely across the northern por- 
tion of this country. The present south- 
ern boundary of this area is a Some- 
what indefinite and irregular line that 
may be said to extend from Virginia on 
the east to the southern part of Cali- 
fornia on the west. Efforts are being 
made to extend this line farther south, 
thereby increasing the productive sugar 
beet area. This can undoubtedly be ac- 
complished with an increased knowledge 
of the requirement of the sugar beet plant 
combined with its wide range of adapt- 
601 
ability. As it is at present this belt is 
capable of maintaining hundreds of sugar 
beet mills, the output of which would 
supply this country with the millions of 
pounds of sugar required for home con- 
sumption. A study of the great variety 
of soil and climatic conditions under 
which sugar beets thrive illustrates and 
emphasizes the wonderful adaptability of 
this remarkable plant to the wide range 
of conditions under which it may profit- 
ably be produced. 
This article will be confined to a con- 
Sideration of the conditions and cultural 
methods employed in those areas where 
there is an insufficient precipitation for 
the profitable production of sugar beets, 
namely, the central, western and south- 
western portions of the United States. 
Selection of Soil 
In the irrigated portion of the sugar 
beet belt there is a great variety of soils, 
varying from the distinctly sandy type 
through the sandy and clay loams, the 
silt, and volcanic ash to the heavy black 
adobe. In the selection of soil for sugar 
beet culture it is safe to say that any of 
the soil types that are capable of pro- 
ducing good crops of other kinds will 
produce satisfactory beets. 
The principal factors to be considered 
are the physical condition of the soil, 
the way in which it has been previously 
handled, and the climatic conditions. 
Much more depends upon these factors 
than upon the kind or type of soil to 
be used. The physical condition of the 
soil depends to a considerable extent 
upon the previous crops and the way in 
which the soil has been handled. The 
soil should be well supplied with humus, 
not only to insure its fertility but to im- 
prove its water-holding capacity. The 
previous cropping should have been such 
that the ground is in good tilth and rea- 
sonably free from pests that are capable 
of injuring sugar beets. The soil should 
be well drained, either naturally or ar- 
tificially, in order to prevent water-log- 
ging, and the ground should be kept 
sweet and at the same time free from an 
excess of alkali. Most of the western 
soils are well supplied with lime, but an 
