1002 The Fowler Self-Lift Stetch Plough. [Jan., 



of Newark to supply the factory with the sugar beets necessary 

 for its full operation. 



In conjunction with the Board of Agriculture, the Society 

 has been preparing its estate at Kelham with a view to the 

 cultivation of beet. The estate will serve as a central demon- 

 stration farm for local farmers. Even a single factory should 

 bring manifold advantages to the neighbourhood in which 

 it is placed, providing employment in summer in the fields and 

 in winter in extracting and refining sugar, while it should create 

 subsidiary industries and stimulate those already existing. 

 The factory cannot be ready and the beets available during the 

 present year. The opening campaign falls in the year 1921, 

 by which time all the preparations should be complete. 



It is hoped that the Kelham enterprise will prepare the way 

 for many similar undertakings throughout the country, by pro- 

 viding an interesting and instructive object lesson in the 

 methods of running a great sugar business. The promoters 

 of the Kelham scheme include maiiy agriculturists of estab- 

 lished national reputation, the Chairman of the Committee 

 of Management of the British Sugar Beet Growers' Society 

 being Sir Beville Stanier, Bt., M.P. The Committee includes 

 such members as Lord Selborne, Lord Bledisloe and the Hon. 

 Edward G. St rut t. 



It is perhaps necessary to explain for the benefit of those 

 who do not five in a district where the system is practised 

 that the word " stetch " is the term for 

 The Fowler Self-Lift a narrow strip of ploughed land separated 



Stetch Plough. b}^ an open or dead furrow from the strip 

 on either side. In the stetch the furrows 

 all turn to the centre, half the furrows being from the right and 

 half from the left. It will be clear that by continuing this 

 process the open or dead furrows separating the st etches will 

 be approximately double the width of an ordinary furrow. 

 This method of ploughing is commonly practised on heavy land 

 in the Eastern Counties for the purpose of carrying off surface 

 water from such crops as winter wheat, oats and beans. In 

 many cases stetches are made the same width as the corn drill 

 and cultivator so that the horses can walk in the open furrow 

 and obviate any treading or puddling of the seed bed. 



Stetches vary in width in different parts of the country, but 

 in Essex the standard width is 6 ft., excluding the open furrow, 

 which is about 18 in. wide. Ploughing such narrow strips by 



