24 BULLETIN 735, U. S. DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE. 
and shade it (fig. 6), 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 
When the beets cover the ground as shown 
Fig. 6.—A fiourishing field of sugar beets. 
in this picture, cultivation ceases. 
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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 
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