SUGAR BEETS : PREVENTABLE LOSSES IN CULTURE. 
15 
to germinate and sprout before the beet seedlings appear above 
ground 7 greatly retarding and stunting the latter. (PL II.) 1 
Too frequently manuring is delayed until spring, when, in con- 
junction with faulty preparation of the ground, pockets of half- 
rotted manure are left in the soil. These cause the taproots of seed- 
ling beets coming in contact with them to become sprangling and 
ill-shaped. It is believed to be the best practice to apply manure to 
a preceding crop instead of directly to beets. 
In irrigated districts much loss is occasioned by the imperfect 
grading and leveling of the surface of the field; thus, low spots re- 
main in some places and high ones in others. The low areas are 
Fig. 2.— A homemade float used in leveling a beet field preparatory to sowing the seed. 
flooded with every irrigation (PL III), while the elevated places, if 
extensive, suffer drought or render much extra work necessary to 
get the water over them. In either case, many plants are killed 
(%• 3). 
It is also apparent that losses in the stand occur on account of 
lack of responsiveness of the seed drills to irregularities in the sur- 
face of the field, resulting in the scattering of seed on the surface of 
the ground when individual drills pass over depressed areas. Little 
or none of the uncovered seed germinates ; if the seed were slightly 
covered it might lie there in the dry surface soil until a shower caused 
1 The subsequent operations of disking, harrowing, and floating the fields (fig. 2) are not sufficiently 
thorough, leaving the seed bed too rough and cloddy and resulting in a reduced percentage of germination 
of the beet seed. 
