52 BULLETIN 141, U. S. DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE. 
Frequent cultivation with horse cultivators is essential, and the most 
successful growers state that the more frequent and the deeper the 
cultivation the larger the crop. All of the horse labor in connection 
with the tillage of the crop is performed by the farmer who contracts 
the acreage. 
Under ordinary climatic conditions the crop is ready for harvest- 
ing in the middle or latter part of September, throughout the Great 
Lake region. The first step is that of lifting the beets. This is 
accomplished by the use of a special tool, built like a large subsoil 
plow with narrow flanges set to raise the earth as the plow passes 
between the rows. The beets are thus loosened in the soil. They 
are pulled by hand and this labor is usually furnished by the com- 
pany at a fixed charge per acre. (See PI. V, fig. 2.) The beets are 
topped in the field as they are pulled (PL V, fig. 2, and PL VI, fig. 
1) and the roots are loaded on wagons (PL VI, fig. 2) for transporta- 
tion directly to the factory or for weighing in (PL VII, figs. 1 
and 2) and shipment by rail (PL VIII, figs. 1 and 2). When 
weighed, the beets are also sampled to secure representative roots 
for analysis, as the majority of the factories pay for the beets upon 
the combined basis of tonnage and sugar content. 
The fertilization of lands upon which beets are grown has not been 
varied greatly from the common farm practice for corn. Stable 
manure is applied either to the clover sod before plowing or to the 
beet land after it has been plowed. Even this is omitted in the 
majority of instances and only the rotting vegetation is depended 
upon for direct fertilization. Some few growers have used small 
quantities of complete commercial fertilizer upon beets. From 200 to 
300 pounds of a formula commonly used for corn has been used. It 
analyses about 3 per cent of nitrogen, 9 per cent of phosphoric acid, 
and 3 per cent of potash. Upon much of the land now used for beet 
culture it is probable that the use of commercial fertilizers is not 
fundamentally necessary. Yet the use of lime, in the form of 
ground limestone, quick lime, slaked in the field and applied broad- 
cast, or the refuse lime from the beet factories would prove decidedly 
beneficial. Few farm crops are more favorably affected by liming 
that the sugar beet. It is also desirable that large amounts of 
organic manures should be thoroughly incorporated with the surface 
7 to 9 inches of soil. This is the reason for the general use of clover 
sod for beet growing. Where possible it would be good practice to 
apply stable manure to the clover sod before turning it under for 
the beet crop. This may be done immediately before plowing, or the 
manure may be broadcasted over the grass land the year previously 
so that its first effects are gained by the growing grass and the 
residual benefits are secured by the beets. 
