34 
CULTIVATION OF THE SUGAR-BEET. 
beet, is a deep, light, and moderately rich loam, 
resting on a clay subsoil; yet, as it has the power 
of drawing much of the food necessary to its grow th 
from the atmosphere, by means of its large leaves, 
it will do very well in thin sands, a leachy gravel, 
or hard clay; a good manuring, however, on such 
soils would be essential as a preparation for the 
crop, and frequent stirring of the earth during its 
growth. A very rich soil, such as the deep ailuvi- 
als of our river-bottoms, is not a proper one for 
beets, inasmuch as the roots grow too large and 
rank in it, and are consequently coarser and less 
nutritious, and do not abound with as much sac¬ 
charine matter, as is found in those growing on 
poorer soils. 
Preparation. —Plough deep, and roll and harrow 
the land fine, and throw it up into beds about 
one rod wide, and if the subsoil be at all tenacious, 
have the furrows between the beds well hoed out, 
so as to drain off all falling water. 
Kind of Beet. —The white Silesian is the best 
variety which we have cultivated, it being the 
sweetest and finest grained of all others, and to 
these good qualities, it joins that of producing an 
equally large crop. 
Preparation of Seed.— It is essentially neces¬ 
sary that the seed be soaked at least three days 
previous to planting, and if it be a whole week, it 
is no matter. This should be done in soft tepid 
water; and just before planting, roll the seed in 
ashes or plaster of paris, so as to prevent their 
sticking together, and facilitate the sowing. The 
beet seed has a thick, hard pericarp or shell, and 
till this softens and breaks, it is impossible for it to 
vegetate; and unless one can be sure of wet weath¬ 
er immediately after sowing, it will frequently not 
come up at all, or be so long about it, as to be the 
means of losing half the crop. 
Planting. —The beet may be sown broadcast 
like the turnep, but as weeds are likely to spring 
up in most soils and prevent its growth, and the 
labor of exterminating them is much greater in this 
way, it is preferable to sow m drills. For this pur¬ 
pose, the drill-barrow may be used the same as in 
planting the ruta baga, but the beet-seed is much 
more difficult to deliver evenly through a small 
aperture than the turneps, and though we have 
used a great variety of barrows for this purpose, 
we have never yet had one that worked well and 
could be depended upon, especially in tenacious or 
heavy loamy soils. It is preferable, therefore, to 
take a piece of joist four inches square, or a round 
stick of the same diameter, half or just as long as 
the lands are wide, fill this with iron or wooden 
| teeth in wedge shape, as far apart as you wish to 
have the rows, put a pair of fills to this, and hitch 
on a stout man or steady horse, and passing once 
or twice over the land, completely drills it from 
one to two inches deep. Then follow immediately 
with the seed, dropping it by hand, or from a long 
necked bottle, or tin cup with a hole in the bottom, 
and a handle attached to it, shaking the cup or 
bottle as you walk along, and following sharp with 
the eye to see that the seeds are evenly dropped. 
Faithful children of ten years old, can do this with 
more ease and facility than grown persons. As 
fast as dropped, cover with the hoe; in heavy soils 
about half to three fourths of an inch deep, in sand 
or light gravel twice this depth. 
The rows may be from two to three feet apart 
for a field crop—two and a half to three feet is the 
best. This distance enables one to use the cultiva¬ 
tor for weeding, without danger of cutting or cov¬ 
ering the plants by the dirt being thrown up as it 
passes through the rows. The product is not so 
great per acre from wide rows, but land being cheap 
and labor dear in America, we must study to facili¬ 
tate manual operations, at the same time that we 
have some calculation to a good yield. Four pounds 
of seed per acre is generally considered enough, 
but it is better to have a dozen extra plants to thin 
out, than to be obliged to transplant one. Those 
transplanted do not thrive half as well as those 
that remain where they vegetate; besides, the la¬ 
bor of so doing is more expensive than extra seed 
and time of thinning. We therefore mean in sow¬ 
ing to have a good seed dropped as near as every 
two or three inches in the drills. 
After Culture.— As soon as the weeds begin 
to appear, run the cultivator through the row and 
follow with the hoe. It is very essential that the 
ground be kept clear of weeds, especially for the 
first two months, and three hoeings with the use 
of the cultivator are generally sufficient for the sea¬ 
son. As the plants attain a height of about three 
inches, they should be thinned to a distance of 
about four inches, leaving the strongest and healthi¬ 
est ; then during the season as they grow, gradually 
thin out the remainder, leaving the roots in the 
rows at least about nine or ten inches apart. If 
left too thick, they shade and choke each other in 
growth, and the product is not so great as when 
well thinned. These thinnings are valuable to 
feed to stock during the summer, and are frequent¬ 
ly considered equal to half the expense of the cul¬ 
tivation of the whole crop. 
Harvesting. —When the leaves begin to decay 
and turn yellow, is the best time to gather the 
