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yantage it would sliow most clearly in the last case, which was 
sown June 15 after the ground was quite dry. Here, however, the 
irrigation seemed to be a detriment, due probably to the baking of 
the soil. 
While the above results are not favorable to the practice of 
irrigating up the seed when sown in ground as heavy as that of 
the College Farm, it does not follow .that this may not be 
advantageous under other conditions and in other parts of the State. 
The present writer visited the farm of Mr. B. F. Wyckoff, at Rocky 
•Ford, the {>ast season, and saw there a large field of sugar beets with 
a perfect stand, that had been secured by irrigating up the seed. 
This field produced over 23 tons of beets to the acre. At Lamar he 
saw another perfect field of beets produced in the same way, on the 
farm of Mr. M. D. Parmenter. On remarking to Mr. Parmenter 
that at the College our greatest trouble was to get a stand, Mr. 
Parmenter replied that he always felt perfectly sure of that part of 
the business. His land was sandy enough so that it would not 
bake and had plenty of slope. He planted whenever he got ready, 
and then turned on the water. His perfect stand in 1S98 was 
obtained with about four pounds of seed per acre. 
On the lighter soils of the Arkansas valley, irrigating up the 
seed is a necessit}^ as the ground will not hold enough moisture to 
make a complete germination. 
4. Soaking Beet Seed. 
Two rows were sown with dry seed ; two with half each of dry 
and soaked seed, and two with soaked seed, i. e., seed that 
bad been soaked in water for twenty-four hours before it 
was planted. Unfortunately, these tests being made on a 
small scale, were sown with a hand drill that did not do good 
work. Good results were obtained with the soaked seed, but no 
better than were obtained on neighboring rows with unsoaked seed. 
The test shows, therefore, neither advantage nor disadvantage from 
soaking the seed. 
5. Sowing at the Bottom of a Three-Inch Furrow. 
It was thought that, adopting the idea of the trench method of 
laising potatoes, there might be some advantage from getting the. 
beet seed deep in the ground. A small furrow was made with a 
band plow, and then the beet seed sown with a hand drill at the 
bottom of this furrow. This put the beet seed nearly four inches 
below the surface of the ground, but left it only lightly covered. 
Three tests were made, including both early and late sowing. The 
stand was not so good as in the rows on each side sown at ordinary 
depths. The yield was once as good and twice poorer than from 
similar rows of ordinary planting. The sugar and purity were not 
perceptibly different from other plantings. 
