250 
STAi’E AGEICULTURAL SOCIETY. 
hills are eighty centimeters from each other. They are covered 
with earth to the depth of two centimeters, which is afterwards 
lightly pressed to make the earth solid about them. The tool 
used in hand-sowing is a small fork with two prongs fifteen 
centimeters apart, corresponding to the distance of the holes 
from each other. 
In machine-sowing from twelve to fifteen kilograms of seed 
is required per hectare, while hand-sowing requires only from 
six to ten kilograms of seed. There is also a marked economy 
in the amount of labor required in hoeing and digging, as the 
plants come up more regularly and are more uniform in size. 
The yield of roots by hill cultivation may be estimated as at 
least one-fifth greater than that obtained by cultivation in drills. 
Afield of ordinary fertility, cultivated and sown as above de¬ 
scribed and well manured, will yield fifty tons of beets per hec¬ 
tare, and eighty tons per hectare may be raised if there are no 
failures, and if each root weighs one kilogram, there being 
85,000 plants per hectare. 
Hoeing and Weeding .—About the first of April, when the 
roots have attained sufficient size, the first hoeing is done by 
hand; the earth is gently raised on both sides of the hill with¬ 
out touching the summit where the beet root is planted. This 
operation is done with a tool made for this purpose, the effect 
of it being to scratch the soil lightly, as if with a gardener’s 
rake. 
This tool is formed by two small harrows, about sixty or 
eighty centimeters long, connected together. These harrows 
are provided with teeth three or four centimeters long, and this 
tool is pushed backward and forward by a handle, with more 
or less force according to the nature of the soil. 
The first weeding is done ten or fifteen days after this ope . 
ration of harrowing, when the plants have acquired sufficient 
strength, and the first leaves are sufficiently developed. The 
workmen use a small and light hoe, and must be particular to 
destroy the weeds without injuring the young and tender 
plants. About the last of April and the beginning of May, 
the plants are weeded out. They are still small, but it is im- 
