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Show Beet Culture. Jobu P. Holmgren, Dear River City. One of the advanced grades of farming In this section Is raising sugar beets, and In this there' may be success or there may be failure. The first requisite Is fertile soil, of a medium sandy loam, which preferably should be fait plowed, to a depth of eight or nine inches, and not harrowed until spring, aa the frott aad thaw of winter will aid in pulverizing tbo surface, aud the winter moisture will penetrate to a greater depth, and reduce the number of Irrigations the next summer. sum-mer. If spring plowing is done it is well to firm the soil by Homing crosswise and lengthwise and harrow it Immediately after to return the moisture. The seed bed should be worked until it is fine and mellow, aa beet growing la garden culture cul-ture on an extended scale. Ground on which luccrn has grown from five to ten years baa fertility sufficient to produce a good yield and particularly It potatoes are grown the first year after lucern, though oats or othtr grain might be grown first, and this Is only to glvo tlmo for the roots to decay before plautiug into becta. Beets can be successfully grown the first year after lucern, by gathering oil the roots. Put them In a pile and huul them on again next season. They contain excellent fertility. Planting should be douo about' April 10, but care should be tuken not to plant too early, while the ground Is too cold and not too Into so that it will not germinate ger-minate the seed. The beet is a very hardy plant and will thrive on soil that contains considerable mineral, but naturally yields best on rich lonmy soil, wbiu can be made to pro, duce as much as forty tons pr acre, though fifteen tons is a very profitable crop. Fifteen pounds of seed to the acre seems to bo nearly, right, pluuted from one to one and one-half Inches deep. Too deep plautiug sometimes causes failure. When the beets are up aud have four leaves on, thinning should begin Early thluuiug Is advantageous. Thin from eight to twelve inches apart. About teu days after first thluntug beglu to second thin, by taking out all double beets, and hue out all vlslblo weeds, thereby conserving moisture aud loosening loos-ening the soil around the plants Culti vate five or six times with the horso cultivator cul-tivator before the leaves get too large to Interfere. Jet the beets sutler befor you begin to Irriga.c, but after beginning sec that they get water when necessary. Beet ground should be well levoled. Fall watering of beet ground lessens the number of irrigations next season. Rotate Ro-tate your farm with lucern, grain and beets Feed your hay to dairy cows, sell their produce to the creamery Barnyard Barn-yard fertilizer Is worth the valuo of tho hay and grain the cows eat, if hauled on the beet lund. -Dcscrct Farmer. |