| Show GETTING MOISTURE TO BEETS plant cannot depend entirely on tap root for water but must get some from side root an examination of oc a large number of 0 beets shows blows that sosoon as they get any size they cannot depend entirely on the tap root for moisture mo lature but roust must draw some through th roots to make any rapid development A tap rooted plant has of course an im genbe advantage over other plants in being able to draw moisture from the depths of the sol soil but its side bide roots are not mere ornaments but highly to its growth so long as aa a beet la Is making new leaves in the center and these are of good color it Is doing well but when the moisture dries out so that this growth glowth stops it will usually be found that only the tap root la Is in moist ground in some cases there will be only a streak of moisture a few inches thick down six or eight inches and dry ground may asanbe ens encountered countered it if you dig deep enough in other cases there may inay be more moisture mols mois tuie the deep er iou ou go and et tho the ground on oil top Is dry I 1 think in such cuch cases tion should usually bring up the mola mois ture and it Is a big adan advantage tage if cap la is not interfered with at some point below beloin the reach of the tor shovels there Is an old feed lot it fit longmont Long mont in which we were dig ging the other day and there seemed a good deal of moisture al a little way down and yet the top was bone dry capillarity seemed to be arrested why did not the moisture rise to the top the field had been worked in beets last year and to a depth of six or eight inches was in fair physical condition delow below that it still very plainly showed the effects of kneading by the big lots lota of cattle that had bad been on the ground and tho the clay was in streaks and layers through which it was probably impossible for the wa ter to rise and equally inconvenient for it to go directly down where the hay lot had bad been and no cattle had bad tramped both the toll soil and the beets v A ere in much better condition and the stand was nas good had there been enough showers to keep the first six inches moist the beets would have been all right till irrigating time and likewise probably if the water could have risen by capillarity from the subsoil where it was present another factor that enters into this problem Is that where a great deal of alkali is present there roust must be a higher percentage of moisture in the soil before most plants can make use of it than in alkali free soils for only a few plants can make use of a beav lly fly charged saline mixture and it needs to be thinned by rain or arri gation water vater for the use of others |
