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Show Late Beet Irrigation Being Urged i . It is profitable for farmers not to let their sugar-beet fields get too dry this season of the year, says Geo. Stewart of the ' Utah Experiment Station. In case the soil is beginning to dry out and get hard or even in case it is beginning to- be rather dry it would be wisdom to irrigate the fields soon. Late irrigation has two or three advantages over allowing the fields to suffer for water. Most important is the fact that beets continue to make considerable growth, if the soil Is kept ?6ist, until un-til they are dug. In the second case digging is usually made easier; in the third case the extraction of sugar is facilitated by the beets being more crisp on account they cut up better. Farmers, of course, are now interested inter-ested in this last point and it is given giv-en here to indicate that it is to the advantage both of the farmer and faotories that beets be irrigated or at least kept moist late in the season. Many years ago sugar factories I used to hold the idea that it was not j a good thing for the beet to be kept , j moist, but for them to dry out because this made them richer in sugar, and i for a long while they urged farmers ' not to irrigate late in the season, but j they have since come to realize that j it is proftiable toJiave the beets tak-i tak-i en from the moist soil. Farmers in general held the idea that late irriga- tion was profitable because it in creased the yields both by growth in the beets and by increasing the water content. Both of these conditions are true and it is therefore advocated that the land be not allowed to lose too much of its moisture. Late irrigation is accompanied by some risk, for example in case late heavy storms should set in the ground might become so wet as to be difficult diffi-cult to handle. On the average, however, how-ever, this condition does not prevail and so the Utah Experiment Station advocates that farmers irrigate beets about this time of the year in case is has been some time since water was applied. Fortunately we are able to make thi3 advice from a whole-souled whole-souled point of view since it benefits the farmers, the factories, and also the soil. It benefits the soil by keeping keep-ing the bacteria in a proper working condition. The only risk is the one mentioned, that of excessive storms about digging dig-ging time. Farmers must, of course, take the responsibility of estimating the weather conditions, but it is the opinion of the Agronomy Department Depart-ment of the Agricultural College that it is wisdom to irrigate dry soils. It is not advocated, however, that these irrigations be very heavy, merely just enough to wet up the soil. Rather light applications are sufficient because of the fact that evaporation is slow. |