| OCR Text |
Show CARE OF BEETS. Apples, wheat and beets are the staple crops of Cache valley. County Horticulturist Broby lias recently published pub-lished a timely letter of advice as to spraying fruit trees. Tho dry farm wheat crop, once planted, has no moro need of attention from the farmer until un-til harvest time, but beets, more than any crop, demand close and careful attention at-tention from the farmer and his ass It-ants. It-ants. The recent copious rains have meant thousands of dollars Vo the faimers Heaven has done Its part and now they, must do theirs. Thanks to these May rains tho young beets are everywhere coming up nicely. The slender rows of delicate green plants arc distinctly visible In the brown fields. Now begins the battle of the farmer with weeds, drought and Insects. In-sects. The weeds appear almost as soon as the young plants and most of them are removed when Iho beets arc thinned, but this first removal does not end the fight. Tho rows should be gone over again to make sure that no tall weeds shade tho beets and absorb ab-sorb the moisture and nutriment from the soil. To prevent baking of the soil it should be frequently mulched by cultivating. This will prevent the escape of moisture from the soil, will render It more accessible to the irrigating irri-gating water and make It lighter and more easily penetrable by the beet roots As has been shown In dry farming farm-ing excessive cultivating helps keep the moisture iu the soil and thus reduces re-duces tho need of irrigating watqr, so the beet growers may save water besides be-sides gaining other advantages by this high cultivation. Then, again, too much care cannot be used In applying water ftom the ditches, In selecting the proper time and in applying the proper quantity. This all depends on the soil, the slope of the land, the maturity ma-turity of tho crop and the kind of sea son. Each farmer must settle these irrigating problems for himself as only general laws may be laid down. Last season the white lly did little or no damage and there Is every Indication that the present year will be free from the pest, but, If it should appear, farmers farm-ers should write Immediately to the Experiment station of tho Agricultural Agricult-ural college at Logan for directions how to light the insects. Prof. Rail, the director of the station, has made a special study of the white lly, the national govcrment has appropriated large sums to carry on investigations along this line and there, If anywhere, will the beet growers learn how to deal with Insect pests. The beet crop, as wo have said, Is one of the main stays of the valley. The tw;o factories bring In yearly over half a million dollars, hence the beet crop is worth the trouble .and the beet growers should ever bear in mind that eternal vljllanco Is tho price of safety. |
