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Show By Mark Austin, General Agriculturalist Agricultur-alist of Utah-Idaho Sugar Company. Com-pany. Harrowing Beneflci:sl Owing to the severe frost early last fall, very little fall plowing was done on beet lands in either Utah or Idaho. In view of this I am making a few suggestions relative to spring preparation, which I am confident 'will prove beneficial if properly followed. fol-lowed. 1 During the last four or five years our beet growers have demonstrated that more tonnage can be grown on heavy lands by the following surface preparation than by spring plowing, because where heavy land is spring plowed the soil is quite, cold and somewhat soggy, and it is very difficult dif-ficult to get a fine surface or seed bed; and before the soil gets sufficiently suffi-ciently warm to sprout the seed it has dried out. Then, if a heavy storm comes shortly after the seed is planted plant-ed and before, it is up, on heavy soils spring plowed, it will be likely to form a crust over the seed so that it cannot get through, thus injuring the stand very materially, while with surface preparation this is not likely to occur. Therefore, I would like to suggest that whom frniorc Vin.rt r.:i .... - . . . . v , . M uu.t iicaij oun which they expect to plant to beets they use the following method: First, take a fine tooth harrow, riding it and running it as 'deep as possible; following with a float thus forming a fine mulch on top and preventing pre-venting the land from crusting. Then take a spring tooth harrow six foot n width providing the farmer has one. Putting four horses on it, running run-ning it the same way as the rows wilb run as deep as possible, at least three or four inches. If the farmer lias not a spring tooth harrow it would pay him to get one, or two or three smaller farmers might group together and purchase one. Next, follow immediately behind the spring' tooth harrow with a fine tooth harrow so as to keep the land worked down to retain the moisture, and not allowing any clods to form. This surface preparation of the soil is recommended only to land that was planted to beets or potatoes last year. The soil should then be worked in the same method crosswise, running the spring tooth harrow an inch or two deeper if possible.. Then go over it again with a roller or land leveler to get the surface firm enough for planting. , ' Just before planting the land should be harrowed with a fine tooth harrow crosswise, or in the opposite direction to which the beets are to be planted. If the land has been used to feed sheep on, and there is any straw on the surface it should be removed first, leaving only the manure. If. the soil has been manured with long manure it wHJ be necessary to spring plow it, to obtain good results. Where the soil has been top dressed with fine manure, tire surface preparation as rbove outlined will be preferable on heavy or reasonably heavy soils. Of course, light, sandy soil may be successfully suc-cessfully spring plowed and prepared for beots. It has been thoroughly demonstrated demonstra-ted that heivy soils, thoroughly sur face prepared, have yielded two t" three tons more to the acre than wit! either fall or spring plowing. V have tesled this method thorough tor for or five years, plowing half of a field in the fall and preparing the other half in the spring as out lined above, and know whereof vc speak. Now that beets lire worth ST. 00 per ton farmers will readily tae the advantage of surface prepar ation of henvy so'l.;. There is alsr quite a saving in labor, it makes i possible for the fanner to prepare hif soil more quickly, 'and he is much more certain of a good stand of beets Where a farmer docs not have a spring tooth harrow, and docs not fool like joining with his neighbor in getting one, splendid results 'lave 'bet n obtained wi'.h a pood steel frame r I reasonably liue tootli harrow, well sharpened, putting plenty of weight on it, harrowing with it first lengthwise length-wise and then crosswise and going over it at least six or eight times until un-til the soil is thoroughly cut to a reasonable depth with a fine mulch on top. This is far better than spring plowing on heavy land. I desire to present the foregoing to the beet growers for their careful consideration. They will, of course, have to use their own judgment in (he matter, as I do not desir to influence in-fluence them to follow' a course that docs not appeal -to them, because a man is not likely to make a success of anything to which he is not fuilj converted. I know that this method will work successfully if properly -done- and in the right season. I want to emphasize again the necessity ne-cessity -of this surface work being done early just as soon as the soil can be worked and before a crust has : had time to form on the surface of the ground. This is important for two reasons, first, when done early the crust will not form and the tools used will run deeper, and second, the moisture will be retained near the surface, which is very, very important. im-portant. Many of our farmers do not fully -realize the importance of retaining re-taining the moisture in the soil, so that if we have unusually dry weath er they will still be reasonably certain cer-tain of a good stand of beets. Where the farmers prefer to plow their lands, they should be thoroughly thorough-ly harrowed and gone over with a land float first, forming a fine mulch on top. This also should be done just as soon as the farmer can get on the soil successfully without injuring in-juring it. Then he will find the soil will plow. much better, and instead of turning under a lot of dry surface soil he will turn under fine and moist soil which he will find to be most beneficial. A great many of our farmers are not as careful as they should be in the preparation of their seed bed and a great deal of labor and tonnage is lost by reason thereof. Therefore I want to impress upon our beet grow, ers the necessity of early and thorough thor-ough preparation of the soil for the seed, which is the foundation of the crop. This is Important Every farmer should have his harrow har-row and floater ready so he can use t at once. Just as Soon as any part )f your field is ready it must be done 't that time. So work your ground hat a mulch Is left on top. Do not .How any crust to form because it is ery difficult to prepare the surface tfter crust is formed. If for any eason it is necessary to go over any .'art ot your nein twice or more it .vill pay to do it. Prepure your seed bed as it should ;e and you will be rewarded with a jigger crop that will pay for all the ivork you put on it. In addition to the above, I would like to suggest the following prepar-ttion prepar-ttion of the spike tooth harrow for he work above mentioned. Put two layers of wide wire netting ver the teeth of the spike tooth harrow har-row and pull it up tight to the inside in-side of the frame, and-wire it to the frame with bailing wire so that it will lot hinder the harrow from going in--O the ground. This wire netting, if iroper'y put on, will help to thoroughly thor-oughly pulverize the soil and. being lone all at once, it will stop the ground from clodding. I will further suggest that the farmers take a plank, the length of he wooden harrow bar, put it under he bar, bolting it to the same, and tand on the plank. It will help to 'eve! the land and rub off the lumps. Mid will raue the harrow to draw leeply into the soil by setting the harrow as deep as possible and puling pul-ing a little additional weight on the rame. Every farmer should fix un his har-ow har-ow in this manner, and this should e attended to at once so there can e no delay in this important work. The harrow fixed up this way would :e an excellent tool to work spring r fall plowed land or land before it "as plowed in the spring. Most of he beet and potato land will give far better results, as mentioned her before, it your surface work rather than plow, provided it is done at the right time and the right way. I would like to suggest to the farm ers, in the selection of their increased acreage, that if you have no potatoes or corn land and have to use grain land, use barley or wheat in preference prefer-ence to oat land, "as beets follow wheat or barley better than oats. Just as soon as the grain land is dn enough, take a disc harrow and cut the st'Ubble to pieces, mixing It up a little with the surface dirt, then run a harrow or leveler over it before plowing. In this way, the stubble will be turned to the bottom of the furrow and will plow better. The stubble will not bother the cultivation cultiva-tion of beets, and will give a much better crop. This is very important and should be done while the soil is moist, and if properly done it will give excellent results unless the land is entirely worn out. On lands where the beets were not dug last fall, by reason of their being frozen, a disc harrow should be'used o cut them to pieces, follow closely with a float and fine tooth harrow to Tceep the land from drying out. |