Show PUN 1 I BEETS all illy ff ON FI hm SEIB BEDS HIRE beet planting time approaching 11 U A C agronomist gives timely advice As it is now approaching tinie time when sugar beets are to be planted it is important for farmers to have in mind the great importance of seeding early and of seeding on firm seed beds according to professor george stewart agronomist utah agricultural experiment peri ment station we have greatly changed our general idea as to the time of seeding sugar beets during the last dozen years or so beets used to be planted only after the season had warned warmed up pretty well and considerable time after the grain crops were seeded it is now recognized by sugar companies compan les and frequently urged by their agri culturists and properly so that beets should be sown just about as early as is possible of course there is some small danger of risk in case the beets should get well started and a very severe frost should follow ordinarily it is counted safe and wise to plant beets as soon as spring seems to have permanently opened in various sections of the country it lias ims been found that beets planted early yield anywhere from live to twenty per cent greater returns and sometimes even more than that than do beets planted later in the year sometimes only ten days will make a difference of several tons should the season turn off lot hot and try dry rather early another point of considerable importance is that seed beds for sugar beets need to be rather firm by this is meant not that these seed beds should be hard and crusted on top but that there should be about an inch or so of rather mellow surface soil and that thai the seed beds should be so thoroughly packed by means of janows and drags that horses walking on the land will merely leave leae distinct hoof prints and not sink in to any appreciable extent A number of years ago the united states department of agriculture made a cageful survey at lehi utah garland utah and idaho falls idaho it was found that nearly fifty per cent of the stand of beets was lost during the entire year and of this nineteen per cent was lost due to poor seed beds and improper seeding many of the beets were sown on lands that were so loose that the surface soil dried out before the beets could germinate and as a result large misses in in the rows occurred with a consequent reduction in yield the occasional missing of a single beet is not a beri eri ous matter but if the miss is for sev oral eral feet or sometimes for two or three rods as frequently happens due to poor seed beds then this loss is not made up by increased size of adjacent beets the most serious trouble in all in the seed beds was found to be in material uch such as alfalfa land that had been freshly broken up and had not been worked over sufficiently to pack the land it is a well known fact that when alfalfa land is sufficiently prepared beets give highest yields on oil such land but the risk has become so great that it is now deemed advisable as a general rule not to attempt to seed beets after such a crop as alfalfa very course farm manure may also leave the land in such a condition the chief difficulty with such a condition is poor germination and subsequent b suffering from moi moisture mois tuie even when germination does take place by way of summary then it should be said that carelessness iri in the preparation of the seed bed often causes very great losses this can be overcome by careful packing of the seed bed and seeding early farmers are therefore urged to take no risk but to pack t the he seed beds thoroughly and then sow as soon as the season warrants |