Montana farmer-stockman. [volume], April 01, 1953, Image 1

About Montana farmer-stockman. [volume] (Great Falls, Mont.) 1947-1993

Image provided by: Montana Historical Society; Helena, MT

                
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SEEDING
H0EIN6
HAND THINNING
HARVESTING
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Thin Beets
Completely
By Machine
ß> ß/LL STELLMON
Roving Reporter
S AVE 30 to 50 per cent of labor costs,
eliminate most of the labor headache
of previous years and still maintain, if not
increase, sugar beet yields? You can do it
. . . if you thin your beets completely by
machine this spring.
Montana beet growers have proved these
savings are possible. Using the machine
thinner and system developed by Great
Western Sugar Co., they have moved a step
closer to complete mechanization of the
sugar beet crop by cutting out hand thin
ning altogether. And their opinion of the
machine is a nearly unanimous: It works!
The G-W mechanical thinner got its first
widespread trial in Montana last year.
Growers used it to thin—completely or
partially—40 per cent of beet acreage
served by Great Western as well as sub
stantial acreages in Holly Sugar Corp. and
American Crystal Sugar Co. territories.
Now the experiments are over; the program,
RECOMMENDED PROCEDURE
t
Start thinning when beets are in 6-leat stage. Use
8-spoke head and 1%-inch knives.
Three or four days later follow-up with 16-spoke
head and travel row in opposite direction.
Use hoe only for weeds and to reduce few re
maining doubles and multiples to singles.
S
MONTANA AND NORTHERN WYOMING
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G-W thinner in action« (Holly Sugar Corp. photo)
as one company official puts it, is on a
commercial basis.
It's still too early to know how exten
sively the thinner will be used on 1953
beets, but American Crystal officials esti
mate mechanically thinned acreage in their
Montana district will jump from the 12 per
cent of last year to a good 50 per cent this
year. And, nationally, some beet men be
lieve as much as 200,000 acres may be
thinned by machine alone this year, with
other thousands receiving partial machine
thinning.
Machine Is Simple
The machine responsible for these rapid
gains in beet mechanization is a down-the
row thinner with knife-spoke cutting heads.
The heads are ground-driven and set at an
angle to the row. As the machine is pulled,
the knives slice through the row, cutting
out weeds and excess beets with mathe
matical precision.
Operation is as simple as the machine
itself. You start thinning a little later than
you would with normal hand-work, pref
erably when the beets are in 6-leaf stage.
Thin first using an 8-spoke head and 1 3 A
inch knives, which will cut 50 per cent of
the germinating stand out of the row. Three
or four days later, follow up with a 16-spoke
head of a size determined by your stand,
and travel the row in the opposite direction.
If you follow recommendations, this
(Please turn to page 22)
twice-over