BEET SUGAR. I75 



long ago, yet but few farmers have taken the necessary steps 

 to return to the land sufficient of what they carry fi'oin it, in 

 order to be reasonably sure of good paying crops in general. 



Accepting the fact which every farmer has to admit as true, 

 and which is the foundation of all successful and remunera- 

 tive farming, that without manuring there can be no paj-ing 

 farming, the question of successful farming has been reduced 

 to the production of plenty and cheap manure. With plenty 

 of good manure, judiciously applied year after year, it does 

 not require an extra smart man to raise well paying crops ; on 

 over-cropped, worn out land, with manure applied in homoe- 

 opathic doses, or none at all, the most intelligent and indus- 

 trious farmer will find it up-hill work ; he will find, notwith- 

 standing the greatest exertion, he grows poorer every year. 

 But without raising and feeding roots to your cattle, it is 

 useless to expect large quantities of good and cheap manure. 

 Anything which will lead the fiirmer in the right direction to 

 root-raising, will bestow a lasting benefit on him and his 

 farm, and this the cultivation ofsugar beets most undoubt- 

 edly has done. Whatever the financial result of the first 

 year's cultivation of sugar beets has been to the farmer, it 

 has shown to him the right direction to successful farming, in 

 making roots one of the general farm crops. 



The farmer in nearly every State of the Union, has labored 

 under the disadvantage of starting in the wrong direction, and 

 once entered into the wrong system it has been kept up, and 

 we have tried to make up in acreage what we lacked in yield 

 from a given extent of ground ; this applies as well to Aroos- 

 took county as to any other locality. But this starting in the 

 wrong direction has not been without a natural cause. The 

 pioneer who enters the wilderness to clear and subdue wild 

 land, with very rare exceptions does so with very slender 

 means ; he has to provide shelter for himself and family, and 

 also provide food. He cannot, therefore, be expected to start 

 with the inauguration of a system of permanent improvement 

 which calls for the outlay of large sums of money, and the 

 waiting of years for returns from the same. What Avouder, 



