174 BOARD OP AGRICULTURE. 



manured, potatoes and root crops in general, of which mangel is 

 the worst. The sugar beet, on the other hand, is a good crop to 

 precede almost any other farm plant. The succession of crops, 

 adapted to the interest of sugar beet industry, has reference to 

 two important objects, namely, an adequate supply of food to each 

 crop and the production of the largest possible amount of animal 

 manure. A fair crop of beet roots is of course more exhausting 

 to the soil, as far as phosphoric acid, and particularly potassa, is 

 concerned, than most of our farm plants ; a judicious system of 

 rotation divides that eflfect over several years, and thus enables 

 the farmer to draw more eflSciently on the natural resources of the 

 soil, and so avoid a direct outlay of money. The following suc- 

 cession of crops is considered very satisfactory, viz. : green fod- 

 der, wheat, sugar beets, and, finally, a summer grain crop ; or 

 barley, sugar beets, barley, green fodder, wheat, sugar beets ; 

 and these are economical as far as manure is concerned. Two 

 thousand three hundred pounds of hay, or its full equivalent in 

 fodder value, are considered suflBcient to replace the constituents 

 which a fair beet sugar crop abstracts per acre, in excess of what 

 refuse material, resulting from such crop in the course of beet 

 sugar manufacture, will compensate for." 



Rotation of crops not only has a very great advantage in pre- 

 venting the rapid exhaustion of the soil, but it also keeps in check 

 the development of the vegetable and animal parasites of the beet 

 plant, which, under other conditions, would increase very rapidly 

 and soon endanger the crops. A good rotation seems essential to 

 the economical cultivation of the sugar beet, reducing, as it does, 

 the expense which would have to be incurred for special manures, 

 in case beets alone were cultivated, and also greatly removing the 

 danger of ravages by parasites of the beet. 



Farmyard manure is very generally used as a manure for beet 

 crops ; it is well, however, that the beets should be a second crop, 

 as, by that time, the manure will have disseminated through the 

 soil, and will be thoroughly disintegrated. The manure should be 

 applied in the fall, if possible. 



In the cultivation of the sugar beet special manures are often 

 of great value, when used in moderation mixed with well decom- 

 posed compost. Manures, containing large quantities of nitrogen, 

 are not at all advisable for the sugar beet, as they give rise to 

 excessive leaf development, and increase the quantity of albumin- 

 oids in the roots, while, owing to excessive and rapid growth, 



