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STATE BOARD OF AGRICULTURE. 



SUGAR BEETS IN ROTATION 



The sugar beet crop is a valuable one in Michigan rotations on adapted 

 soils. To produce a good crop of beets requires thorough fitting of the 

 soil and careful cultivation, thus leaving the land in excellent condition 

 without the need of plowing for a following crop of oats, barley, or 

 spring wheat, or of rye, if the beets are removed sufficiently early. If 

 the tops are returned to the soil, or manure from feeding the tops and 

 pulp is applied to the land which produced the beet crop, less fertility 

 is removed from the soil by beets than by any other Michigan cash crop. 



*From F. S. Harris, The Sugar Beet in America; Macmil'.an, New York. 



A ten ton crop of beets will contain approximately 70 pounds of min- 

 eral elements (ash). From three or four tons of tops and leaves are 

 produced containing 288 to 389 pounds of mineral elements (ash). From 

 a fertility maintainence standpoint, it is important that the tops and 

 leaves or manure produced from them be returned to the land. 



As a cash crop, sugar beets are among the most profitable from the 

 standpoint of the returns per acre. They require, however, a large 

 amount of hand labor and ample provision must be made to provide for 

 handling the crop. 



It is usual for beets to be grown after corn, beans, or potatoes which 

 leave the ground comparatively free of weeds. Clover sod plowed in the 

 fall can be put in excellent shape for beets by proper fitting in the 

 spring. Alfalfa or June grass (Kentucky Blue Grass) sods should be 

 followed by a season in corn or beans before planting to beets, because 

 of the expense involved in keeping down volunteer alfalfa or June grass. 



It is not a good practice to grow beets year after year on the same 

 land. Not only is fertility depleted and the organic content reduced, 

 but great loss can be expected, due to fungus diseases such as the 

 leaf spot, and insect injury, particularly from the root nematode. 



Sugar beets are especially helpful in the rotation in cleaning up the 

 land. The clean culture, hoeing and cultivating, given where beets are 

 properly cared for, leaves the land in good shape for the following crops. 

 When properly handled, farmers report success in controlling and eradi- 

 cating quack grass by means of a beet crop. The important consideration 

 in handling beets on land infested with quack grass is frequent and care- 

 ful cultivation with a cultivator which will go close to the row and which 



