SPECIAL CROPS. 2 "6 



pounds of leaves, an excellent green fodder; and five hundred 

 pounds of pulp, worth one third as much as good hay. But 

 this is not all ; the beet crop cleans and prepares the soil ; and, 

 in a rotation, is one of the best preceders of any grain crop. 

 The yield of beets, per acre, varies from seventeen to forty-two 

 tons. We think that, with our improved methods, an average 

 yield of thirty tons per acre can readily be secured, but taking 

 the low average yield of twenty tons per acre, at live dollars 

 per ton, is one hundred dollars, deducting the highest estimate 

 of the cost of production, three dollars per ton, leaves .Kjrt}'- dol- 

 lars per acre clear profit to the farmer. Considering the 

 probability of a yield of thirty tons per acre, costing two dol- 

 lars per ton, we have the possibility of a profit of ninety dol- 

 lars per acre. 



There are, at present, but few manufactories of beet sugar in 

 this country, but they would spring up on every side, if the 

 farmers once determined to raise the crops, and made that 

 determination known. Communities settling on the rich soils 

 of the West, have this matter in their own hands. Let a dozen 

 farmers, in any section of the country, agree with some capital- 

 ist to supply him with beets, and a market will be at once 

 created. It is for farmers to agitate this matter, in their daily 

 conversation, in their visits to the city markets, in farmer.^' 

 clubs, and through the columns of their chosen agricultural 

 journals. The manufacture must be exceedingly profitable. 

 It is carried on from September to March, a period when labor 

 is easily commanded. It will employ the extra farm laborers, 

 at a season when their services are not required on the farm ; 

 thus incidentally conferring a permanent benefit upon ovcvy 

 community, where such an industry is established. ' The 

 estimated cost of workiujr one thousajid tons of beets is. 



