By-Products 161 



disturb the fertility of the soil ; but this practice is not 

 economical when live-stock can be fed and the manure 

 returned to the land. It would be better, however, to 

 plow the tops under than to allow them to be taken 

 away from the farm and have no manure returned. It is 

 a much more profitable practice to buy stock to eat the 

 tops than to sell the tops, because the price obtained for 

 them is usually much below their feeding value, which 

 may generally be considered as equal to about one or two 

 tons of alfalfa hay for each acre of beets. Besides, if 

 their fertilizer value has to be replaced by commercial 

 fertilizer, the loss is considerable. 



Feeding and storing beet tops. 



There are three general methods of feeding beet tops. 

 The most common consists in turning the stock into the 

 fields to pasture the tops just as they were left when re- 

 moved from the beet. Although this is the easiest way, 

 it is very wasteful ; it is estimated that from one-third to 

 two-thirds of the tops are tramped into the ground or 

 soiled by manure and dirt. There is also danger that 

 the stock will over-eat if allowed to run freely to green 

 tops after they have been eating dry feed. When this 

 occurs the cattle scour excessively and fattening is de- 

 layed. This danger is somewhat lessened if the tops are 

 allowed to become dry. Tops, when left in the open, 

 sometimes tend to mold and cause trouble in feeding. 

 This is especially true in humid sections. If pasturing is 

 regulated somewhat for the first three or four days, the 

 stock may be trusted safely to feed on the tops without 

 injury. This method is less desirable than drying the 



