162 The Sugar-Beet in America 



tops and feeding as hay or than making them into silage. 

 When labor is expensive and feed cheap, this may be the 

 most economical method of feeding. 



When hay is more expensive and when labor is avail- 

 able shortly after the beet harvest, it is common to gather 

 the tops after they have cured in the field and stack them 

 like hay. Whether it is more profitable to dry-cure the 

 tops or to silo them is a difficult question to answer in 

 arid regions where curing is easy, but in humid regions 

 siloing is unquestionably to be preferred. In case the 

 beets were thrown in piles before topping, the tops are 

 usually in piles that can be gathered easily; but when 

 topping is done directly from rows or by a mechanical 

 topper, it is usually necessary to gather the tops with 

 a hay rake before hauling them. A large part of the tops 

 is always lost in handling them dry ; hence it is usually 

 advisable to gather while they are still green or only partly 

 dry. Piling green results in a smaller loss than does 

 curing in the open field. Usually there is considerable 

 dirt gathered with the tops. This could be avoided by 

 using care in gathering. 



Under ordinary conditions in a sugar-beet region, live- 

 stock feeding is an important industry and feed is rather 

 expensive because land that might otherwise produce 

 forage crops is planted to beets. It is important, there- 

 fore, that as much cheap feed be used as possible. Since 

 tops are a good and also a cheap live-stock feed, much 

 more attention should be given to their preservation than 

 is usually done in this country. 



Methods of handling by-products are shown in Plate 

 XX. 



