By-Products 



163 



Siloing beet tops. 



The greatest feed value can be obtained from beet tops 

 by siloing. This practice also proves beneficial by free- 

 ing the leaves from pests, such as the leaf -spot and crown- 

 rot organisms, and by removing the favorable hibernating 

 places for insects. Siloing has the serious drawback that 

 it requires considerable labor at a time when hands are 

 most needed. To make good silage, the tops should be 



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FIG. 24. Beet-top silo above ground. 



put into the silo within two or three days after being re- 

 moved from the beet. It usually pays to silo the tops if 

 conditions are favorable; but the supply and wages of 

 local labor and other economic considerations make the 

 problem one that each farmer must solve for himself. 



The usual method of siloing beet tops consists in digging 

 a trench six to ten feet wide, four to five feet deep, and 

 as long as necessary in a well-drained soil, as convenient 

 as possible to the feeding yards (Fig. 25). Silos are 

 sometimes made on top of the ground, as in Fig. 24, but 

 the depth is governed to some extent by the nearness of 



