CALIFORNIA STOCK BEETS. 217 



voutly to be wished for in California. Given a favorable 

 season, and there is probably not a State that can surpass 

 California (even if any can equal her) in the number of 

 tons of high-grade beets that can be produced per acre." 



Beet Pulp for Stock Feed. The use of beet pulp for 

 stock feeding has increased rapidly during the last few 

 years, and promises soon to be as popular here as in Eu- 

 rope. It is fed fresh and put down in silos. It is very 

 cheaply siloed, because it packs down readily and it seals 

 itself from contact with the air by the formation of a sur- 

 face crust. Special information on the use in California 

 of beet wastes for stock is found in recent publications.* 



Varieties. Thus far California has relied upon Euro- 

 pean beet seed. We have not yet brought into practice 

 here the exact methods of testing and selecting the 

 "mother beets" for seed production which are practiced 

 in Germany and France. By this means the sugar-contents 

 have been increased and shape, thrift and other characters 

 of the beet have been advanced. It is possible that Cali- 

 fornia will in due time develop local seed supplies of the 

 highest quality, but no notable progress has yet been made 

 in that line. Of the varieties chiefly used at the present 

 time by the California sugar factories the best information 

 can be had from the managers, who furnish to growers 

 the seed which in their experience yields the best results, 

 and their contracts are conditioned upon the use of the 

 seed they furnish, 



BEETS AS FOOD FOR STOCK. 



All that has been said about the fitness of California 

 soils and climates to the growth of the sugar beet is also 

 applicable to the growth of beets for stock food. Early 

 plantings of beets furnish succulent food when the pastures 

 yield but "dry feed," which is the local name for grasses 

 and clovers which make rich hay as they stand in the field. 



*Pacific Rural Press, Aug. 21, and Sept. 11, 1909: Report No. 

 90, "Progress of the Beet Sugar Industry in the United States," 

 by C. F. Saylor, U. S. Dept. of Agr., Washington, D. C., 1909. 



