80 THE SUGAR INDUSTRY. 



should potatoes or other gross potash -feeders immediately precede or follow beets. 

 The best rotation in Nebraska is (1) beets, (2) wheat or oats, (3) corn, (4) wheat or 

 oats or barley, (5) beets. If beets are wanted every third year, the Nebraska rotation 

 is (1) beets, (2) small grain, (3) corn, (4) beets. Utah experience with rotations is 

 limited. 



In northern California, beets follow barley most admirably, wheat being the next 

 crop (1) beets, (2) wheat, (3) barley, (4) beets. Much is yet to be learned about 

 the best rotations under American conditions, but one including one or two crops of 

 clover or alfalfa will usually be found excellent. Instead of giving small grains the 

 second year, a few Nebraska farmers prefer to allow the land to remain fallow, plow- 

 ing it five or six times to prevent a growth of weeds, then cultivating only in spring 

 before seeding. 



FEEDING THE PLANT. 



The sugar beet has thus far been mainly grown in America for commercial pur- 

 poses on comparatively virgin soils at the west without fertilization. In Europe, on 

 the other hand, the liberal use of fertilizers is essential. It is already being found 

 that even our virgin soils will deteriorate if there is not put back upon the land the 

 plant food taken from it by the crop. While' the beet takes. comparatively large quan- 

 tities of plant food from the soil, much of this can be returned to the land if the 

 pulp and tops are fed to stock and the solid and liquid excrement applied to the soil. 

 The lime cake and the bone black from the sugar factory should also be used. 



AVERAGE QUANTITIES OF PLANT FOOD REMOVED IN 1000 POUNDS EACH OF BEET ROOTS AND BEET LEAVES. 



Roots Leaves Total 



Constituents Ibs Ibs Ibs 



Potash, 3.3 C.5 9.8 



Phosphoric acid, 0.8 1.3 2.1 



Magnesia, 0.5 3.0 3.5 



Total ash*, 7.1 18.1 25.2 



Nitrogen, 1.6 3.9 4.5 



*The ash includes a large proportion of lime. 



It will be seen that the leaves contain more than twice as much of the principal 

 elements as do the roots. Hence, the wisdom of leaving them on the field, if not fed 

 to stock. Magnesia and lime are supplied to the soil at low cost in the form of lime 

 cake. The plant requires much lime, and if it is not sufficiently present in the soil 

 its absence must be made good. The plant is a most liberal feeder of potash and ni- 

 trogen, its demands lor phosphoric acid being comparatively limited; hence, the wis- 

 dom of applying fertilizers containing an excess of potash and low in phosphoric acid. 

 We would especially emphasize the importance of potash, for even if the pulp is fed to 

 stock and their manure applied to the land, more or less potash is lost in process by 

 leaching or in the molasses, etc, as well as by failure to utilize all the liquid manure. 

 Potash and phosphoric acid can be used very freely on beet fields and seem to do bet- 

 ter together than when applied separately. This is not so with 'nitrogenous manures 

 or ammoniated substances, which tend to produce a quick and heavy growth of the 

 beet and thus diminish its sugar content. As a general rule, it will be found that in 

 the older and more exhausted soils, the generous use of fertilizers or manures is ad- 

 visable, as the land must be made rich. On the newer soils at the west, just what 



