40 SUPPLEMENT. 



brick chambers, being frequently interlaid with a small quantity 

 of chopped straw, and, finally, tightly covered with soil. The 

 fermented mass resulting from this operation keeps in an excel- 

 lent state of preservation for six to seven months. 



Produce of Leaves. 

 The leaves amount at the time of the harvesting of the roots 

 to about one-fourth of the weight of the latter ; calculating as 

 previously, 6,000 pounds of leaves would result from an acre. 

 The leaves are separated upon the fields and subsequently in 

 their green state plowed under deeply, or they are fed either 

 fresh or in a preserved state. The manuring effect of the 

 beet leaves is very great, since they contain in their fresh 

 state more potassa, more phosphoric acid and more nitrogenous 

 substances than an equal weight of roots. Their ash percent- 

 age is also larger than that of the beet roots, consisting mainly 

 of alkalies and alkaline earths. Almost one-third of all the 

 potassa, one-half of the phosphoric acid, and two-fifths of the 

 whole amount of nitrogenous substances of the entire sugar- 

 beet crop is contained in the leaves. As they can be fed in 

 small quantity only, in their fresh state, they are salted down 

 in pits. The pits used for this purpose ought to be in a dry 

 locality and dug to a depth of from five to six feet. The 

 bottom is covered from two to three inches thick with a layer 

 of chopped straw of oats, rye or wheat ; then a layer from 

 four to five inches thick of fresh beet leaves, mixed with one- 

 quarter of one per cent of common salt is put on and trodden 

 down, and these alternations continued until the pit is not only 

 filled, but raised from two to three feet above the ground, and 

 then a layer of two feet of soil is added as covering. Li the 

 same proportion as the mass shrinks in consequence of fermen- 

 tation new soil is added to keep the covering above the level of 

 the surrounding ground as protection from the rain. The 

 leaves in the pits begin soon to ferment and to discharge 

 moisture, which the straw absorbs ; they retain a strong smell 

 until January, when they turn by degrees sweet and are on 

 that account freely eaten by cattle. Sixty pounds of fresh 

 green leaves produce forty pounds of preserved leaf-mass ; one 

 acre furnishing thus about 3,900 pounds of such food, which, 

 taking 100 pounds of hay worth one dollar, is valued at 16.3 



