BEET LEAF STRIPPING. 95 



AVERAGE COMPOSITION OF BEET LEAVES AND TOPS. 



From this one concludes that between the tops and the entire 

 beet there is a very great difference. The necks have double 

 the nutritive value of the leaves. However, when fed to ani- 

 mals, it is the custom to combine the leaves and tops. 



A glance at these figures shows that the tops contain more 

 salts than the leaves; in raw protein the leaves have a slight 

 advantage; in pure protein the tops contain 1.25 per cent. 

 while the leaves contain only 0.75 per cent. The tops, weight 

 for weight, contain nearly twice as much of nitrogenous consti- 

 tuents as are possessed by the leaves. 



As soon as farmers of certain sections commence to realize 

 the value of beet leaves for cattle-feeding they do not appear to 

 be able to resist the temptation of stripping the beets of their 

 foliage before the harvesting period commences, and this prac- 

 tice means a considerable reduction in the ultimate sugar per- 

 centage of the roots, with an increase of the saline percentage. 

 The necks of the beet become more and more elongated. 

 Nature in her effort to restore the mutilation sends out new 

 leaves, which means a temporary reduction in the sugar per- 

 centage of the beet, and this is never replaced, notwithstanding 

 the fact that the young foliage performs a certain amount of sugar 

 elaboration. When the harvesting period arrives the tops must 

 be removed from the beets, and the larger they are the smaller 

 will become the ultimate yield of sugar beets per acre; further- 

 more, the farmer receives a decreased price for his beets, for 



* According to Wolf's analysis, the ash percentage is 1.5, of which 0.4 is 

 potassa, 0.2 soda, 0.3 lime, 0.17 magnesia, 0.07 phosphoric acid, 0.08 sulphuric 

 acid, 0.16 silicic acid, and 0.13 chlorin. 



Beet leaf 

 stripping. 



