FEEDING SEED STALKS AND SEED. 115 



sider that the weight of leaves is nearly equal to one-half the 

 weight of the beets, it is easy to estimate the enormous volume 

 of cheap fodder farmers are to have at their disposal. 



Corenwinder, not many years since, demonstrated that a lux- Relation of beet 

 uriant foliage always indicated a high sugar percentage. Accord- to leaf com- 

 ing to Deherain, beets testing 16 per cent, sugar will have leaves position- 

 weighing 60 Ibs. per 100 Ibs. roots, while leaves from roots con- 

 taining 11 per cent, sugar would not weigh 30 Ibs. 



The quality of the beets has an important influence on the 

 saline composition of leaves; the richer the beet, the higher the 

 percentage of salts in leaves. The saline elements taken from the 

 soil and contained in leaves are for beets testing 15 per cent. 

 sugar, about as follows: 



Potassa 5.30 to 5.7, soda 1.45 to 1.55, lime 1.40 to 1.55, 

 magnesia 1.18 to 1.30, chlorin 1.44 to 1.65, sulphuric acid 

 0.64 to 0.65, silica 0.35 to 0.64, phosphoric acid 1.18 to 1.20, 

 various 0.78 to 0.85, in a total of 14. Strange as it may seem, 

 these show 14 Ibs. of important substance, taken from the soil 

 by leaves, for every 100 Ibs. sugar contained in the roots. 



Grouven also says that 100 Ibs. of fermented leaves are equal 

 for feeding purposes to 150 Ibs. of fresh leaves, and equal to 

 about 20 Ibs. of the very best fodder. 



Attention should be called to some experiments in which cows 

 were fed upon beet leaves and gave milk, from 24 Ibs. of which 

 there was extracted 1 Ib. butter. With the same cows, but with- 

 out leaves, 28 Ibs. of milk were necessary to produce 1 Ib. of butter. 

 This would show beyond cavil, that beet leaves are favorable to 

 milk production. Wild's experiments demonstrate that very 

 satisfactory results may be obtained by feeding beet leaves and 

 straw to sheep; he found that 57 per cent, of total organic sub- 

 stances were digested. Maercker made the following experiment 

 in feeding beet leaves and necks to sheep. There were two series 

 of ten animals each, one series receiving 50 kilos of beet leaves 

 and the other 40 kilos of residuum cossettes, to which was added 

 the desired percentage of nitric elements, etc. From a money 

 point of view, the results obtained were in favor of the leaves. 

 In another experiment the leaves were placed at the disposal of 

 the sheep, and the ten animals ate 67.6 kilos, their health not 



