50 BULLETIN 995, TJ. S. DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE. 



and evenly burtied. The beet juice is treated with this burned lime- 

 stone, and a large part of the mineral matter taken up by the beet 

 plants in the process of growth combines with the lime and is removed 

 by filtering. The lime is then washed out or otherwise removed from 

 the mill and is known as waste lime or lime sludge. Large quantities 

 of this material accumulate at the various mills and may be used as a 

 soil improver and as a fertilizer. It is beneficial chiefly because of the 

 lime, which tends to improve the physical condition of the soil, and 

 slightly because of the mineral matter that the lime has removed from 

 the beet juice. The use of this material as a fertilizer has not become 

 general in this country. In some of the beet-sugar countries in 

 Europe this by-product is all used in making commercial fertilizers. 

 It is used in part as a filler in the manufacture of fertilizer and in part 

 as a soil improver just as it comes from the sugar mill. It therefore 

 has in this country two possibilities: First,. it may be used just as it 

 comes from the mill, and. second, it may be used in the manufacture 

 of commercial fertilizers. When first removed from the mill it is wet 

 and can be handled with difficulty, but it soon dries sufficiently to be 

 handled readily, is friable and easily incorporated with the soil, and 

 should all be used in improving farm lands. In some localities where 

 the value of this material has been realized it is washed out and car- 

 ried in ditches or flumes to the fields, where it is spread by the irrigat- 

 ing water. In this way it may be handled quickly at a minimum cost, 

 and if care is taken it may be evenly spread. As soon as the ground 

 on which the lime has been spread is sufficiently dry it should be 

 plowed and the lime thoroughly mixed with the soil. 



For sugar-beet culture there is very little danger of getting too 

 much lime in the soil. Beets not only thrive well on limed soil, but 

 the lime seems to have a beneficial effect under some conditions in 

 retarding the development of certain plant diseases.. 



ROADS. 



One of the most important factors in developing a beet-sugar 

 industry is that of roads. Certain localities otherwise adapted to 

 sugar-beet growing have been found in which this crop can not be 

 recommended or encouraged because of the condition of the roads. 

 Fortunately the interest in roads during the past few years has greatly 

 reduced the number of such localities. Road building and sugar-beet 

 culture have been mutually helpful. It is only by having good roads 

 that crops which must be hauled to market in numerous heavy loads 

 can be handled successfully; likewise, the demand that these crops 

 have made for good roads has stimulated their building and improve- 

 ment, as shown in Plate VI, figure 2. 



There are three points to be considered in connection with roads? 

 as related to sugar-beet culture: (1) The length of the haul. (2) the 



