THE BEET-SUGAR INDUSTRY IN THE UNITED STATES. 31 



number of the sugar-beet pests, including some of the fungi and 

 bacteria as well as insect pests, may be controlled by crop rotation. 



Effect of sugar heets upm% other crofs. — As a rule, the effect of 

 sugar beets upon succeeding crops is beneficial. This is especially 

 true of the small grains; that is, small grains grown after sugar 

 beets will almost invariably produce larger yields than when these 

 grains are made to follow other crops. The sugar beet does not 

 produce plant foods, as do the legumes, but owing to the long roots 

 and the methods of cultivation employed in growing and harvesting 

 the beet crop the soil is put in splendid tilth, thereby forming good 

 seed and root beds for the crops that follow the beets. These in- 

 direct benefits to the growers are important in considering the ad- 

 visability of growing sugar beets and should be estimated at their 

 just value. These indirect benefits due to sugar-beet growing have 

 only a remote bearing upon the price paid for beets and upon the 

 price of sugar. They should, however, fee considered in figuring the 

 profits derived from sugar-beet culture. 



COMPETING CROPS. 



Crops grown in competition with sugar beets may or may not 

 be suitable for rotation with sugar beets. By competing crops is 

 meant those crops grown in sugar-beet areas which appear to be 

 more profitable or more easily produced, or for some reason are so 

 favored by the farmer that he may possibly prefer them to sugar 

 beets. Some of the competing crops do not lend themselves readily 

 to a rotation with sugar beets. In such cases the competing crops 

 may be a limiting factor in sugar-beet production on an individual 

 farm, or if the crop is a general one it may be a limiting factor in 

 sugar-beet production in a given community. A crop may compete 

 with sugar beets because of its market price, because of the small 

 amount of labor involved in its production, because of the peculiar 

 fitness of the soil for the growing of that crop, because of local mar- 

 ket conditions, or because it fits more closely the requirements of the 

 individual farms than any other crop. The competing crops in the 

 sugar-beet sections are such as beans, tobacco, potatoes, muskmelons, 

 alfalfa, and grains. Other crops may temporarily be competing with 

 sugar beets and some of those mentioned may for local or other 

 reasons temporarily cease to be competing crops. Most of the com- 

 peting crops may form with sugar beets a satisfactory crop-rotation 

 system in one or more of the recognized sugar-beet areas. 



Beans. — In our farm-to-farm survey we have found beans a com- 

 peting crop in several localities, and under existing conditions it is 

 one of the strongest competitors. This crop is easily produced and 

 under present conditions it is bringing a fair return to the farmer 

 for the labor and money invested. In some of the areas studied 



