40 BULLETIN 721^ U. S. DEPAETMENT OF AGRICULTUEE. 



after a few years of experience and remain in the community 

 throughout the year; such workers sometimes purchase land, thereby 

 becoming landowners and employers of labor. The labor imported 

 into an area for work in connection with sugar beets is handled un- 

 der contract at a fixed price per acre. Before he leaves his home 

 the laborer demands a contract stipulating the acreage that he will 

 be allowed to handle and the price per acre that he will receive for 

 the labor. Labor problems are more fully treated on pages 41 to 43. 



BEET BY-PRODUCTS AND LIVE STOCK. 



Live stock on a sugar-beet farm constitutes an important factor in 

 the success of beet growing from two standpoints : (1) The utilization 

 of beet tops and pulp and (2) the production of stable or barnyard 

 manure. 



Kind of live stock to feed. — Sugar-beet tops and pulp are good feed 

 for all kinds of live stock, including chickens, hogs, sheep, cattle, 

 and, to some extent, horses. Generally the tops and pulp are fed 

 to sheep and cattle. There are several methods by which the beet 

 tops may be utilized for feed. They may be pastured off, a process 

 which consists in turning the live stock into the beet field after the 

 beets have been harvested and the roots removed, as shown in Plate 

 IX, figure 1. The tops are left scattered over the ground, and this 

 method of feeding results in the ground being more or less trampled. 

 Sheep especially are inclined to travel more generally in paths, 

 thereby trampling the ground unevenly. In no case should the pas- 

 turing of the tops be permitted when the ground is wet, since the 

 ground itself would be seriously injured by trampling in that con- 

 dition and many of the tops would be wasted by being trampled into 

 the ground. While live stock thrives on beet tops and pulp, other 

 feed must be used in finishing the animals for the market. Beet tops, 

 especially the crowns, contain considerable mineral matter which 

 is beneficial to live stock, but it should not be fed in too large quan- 

 tities. Aside from pasturing the tops they are sometimes allowed to 

 cure partly and are then gathered into piles, hauled to the feed yard, 

 and fed in racks, one form of which is shown in Plate IX, figure 2. 

 This is a much more economical method of utilizing the tops, but it 

 involves the additional expense of gathering and hauling. The tops 

 may also be used as ensilage. When chopped with straw, cornstalks, 

 or other roughage excellent silage is produced. Both the tops and 

 the pulp are excellent for dairy cows, since they act as a tonic upon 

 the animals as well as a food and increase the flow of milk. Pulp 

 is used either fresh or dried. It is dried artificially, either by itself 

 or in combination with molasses. When dried by itself it contains 

 the same substances as when fresh ; when dried with molasses it, of 

 course, contains the added sugar and mineral matter. The object 



