4 The Sugar-Beet in America 
land. The cost. of these tillage operations is met by the 
beet crop, the increase in yield of the other crops usually 
coming as a net profit. 
Beets make an excellent crop to fit into the rotation. 
On account of the tillage required, they permit the eradi- 
cation of weeds that persist in other crops; they furnish, 
through their by-products, a large quantity of stock 
feed; they are deep-rooted, and consequently bring from 
considerable depth plant-food that is later made available 
to shallow-rooted crops; the period when work is re- 
quired by beets fits well with the raising of grain and 
alfalfa ; and, finally, they furnish a cash crop, which should 
be found in every rotation. Because of these conditions, 
beet-raising is a help to the individual farmer. 
The community as a whole is also benefited by the 
beet-sugar industry. Considerable ready money is thereby 
brought into the region and the farmer is enabled to know 
before the crop is planted that he has a sure market at a 
definite price. This tends to stabilize all phases of business 
in the community; it gives a standard market value to 
all land capable of raising beets profitably. The factory 
furnishes work to farm hands who would otherwise be 
idle in winter; boys and girls find employment in the 
beet fields when school is not in session. This employ- 
ment of the people of the community makes the industry 
valuable even when direct profits of beet production are 
small. 
Perhaps the greatest reason for encouraging the do- 
mestic production of beet-sugar is the greater national 
independence that results from having at home a supply 
of such an important food. In times of peace the ad- 
