CHAPTER VI 
MANURING AND ROTATIONS 
Tue fact that sugar-beets may often be raised for 
several years on the same land without a decrease in 
yield has led many farmers to believe that the productivity 
of the land can be maintained without either the appli- 
cation of fertilizers or changing the crop. The opposite 
point of view, that beets are very hard on the land, is some- 
times held. Neither of these extremes is true. Where 
sugar-beets are raised continuously, a certain amount of 
food is carried away. Particularly is this the case if 
the tops and crowns are removed, since they contain the 
great part of the mineral salts of the entire plant. An 
unreplenished deposit of money in the bank, no matter 
how large, will in time be exhausted if continually drawn 
on. The plant-foods in the soil may be considered in 
much the same way. 
Fortunately most soils on which sugar-beets are raised 
in America are high in mineral plant-foods; further, very 
little of this mineral matter is lost if the by-products are 
returned to the land. Nevertheless, maintaining the 
fertility of the soil and thereby insuring a high yield is 
one of the chief problems of sugar-beet production. 
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