Thus the total consumption in the United States for the year was 2,096,263 tons. . There are very few crops or manufactures of them of which this can be said so emphatically as it can be said of sugar-beets. They carry from the soil nitrogen, potash, phosphoric acid, lime, magnesia, and the other elements of plant-food.
Meats take away comparatively little plant-food from the soil compared with their money value.
The cotton-plant is not exhaustive if the stalks are plowed under and the seed is returned to the soil, either directly or through the instrumentality of domestic animals. Butter is also harmless in this respect, and does not impoverish the land on which the cow grazes.