The Ogden standard. [volume] (Ogden City, Utah) 1902-1910, 1910-03-16

II evenly over an acre Of ground. and
inen bury II TO n depth of six 10 four
teen inchc6?' A whole lot more mon
~ Than most formers would care 10
pay, Is assured Sugar beets do Just
that for tho land. working every day.
Sugar is carbon. hydrogen and oxy-
gen In plain language It means n
chemical substance drawn from the
rnins, SUNLIGHT and winds II Is moth
Ing from this soil.
Stll the question remains unans-
wered as To why The land has improy-
cd in value for future The fibrous
roots, growing deep into the ground,
and after the gathering of the beet
crop, dccayinG there in n sub-soll, A
dccayed vegetable matter that fur
nishes nourishment To succeeding
crops. A sugar beet IS a root, the
main part of which furnishes the crop
as manufactured into sugar. The hun
dreds of little ibrous roots. clinging
TO the main stem, form a mat In the
subsoi that enricheS tho land under
the surface because they stay there.
Ii has been figured that II the fl
brous roots left In the ground after
harvesting tho sugar bcets, weigh only
three quarters OF an ounce per beet.
over one ton of vegetable matter is
left. furnishing humous underground
where it nourIshos. When 1t is con-
sidered, 1t is not remarkable that
crops following sugar beets arc larg-
er than otherwise. and no more re-
mArkable that the most famous az
ricultural expert In the world stated
that sugar beet culture would do moro
TO raising the standards Of agriculture
than any other one thing.
In Germany, the home of crop rota-
ton. fertilization and soil treatment.
where for hundreds of years the lands
have improved in productiyeness rath-
er than running down, the figures con-
piled by the government have shown
that oats, following sogar beets in
creased from 30S bushels per acre to
3S.2 per acre. Barley grew on an ay-
erage of 3AS bushels per acre. before
beet raising and S4.6 bushels after.
And more remarkable on the face OF
1t Is the fact that the land had been
used for sugar bcets as long as fess-
ible; needed TO be planted to some
thing else to rotate. One crop. acted
as an enricber for the other. and
neither could endure long without
help
The above cases mentioned in Ger
many were made from thirty. five
farms Of from 500 to 1000 acres each,
An aggregate that gives definite 1g-
ure to take as correct.
To bring it nearer home, and cite
cases In tho Arkansas Valley this
seeming chemical gymnastics of the
IL, tel 1c-
sumes more interest
Emery Robb, of the Rocky Ford dis
trict says that he farmed twenty
years in the valley raising an average
of 40 bushels of oats and 100 crates
OF cantaloupes before fatsing any
bects After raising beets on his
lands he raised so bushels of oats and
125 crates OF melons per acre. When
1t Is considered that instead OF paying
out for fertilizer. he received big
Income from his beets, meanwhile,
and his lands were improved without
added work.
NJ J. Horner, also OF Rocky Ford
says that on so acres of land, prior
TO his raising sugar beets, he raised
40 bushels OF oats and 25 bushels Of
wheat, and after raising sugar beets
on twenty acres, rotating his crop
each year. his oat Weld had been 20
bushels an acre and wheat 10 bush
els. He says. II consider the beet
crop OF value 10 increase the yield
of wheat and oats
Mr. John Johnson Of Los Animas.
says: "On twenty acres Of alfalfa
reseeded the first year VIC cut bet
ter than five tons per acre increasing
our yield over half Also increases
the small grain crop almost double
after sugar beets have been grown.
Surely Secretary Wilson knew what
he said. and his words are proving
themselves Crop rotation Is neces'
sary TO perpetual crops. Bonanza
farming hardly pays anywhere. Farm
Ing that increases the productiyeness
Of the land Instead OF decreasing 1t
naturally pays, aud pays good each
year But the increased value OF tho
land for all time is the largest inter
est on the investment II is there TO
stay for future generations. Yes. we
must conccde that Secretary Wilson
knows.
Truman G Palmer. an authority in
sugar beet culture and agriculture eco
nomics has said in sentence em-
bodying an enormous assertion, but
undoubtedly more than true. He says.
1T is safe to say that since the crea'
tion OF the world NO other factor has
had such influence in the production
OF human food supply as the pithy,
flbrous, woody, little root which tho
barbarians brought back from Italy
and planted on the Bohemian plat
eau.-Glenwood Springs Echo.