Watertown leader. [volume] (Watertown, Jefferson County, Wis.) 1909-1911, 1910-03-11
VOLUME XXXXX
Why Sugar Beet Culture
Helps the Land

In pl0wing for grain we usually turn
the soil over to depth of SIX inches.
sometimes seven, but more often five.
Beneath the soil the ground is so hard
that the main roots will not penetrate 1t
and consequently all the nutriment our
crops receive is drawn from the five to
seven inches Of top soil. To prepare the
soil properly for sugar beets sub-soll
plow is used, following the regular plow,
which stirs the soil to depth from
twelve to fourteen inches.
The general conception of a sugar
beet is that it is one large root, but this
is erroneous. In addition to the main
root there are a multitude OF small
fbrous roots which nourish the main
one and go down as deep as the earth Is
stirred.
When the main beet roots are plowed
up in the fall, these fbrOus roots are
broken off and remain in the ground,
and, in rotting, add humus to the lower
strata Of soil, also leaving numerous
small crevices to the full depth that the
main root has penetrated.
When other crops follow beets the
roots, instead of going down only to the
depth of the blowing, find the little en-
riched crevices left by The decayed small
beet roots and following them on down
they draw nutriment from twelve inches
of soil instead of from six inches of soil.
In other words, the culture of beets
doubles the soil without adding to the
acreage.
Sugar beets are drilled in rows 18 to
90 inches apart, and are thinned out in
rows from eight to ten inches apart.
With good stand this will average from
thirty to forty thousand beets per acre.
The fibrOus roots attached to each beet,
many of which are over one foot in
length, when dried weigh only few
ounces, but if they only average one
ounce to each beet they carry down into
the under strata of the soil over one ton
of humus per acre. Just imagine how
much money it would cost to purchase a
tor Of decayed vegetable matter and dis
tribute it evenly over an acre of ground,
then bury it to depth of from six to
fourteen inches, where it is most needed.
Such an operation on field of any size
would bankrupt any ordinary farmer.
Besides this, sugar is carbon, hydrogen
and oxygen, drawn wholly from the at
mosphere, being merely the sunlight,
the rain and the wind which sweeps over
the fields. The farmer who turns back
all the by-products, as the beat tops and
beet pulp, loses nothing from his soil,
while good crop of wheat carries away
plant food having today commercial
value of $500 per acre, and good crop
of tobacco carries away plant food worth
$1,000 per acre.
Evidence that sugar beet culture ben
efits the land can be found by comparing
the government statistics of the average
yield per acre in the United States with
those of European countries Wnere sugar
beets have been among the leading crops
Tor many years. Germany. which pro-
duces more sugar than any other cOun-
try, or about one-fifth of all the worlds
production, and all made from sugar
beets, has the highest average yield per
acre of other crops. The comparison
following shows that in wheat. oats and
potatoes the Yields are more than double
those of the United States.
acreage yield per acre in 1907