The Holly chieftain., 1912-11-15
Larger Yields Of All Crops
Following Beet Culture
Boost Values Of
Farm Lands.

considering the bill to remove the proa
tective duty from imported sugar last
spring some of the most impressive tes-
timony brought forward in favor of the
sugar beet came from reports of the
actual experiences of Colorado farmers
collected by Truman G. Palmer secre-
tary of the United States beet sugar
industry. w l.. Ryan OF Loveland. for
instance, reported that he had raised
beet crop for ten years. On a twenty
eight acre field before raising sugar
h"ets'hc had succeeded by a system OF
rotation in r;ising from thirty to fifty
bushels of eat per acre After two
years of beet raising the same land
yielded seventyone bushels per acre, q
record crop. The land increased 30 pei
cent in value as n result of beet rails
ing
Virgil Stockton of Greeley had two
pieces of land side by side, one of ten
acres, the other of seven. The ten acre
patch, after several crops of alfalfa
was put into potatoes and yielded 1jC
bushels to the acre. The seven acre
field, after growing beets, produced 1Si
bushels of potatoes to the acre. Mr.
Stockton reported that not only did he
get thirty-seven bushels more to the
acre from his beet improved land, but
that the crop was better in quality and
actually brought him Il better price in
the market.
"Has Made Better Farming"
David Snyder of Platteville increased
his wheat yield from thirty to thirty
five bushels to thirty-five to fifty bush
els per acre. his oats from twenty to
twenty-five to fifty to seventy-fve, bar
ley from twenty-five to thirty to sew
enty to eighty-five and his potatoes
from a crop that was practically worth
less to 200 bushels
From Avondale a report came in
from the Taylor Mercantile company.
which had increased the wheat yield of
its land from twenty-five to forty bush
els per acre, the yield Of oats from
thirty TO fifty. beans from twelve to
eighteen bushels and hay from three to
four tons per acre. The writer of the
report added: Before the Introduction
of sugar beet raising farming was con
Quoted In a very loose way. AS it is
impossible to raise sugar beets at Il
profit without employing the best farm
ing methods, it has made better farm
ers. Grain and all other crops do well
following beets."
Farm Values Rise.
With direct returns from sugar beet
land running from SO to $50 an acre,
after paying for all the labor required
to make the crop. and with its demon
strated effect In increasing the yield
of succeeding crops. it Is not surpris-
ing to find that the erection of beet
sugar factories has in every case added
greatly to the value of surrounding
farm land as soon as the industry has
become established. While the rate
of increase varies greatly in different
parts of the state, farmers and real
estate men familiar with conditions in
all sections report that land near
sugar factory is almost uniformly
quoted at from $50 to $50 an acre
higher than land of equal fertility and
equal irrigation facilities outside the
factory radius. 1t is a conservative
estimate that the beet sugar industry
has added between SSOO0OOOO and
s1OOOOOOOo to the permanent wealth
of Colorado since its esta blishment
here.
Beet Pulp as Feed.
Two Industries that have profited
greatly from the development of the
Colorado sugar industry are stock
feeding and poultry raising. 1t is
widely known that beet pulp is one Of
the best feeds In the world for cattle,
and great demand for 1t is growing
up among feeders and dairymen in all
parts of the country. 1t remained,
however, for Colorado poultryman to
discover the merits of the sugar beet
for feeding chickens. a discovery that
is especially important In view of the
high price of grain. He found that his
chickens were very fond Of beets, pick
Ing to pieces the whole roots thrown
to them. A little experimenting
showed that with little corn on the
side sugar beets made an excellent
diet for poultry, and now great many
poultry raisers grow patch Of sugar
beets in order to furnish feed from
their own land. The saving is so great
that poultry raising is attracting
great many persons In the neighbor-
hood Of the cities or of convenient
S:::IIS..e .v:.,..