Arizona republican., 1912-04-09
SCIENTISTS SAY SUGAR BEETS ARE \ FINE
 REMEDY FOR MANY ILLS AFFLICT|hG SOILS

not a case of soil exhaustion. The plants have poisoned the soil and the toxin does not yield to fer tilizer The soil doctor then applies a specific which he has found by previous experience will combat the poison Cowpeas perhaps are finely chopped and mixed with the soil. After sufficient interval has elaps- ed another set of seedlings is plant
 ed with the result that vigorous
 and satisfactory crop is obtained,
 showing that the poisonous element
 has been eliminated. This method is
 applied to entire fields in instances
 where a diagnosis and study indi cates it's availability with the result
 that the processes demonstrated in the experiment are reproduced in the field.
 Sometimes however in refractory cases the soil doctor must have re- course to another method and the
 soil receives literally an injection of anti-toxin The soil doctor or the farmer sends to the department of 1 tube of bacteria along with two little packages of the food they win need during the period of their culture
 or propagation. Following the direc- tions the bacteria are propagate1 in i water and liquid applications made | to the soil The organic matter form ! ing the toxins is attacked by the bac- | teria and rendered harmless just as ! disease is combatted in persons by | vaccination.
 ! One of the most valuable specifics : in the materia medica of soil doc i toring is the sugar beet Its cul
 ture is helpful to sick soils and in- i vigorating in any soil In fact the
 sugar beet might be said to be an
 old family remedy since it is mat ter of history that the soils of Eur
 ope owe their present superior crop 1 yields to its general cultivation m rotation of other crops. Sucn use oi | the sugar beet had a royal sponsor 1 in Napoleon Bonaparte who flrst championed it as a soil medicine By edict he introduced its general cultivation in France at a time wher
 the soils of his country and Ger many reached the lowest ebb oi their proJuctiveness. To make sure
 that every farmer would give ear nest assistance to his plan for re-
 vivifying the soil. Napoleon prohlb-
 ited the importation of any SuGai
 thus ,lepriving the people of sweet until they grew their own sugar
 The result was that the end Of foul years the yield of crops grown Tn TO-
 tati0n with the sugar beet Tor tn
 first three years exceeded by abou one-fourth the combined yield of tn entire four years immediately pre- ceding the first planting or suga beets. This occurred in 1872 an l now, a century later. French am , German soil economists attribute tf wonderful productiveneSs of thei ] soils 10 Ihe general use of the suga beet grown with sufficient ire r auency in thier crop rotation sys
 tenn to exert a continual influenc , upon the soil. It is their belief sha 9 to this procedure the soil Of Europ 9 owes its ability to produce the fiv ? staple crops of rye, wheat barle! s oats and potatoes in ratio or aoou ,. two to one per acre over our oW e yields.
 | The efficiency of the sugar bee | as a soil medicine is due partly [ h the service it renders sick soil - or those which require merely to | e invigorated partly to the peculiar = ties of it's growth and partly to n h fact that it gains it's chef suster = ance directly from the air and tak' if practically nothing of value from U e soil Even ths little may be r' d turned to the soil by the farmer sln' S after the extraction of sugar ITO a the beet the residue may he use
 as fertilizer.
 - If the soil has indigestion the sug; Q beet acts in several ways to era' '- icate the trouble. It roots very deel s 1v in the soil. five or six inch