The Telegraph-courier. [volume] (Kenosha, Wis.) 1888-1946, 1913-08-21
Can Add $4,000, 900 TO
States Annual Farm Profits.
Consumers viii
Benefit.

approximately one and one-half bushels
to the acre.
1T may be interesting to note what
it would mean to Wisconsin farmers
in dollars and cents If from the area
they till to these five crops they Sc
cured the same acreage yields as are
obtained by the farmers Of Germany.
Official statistics of the two nations
show that if Wisconsin farmers had
reaped in 1910 the same yield per acre
of the four cereal crops and potatoes
that German farmers harvested, in
stead of a cash return of $54,000000
the higher yields per acre would have
tai return of over SOL 100000. By
merely equaling the yields obtained In
Germany the farm wealth of Wiscon-
sin from these five crops would have
been increased by $47,000,000 in this
one year 1t is evident from the mere
statement of this fact that it would
mean much in the way Of added pros
perity, not only to the farmers, but to
all the industries of the state, to Sc.
cure such results year after year. Yet
there is no reason why Wisconsin's
yields should not equal or exceed those
of Germany.
GAS a result of many years of study
| and investigation | have no hesitation
in saying that there is one principal
| cause, and one only, for the fact that
~ = hox
outdistanced us in improving the pro-
ductivity of their farm lands. That
| cause is the systematic cultivation of
| a hoed root crop an average of one
| year in four in rotation with cereals
and other staples. find also thor
| ough agreement, both among agricul-
/ tural scientists and among practical
! farmers, that the best of hoed root
crops for this purpose is the sugar beet.
| The reason for this is that wherever
| beet sugar factories have been estab-
| lished the farmer can sell the sugar
! content of his beet crop and receive a
| direct cash return therefor. The pulp
and tops of the beets remaining after
]
! of stock foods, and if these are fed
/ back onto the land none of its fertile
/ elements are taken away. In the case
! OF other root crops the only available
use for the roots is to feed them to live
stock. The direct cash return, which
| is clear gain to the sugar beet grower,
is lost in the cultivation of these other
/ root crops.
German administrators early grasp
! ed the great possibilities of the sugar
beet in increasing the productivity of
their farm lands, and Germany has
steadily encouraged the culture of this
crop in all possible ways. They have
done this not only by imposing heavy
tariff duties upon imported sugar, but
also by direct bounties upon the ex-
ported sugar Of domestic growth. In
the past Germany has expended hun.
dreds of millions of dollars in export
bounties upon sugar to enable her
manufacturers to sell abroad at less
4 than the cost of production She has
done this solely because of the bene-
fits of the sugar beet in increasing
general agricultural production,
American sugar beet farmers are
now rapidly learning to adopt proper
methods of rotation. Reports which
have collected from lis farmers scat
tered from Ohio to California who
have kept records of their yields be-
fore and since growing sugar beets IN
rotation with their other crops show
that they have increased their average
f, yield of corn 27.6 per cent, of oats 4S.1
1 per cent, of wheat 49.1 per cent, and
of barley 50 per cent, a collective av-
erage increase of 44.6 per cent, due to
the intelligent rotation of these crops
with sugar beets.
ITO the farmers of your own state
this subject has a special Importance.
| Wisconsin has every climatic and soil
condition requisite to the successful
growing of sugar beets on large
scale. This has been demonstrated
within the past few years in the most
practical way by the experience of
thousands of Wisconsin farmers in the
actual growing of sugar beets and by
the successful operation of several beet
sugar factories within the state limits
IAN extension of this industry
throughout the state would mean not
only large direct return to the GEN
eral industry of the state from its op-
Grafton, but also an addition of many
millions Of dollars year to the in
come of the people of the state as a
result of the additional millions Of
bushels of staple crops that would be
harvested. But this result cannot be
attained If the tariff on sugar is re-
moved or seriously reduced because
capital will not invest in expensive
1 plants for sugar manufacture under
conditions of certain disaster and loss
Moreover, the consumers of the
country will benefit a hundredfol'
more by the increase in the output #
food products through the general and
rapid extension of sugar beet culture
than they possibly could through the
saving Of even the full duty now
charged on imported sugar. and no one
who has studied the subject believes
that any such saving would result from
the removal Of the tariff on sugar