The Twin Falls times. [volume] (Twin Falls, Idaho) 1905-1916, 1915-11-26
SUGAR FARMING IN KANSAS
A Manufacturing Success Built on
Raising Live Stock.
BY H. r. Palmer.

must De put DaCk INTO tne SOIL, AucTe
you have the basic law of agriculture,
written into the code OF the farmer OF
today by centuries OF husbandry. A
few years ago a group OF copper min
ing men Of Colorado recognized the
infallibility OF that principle and de-
,cided to work 1t out on big scale to
their profit. They picked out the sis
ter state of Kansas for their demon
stration and bet million dollars on
the result They are winning the bet
1t took vision and nerve to stake 4
million dollars on the sandy soil OF
the Arkansas Valley in Western Kan
sas, near the Colorado line. far re-
moved from the rain belt. And, as
faith without works is Dead" there
was careful planning and prospecting
before the land was bought and the
big project started But underlying
every stage Of the development of the
enterprise, there was always that fun
damental truth Of enduring agrlaul-
ture-the fertility OF the soil must be
preserved. Today the thousands of
acres of sugar beets, wheat, alfalfa,
maize, Kafir, oats, barley; the thous-
ands of cattle, hogs and horses; tons |
of machinery; farm and factory build |
ings; wells, irrigation ditches-all are
| letters spelling the motto of the Car
| den City Sugar and Land company,
"give back to the soil what you take
| out and let dollars be the by-product-"
| The theory Is simply worked out In
/ obedience to natural laws. Each ac-
tivity forms link in the chain Of the
evolution back to the soil. The process
is not unlike the old nursery verse,
This Is the House that Jack Built"
1t goes like this, without the rhyme,
| If you don't mind
| This is the sugar that sells
This is the beet that makes the SUI
gar that sells.
/ This Is the wheat ut sells, too,) and
| alfalfa that rotates to prepare the soil
| for the beet that makes the sugar that
! sells,
i These are the cattle that drop riches
on the soil for the wheat and alfalfa
A that rotate for the beet that makes
4 the sugar that sells.
This is the maize and Kafir and oats
and barley that together with alfalfa
and by-products Of the sugar refining
4 process) feed the cattle that enrich
the soil for the wheat and alfalfa that
rotate for the beet that makes the
sugar that sells.
-
bitches that water the grain that feeds
the cattle that enrich the soil for the
crops that rotate for the beet that
makes the. sugar that sells.
No one crop or part of the plan is
maintained for it's single individual
value, but only in It's necessary rela-
ton to the others and because of the
collective ability Of all to produce the
final result @
i The Garden City Sugar and Land
Company is not primarily in the cat
tie raising business. The cattle are
Egiven a place in the plan for the fer
tilizer they produce. The cattle hold
ings comprise breeding herd of two
thousand In addition, fifteen hun
{dred feeders are bought, fattened and
sold annually. There also are seven
81 ty-five' dairy cows whose product
lforms a. subsidiary profit.
Feed is grown only in sufficient
quantities to absorb other products in
a stock-feeding mixture. This mixture
consists of one-fourth dried beet pulp
land one-feurth. molasses (both by
products Of sugar making), one-fourth
lcrushed grain and one-fourth alfalfa
tmeal. The cattle are on diet OF this
mixture and alfalfa hay and are. han
l.dled in small units OF two hundred, d
foreman to every unit. The small unit
saves long hay and manure hauls. The
surplus feed is marketed.
A drove of 1900 hogs Is maintained
to offset the overhead expense OF fore
men who have to be employed the year
|araund, The Campaign" (sugar max
ers' term for the harvesting OF the
Itbeets and refining the product). comes
only once year, in the late fall and
early winter and lasts only about one
hundred days. The rest of the year
the sugar plant Is idle,
But the hogs are allowed to fol
low the cattle. They are pastured on
alfalfa and are given feed mixture
They also run in the beet fields after
the harvest and pick up many pound
| from best tops and the beets the har-
vesters missed
Last spring the Garden City Sugar
and Land company topped the Kansas
City Market with 405 head Of nogs
| After running In beet fields they were
| given 4-weeis' fattening feed Of
| three fourths ground maize and one.
fourth dried beet pulp.
| or its forty thousand acres Of hold
| ings, the company has about twenty
| one thousand In cultivation. There arr
| five thousand acres Ia beets, seventy
! Efive hundred In alfalfa, thirty-tbret
| hundred in wheat The rest is II
| feed grains and pasture land.
| The 1915 crop Of beets Is ready fol
harvest now n 1914 the crop aver
| aged twelve and fraction tons to thu
| acre. A good deal Of the beet LANE
| Is operated by tenants. The beet liant
|.cultivated by the company averages
more than fourteen tons to tho acre
| but the tenant land results pulled thi
general average down to twelve Ant
Ia fraction. The company has laugh
|itself lesson In labor eniciency tina
ldt Is not likely to forget Al the star
Il imported Russian farmers and pW
j take. The company now knows It. cal
1 get TAR better results By employing
i A ~ nr4Ham farm SvnrHhta IN 4 nA1AFw