The Lamar register. [volume] (Lamar, Colo.) 1889-1952, 1915-05-19

actual experience with the effect of
yields of their crops. One man, who
has been growing beets in Indiana,
writes that he has harvested an aver
age of about II tons per acre, and
adds, Sugar beets have proved to me,
aside from their actual value, to be of
great benefit as rotation crop be-
tween corn, cabbage and potatoes" A
farmer in Michigan who has been ex-
perimenting with beets on land which
had produced crops of corn and beans
hardly worth harvesting" writes
that he harvested II tons of beets the
first year they were planted. The fol-
lowing year he planted corn in the
same field and harvested So bushels
per acre.
For years previous the field had
produced corn which did not reach
three feet in height and the ears were
nothing but nubbins." In summing up
he says: "Beets beat everything for
stirring up the soil" A farmer in
y
ed in beet raising for seven years,
writes: Il can raise a better crop of
oats after beets and l have raised 65
bushels of oats to the acre after the
beets, also good corn | would
rather have five acres of beet tops for
feed than ten acres Of corn fodder"
Another Michigan grower writes that
his average tonnage per acre is about
{ 10 or 10 tons. He says: Before we
raised beets we raised 45 bushels of
oats per acre and after beets we rails
ed 70 bushels per acre"
! A Wisconsin farmer who has been
growing beets for five years says:
"The benefit derived from raising the
beets is invaluable, for the farmer
has learned that by rotating his cereal
crops with beet crop the productive
ness of the soil has been increased
fully one-third." Another Wisconsin
farmer who has had a production of
Is tons per acre for which he received
SlOs writes: 81 feed the tops to my
mil-h cows and know they are worth
$40 an acre. With rotation of crops
planting beets once every year in four,
there will be a gain of 25 to 80 per
cent in the yield of cereal crops and
constant. increase in the beet crop"
An Ohio farmer writes: 81 have
found that the raising of sugar beets
| is benefit to the soil, for it loosens
up the soil and the tops that are left
in the field are as good a fertilizer as
one could wish for. | had spots of
poor soil on my farm that | could
scarcely raise corn on and since | have
raised beets on that part corn grows
as good there as it does on that which
] considered the best" A Colorado
farmer who has been growing beets
for nine years writes: "Our average
crop has been slightly over 16 tons.
Our great increase in yield has been
with grains, principally barley and
oats. In both cases the Yields have
raised from 45 to 55 to 60 bushels
by practicing a rotation with sugar
Ibeets." A Colorado official in com
menting on what beets have done for
/ his section of the state writes: Land
was valued and could be bought for
from % cents to $1.25 per acre; while
today that same land brings from 500
to 5000 per acre. This change was
accomplished by the building of the
sugar factory here" A sugar beet
farmer in northern Colorado writes
"The beets have cleaned the land from
wild oats and weeds and put it in a
fine state of cultivation. The yields
of all other crops have been doubled
and the country now looks like a gar
den. Before the planting and growing
of beets the land was so run down
with the constant growing of grain
that nothing would grow but wild oats
and sweet clover. The beets not only
increase the yield of other crops but
put the land in better condition and
give us an abundance of winter pas
ture for our stock, which is so import
ant to a farmer" An Arkansas val
LEY farmer writes that he has produc-
ed 20 tons of beets to the acre and
that he has found that the product of
wheat and oats increased 10 bushels