The Idaho Republican. [volume] (Blackfoot, Idaho) 1904-1932, 1918-09-24

the usual way, after they are free
from dirt. One digger and one top
per cost $500 and the side delivery
rake $135. These machines are now
on sale and orders can be placed thru
George H. Smith, the agricultural
superintendent for the sugar COM
pany in the Blackfoot district, The
hay rake spoken of is already in use
by a number of farmers in Bingham
county among them being Duffin
brothers, B. M. Parmelee, j. r. Cush-
man and Berg brothers of Spring
field and George A. Line of Sterling
Mark Austin, the agricultural sup
erintendent for the Utah-Idaho Sugar
company, and one of the successful
beet growers and stockmen was pre-
sent at the meeting Thursday and
gave a talk on the advantages of hav-
ing these machines to do the work
He stated that the machines will save
from SIS to Sc per acre as compared
with hand work and the advantage in
time is very great. 1t enables per-
son who is short of help to go along
and harvest a beet crop in much
less time than it would take by do
ing it with the usual amount of help
Mr.. Austin says the man with thirty
acres of beets or several men joining
together who have thirty acres can
save the cost of puller or topper
at one harvest. With sixty acres of
beets to harvest they can save the
cost of both puller and topper on one
harvest besides saving a great deal
of time. The side delivery rake will
enable them to very quickly harvest
and save all of the beet tops, while
harvest by the old hand method is
much slower and there is loss of
time besides the chances for the
leaves to become dry and parched by
exposure. He considers that it costs
$1.00 per ton to take the beet tops
from the field where the topper
leaves them and dump them in the
silo. The kind Of silo he refers to is
the pit scooped out like a potato
cellar, open at both ends so a team
can drive right Lnru.- The leaves are
unloaded on4,a layer of straw and
packed down. One ton of beet tops
is considered equal in value to half
a ton of hay and with hay worth SIS
per ton beet tops in the silo take a
value of $3.50 per ton altho they
cost only $1.00 per ton to handle.
The amount of beet tops that can be
taken from one acre of beets is half
the amount of tonnage of the beets
themselves. If twelve tons of beets
are harvested from one acre, six tons
or about $45 worth Of beet tops can
be harvested. That is equal to one
acre of alfalfa, which yields three
ton crop. Using the land for beets
and preserving the tops gives the
farmer as much from one acre in
beets and hay substitute as he has
been in the habit of getting from
nearly two acres.
The discovery of the great value
of beet tops was made by George
Bedford, who lives in northern Colo
RADIO. He is one of the big stock
feeders Of that country. He expert
mented with beet tops until he found
what is now considered the very best
way to preserve and feed them. Di-
rections of his method of silo as ap-
piled to beet tops has been published
several times in this paper and will
be published again soon.
Beet growers desiring to make
silos should estimate the tons of
beets per acre and make room for
half as many tons of tops. A ton
of beet tops fills space about 7x7x
when we'll packed. The tops make
the best silo when they are all within
the pit and the air tramped out and
shut out by a coating of straw
and dirt. The more they are ex-
posed to the air, as in a pile above
ground the less value they have at
feeding time.
Winter Feeding of Cattle
Arrangements are being made to
employ a good many farmers in this
valley to feed beef cattle during the