The men in the foreground are “blocking” the beets, leaving a bunch of them every eight inches. Those in the rear are “thinning,” or pulling up the superfluous beetlets, leaving one in a place, eight inches apart.] [Illustration: READY FOR THE HARVEST. This field of beets yielded 20 tons to the acre. Ex-Secretary of Agriculture James Wilson is convinced that when American farmers become expert in beet culture they will average to produce more than 20 tons per acre because of the superiority of our soils. The ideal factory beet weighs about two pounds, and a perfect “stand” of such beets, one every eight inches, in rows eighteen inches apart, would yield 43¹⁄₃ tons per acre. The present average yield in the United States is about 10 tons per acre, while the hitherto “worn-out soils” of Germany yield 14 tons per acre, or 40% more than is secured from our “virgin soils.”] [Illustration: HUGE BINS TO HOLD THE BEETS AT FACTORY TOPPING THE BEETS. After the beets are plowed out they are topped or cut off by hand and the tops are fed to stock, for which purpose they are worth $3.00 per acre. They are topped just below the crown and the factories require that they be so topped as to remove any portion which grew above the ground, as such portion of the beet contains but a small percentage of sugar. The beet will grow in length, and, if as a result of shallow plowing or coming in contact with a rock it cannot grow downward, it will grow upward and out of the ground, thus necessitating a deeper topping and consequent loss to the farmer.] [Illustration: DUMPING CARS AT FACTORY WITH HYDRAULIC JACK.