296 TRANSACTIONS OF THE 



although the operation is seldom so urgent as that of hoeing. After 

 hoeing, all the places where the seed has failed to take root are care- 

 fully replanted. For this purpose, the plants thinned out from the 

 places where the lines were too close are made use of. Another 

 object of replanting is to preserve a regular distance of twenty-five to 

 thirty centimetres between the plants, with the drills from sixty-five to 

 seventy-five centimetres apart. From forty-six thousand to fifty-three 

 thousand plants (without counting failures), having an average weight 

 of eight hundred grams each, can be grown per hectare — a total of from 

 thirty-two to forty tons. 



In average years the crops raised on good soils in the Aisne, Oise and 

 Ardennes Departments, where there are a great number of sugar facto- 

 ries and distilleries, amounts to from thirty to forty tons per hectare. 



Cultivation in Hills. 



This system of cultivation is fast superseding the older methods, as 

 much more abundant crops can in this way be produced, some growers 

 succeeding in obtaining sixty tons of roots per hectare, where under 

 the old system from thirty-five to forty tons only were raised. This 

 method of cultivation requires much more care and labor than cultiva- 

 tion in drills, but the roots produced are much more dense and rich in 

 sugar. 



The soil is thrown either with a common or double plough into two 

 bands or furrows, one against the other; soil so prepared presents con- 

 ditions more favorable for development of the roots in length and 

 densit}-, and at the same time diminishes the size of the collar, which 

 portion of the beet contains the smallest amount of sugar. Ploughing 

 and manuring are done as in the other method of cultivation, with the 

 exception that the manure is buried in the middle of the hills, where, 

 from greater contact with the air, it more readily decomposes. 



With heavy soils it will be found convenient to prepare the hills in 

 the fall, so that the soil, by contact with the air and winter frosts, ma}' 

 be rendered more porous and friable. As the hills so prepared settle a 

 little, it will be necessary before planting to run the double plough 

 between the furrows. Where fields are not manured until spring, the 

 hills should be formed as earhy as March, the ground being first har- 

 rowed, then ploughed, then rolled with a heavy roller. The hills are 

 made a second and even a third time, each of the operations being fol- 

 lowed by rolling, so that all the hills may have an equal height, and 

 that the summits of the hills, in which the beet is to take root, may 

 be firm, and not so liable to be dried up by the winds which prevail at 

 that season of the year. During the preparation of the hills, from two 

 to five hundred kilograms of Peruvian guano is sprinkled over them, 

 according to the quality of the soil. 



The distance between the hills is important, as it affects, in more than 

 one way, the growth and culture of the beet. The inclination of the 

 sides of the lulls being about forty-five degrees, the greater the distance 

 between the hills the "higher their summits will be, and the greater will 

 be the length of the beet. The soil also, with high hills, "is better 

 drained, better permeated by the air, and easier influenced by the first 

 heats, a circumstance which will facilitate early sowing and prolong the 

 time of vegetation for the beet, increasing also the amount of sugar. 



The distance between the hills contributes, also, to the facilities of 

 cultivation. The leaves readily develop in the space allowed them, and 



