SUGAR BEETS. 169 



bad quality and had not been properly prepared. The beets pro- 

 duced by the unsoaked seed had many forked roots, owing to the 

 fact that they were less advanced in growth than the soaked seeds, 

 when the hot and dry weather rendered the soil bard and compact. 



Water slightly acidi6cd with nitric acid has been recommended 

 for soaking seeds. Boettger discovered that the germination of 

 seed is generally hastened by soaking for a few minutes in a weak 

 solution of either potash, soda, or ammonia. Many other sub- 

 stances have been used. 



Vilmoriu thinks that beet seeds should retain their vitality for 

 five years. M. M. Champion and Pellet had seeds which would 

 not germinate after nine years of keeping. 



Soil. The best soil for sugar beet cultivation is a deep sandy 

 loam, which may be somewhat calcareous ; it should not however 

 be clayey, as it becomes so compact in dry weather as to materi- 

 ally interfere with the growth of the root ; in wet weather it leads 

 to the production of a large watery beet of low sugar percentage. 

 The subsoil should be freely permeable, or the land carefully un- 

 derdrained. The land should be deeply plowed in the fall — the 

 deeper the better — a foot to eighteen inches being none too deep. 

 The manure is now also applied, plowed deep into the soil and 

 thoroughly mixed with it. The soil should be carefully broken up 

 and loosened before seeding. 



The manure should be slow acting. It is advisable sometimes 

 to plow again after the first frosts. The seeds are planted by 

 hand or by a sower; from 12 to 18 pounds are used per acre. 

 These seeds should be sowed as near together as possible ; when 

 sowed by hand, they may be dropped " fourteen inches apart, or, 

 if sowed by machine, they are dropped eight inches apart in rows 

 twenty inches apart, which allows one horse with implement to 

 pass between."* 



The influence of the space between the roots may be gathered 

 from the following experiments of Champion and Pellet. 



Influence of space upon the weight of roots: 



Source of Seed. Space between Rows. Weight of Root. 



Vilmorin Seed. 20 centimetres. 354 grammes. 



• do. 30 do. 460 do. 



do. 60 do. 1200 do. 



(1 centimetre = 0.3937 inch.) 



* Prof. Goessman's Report on the production of beet sugar as an Agricultural Ex- 

 periment in Massachusetts; p. 58. 



