SUGAR BEETS. 



171 



The following table gives give the effects very concisely : 



Same kind of beets pulled 

 up Sept. 16th, after some days 

 of rain. 



* Beets pulled up Aug. Slst. 



Average. 



4.8 



Average. 



5.2 



When beets are closely planted, the action of rains manifests 

 itself principally in the development of leaves ; if the roots are 

 widely separated, they enlarge greatly under the influence of rains 

 while the percentage of sugar diminishes. 



Some of the beet growers used to strip the roots of some of 

 their leaves while they were growing, but this practice has no 

 sanction in experience, for it has been proved that the percentage 

 of sugar is greatly diminished by the stripping of leaves. 



Walkboff gives analyses of beets which had been cultivated 

 •without stripping the leaves; they contained 13.72 per cent, of 

 sugar, while beets of the same kind, cultivated in the same way, 

 but which had the leaves stripped twice, only gave 8.34 per cent, 

 of sugar. This practice, though detrimental to the beet for the 

 manufacture of sugar, is sometimes resorted to for beets used for 

 feeding purposes. 



With a soil of good quality and strict attention to the details of 

 culture, there is no reason why an acre should not yield at least 

 24,000 pounds of sugar beets, and even more than that. 



In France, M. Simon Legrand estimates that, by properly ma- 

 nuring and planting the beets closely enough, one can obtain, per 

 hectare, as much as 60,000 kilogrammes of beets, containing from 

 twelve to seventeen per cent, of sugar. 



Quantity of Mineral Substances taken from the soil by Beets. 

 Prof. Goessmann states in his report (p. 74) that " a fair average 

 crop of sugar beets abstracts per acre : 



By Roots and Leaves. 



Phosphoric acid 35 lbs. 



Potassa 164 lbs. 



Lime and magnesia 62.5 lbs. 



Silica 15.9 lbs. 



* De la Betterave; p. 65. 



