32 



that its influence as an obstacle is frequently 

 overrated, and based on somewhat obsolete 

 assumptions. The Government tax of from 

 40 dols. to 50 dols. per acre of sugar-beets, in 

 Germany and France, as well as our higher 

 prices of sugar, will go far towards covering 

 our most expensive labour. The interests 

 of the Louisiana sugar planters and the sugar- 

 beet cultivators of more northern sections of 

 the country are the same, as far as a proper 

 protection of their industry is concerned ; and 

 the public opinion, in view of the require- 

 ments of the Government, is apparently pre- 

 pared to accord to them, for some time at 

 least, this advantage. Great improvements 

 in agricultural implements and in modes of 

 securing the juice have reduce labour by 

 hand to a considerable extent. A short enu- 

 meration of the most conspicuous instances 

 may place this statement in its proper light. 

 Various seeding machines, improvements 

 more or less on Garrett's famous seed drill, are 

 used in jjlanting the seed, in four or more 

 rows at once, and at any desired distances 

 from 12 to 20 inches apart. According to 

 the size of the machine, one or two men, with 

 one or tvv'o horses or oxen, may seed from 

 8 to 16 acres per day; the same implement 

 can also be modified by replacing the seed 

 boxes with suitable knives to be used as cul- 

 tivators, to clean the space between the rows 

 of plants, and to cover the roots. Ploughs 

 with two knives are used to break up the soil 



TJic Country Gentlemafis Magazine 



on both sides of the rows of beets, to loosen 

 the latter in such a manner, without lace- 

 rating them, that children may do the har- 

 vesting of the roots. In fact, the whole work 

 in the field, after the soil is once properly 

 broken up, calls for no extraordinary labour. 

 A good deal of the work can be done by boys. 

 Machines do the washing, the grinding or 

 cutting, and general handling of the roots 

 to the centrifiigal apparatus. The task of 

 handling the pulp of beetroots for the press 

 requires, comparatively speaking, a large sup- 

 ply of hands to do the business connected 

 with that process, but Roberts' diffusion 

 dispenses with a large number of the hands 

 formerly required in the press-room — nearly 

 one-half." 



In further support of his position, the 

 author cites the introduction of the Roberts' 

 diffusion process, which, though it reduced 

 the expenses for labour in the press-room 

 one-half, yet this reduction only made one- 

 sixth of the extra earnings of the manufac- 

 turer. It is thus seen to what an extent the 

 success of this mdustry depends upon the skil- 

 ful culture of the roots ; and though skill is 

 undoubtedly requisite in all the subsequent 

 processes of extraction and manufacture of 

 the sugar, it appears plain that, with increas- 

 ing knowledge, we shall be able ultimately to 

 estabHsh this department of agriculture and 

 manufacture on a more sound and permanent 

 basis. 



THE IMPROVEMENT OF PASTURE LAND IN WALES. 



By JNIr Buckley. 



T"HE subject we have for consideration is 

 the improvement of our " Existing 

 Grass Lands," that is, of our pastures and 

 meadows. Do not the high prices of butchers' 

 meat and of dairy produce increasingly press 

 these subjects upon our attention ? I noticed 

 a few weeks ago that to relieve the high price 



Read before the Carmarthenshire Farmers' Ckib. 



of animal food an honourable member in the 

 House of Commons proposed to lay a re- 

 striction on the killing of calves and lambs. 

 It appears to me that if such a measure could 

 be enforced, it would be more likely to de- 

 crease than increase the quantity of butchers' 

 meat. It is not the increase of the number 

 of animals, but, first of all, the increase of 

 food, by extending and improving our grass 



