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tation by Freuch producers. Its economic value to tiie industrial interest 

 of France is incalculable, furnisliiuf;:, as it does, not only the basis of a 

 large manutacturiug interest, but also a wide scope of employment for 

 agricultural labor, and a large amount of nutriment for farm-animals. 

 Those departments in which the sugar-beet has not yet become an essen- 

 tial point in the systems of rotation are expected to introduce it cau- 

 tiously, with due regard to the ecouotnic reasons which have rendered it 

 so effective in the north. 



The model intensive culture of the north may be impracticable in 

 other regions, at least under existing circumstances. Land worth only 

 $80 per acre will not remunerate the investment of woi-king-capital that 

 would be appropriate to land worth $400 ])er acre. Higii-priced land 

 near the market might easily be made to return from 10 to 15 jjer cent, 

 upon a working-capital of $80 per acre, while lands not so advantageously 

 situated might return the same rate per cent, on $8 per acre, with a 

 cultivation embracing pasturage and fallow. A practical adaptation of 

 methods to circumstances will regulate this matter. The extension of 

 railways is enlarging the area that may be profitably subjected to high 

 culture. If these new lands ca^n be brought up to the standard of the 

 north, the writer thinks that France will be able to sustain a population 

 of 50,000,000. 



An abundance of fodder-plants is an essential element in this. increased 

 production. In those departments in which this sugar-beet cannot be 

 successfully grown, some adequate substitute must be found. In many 

 localities the sugar-beet has failed merely from lack of knowledge and 

 skill in its cultivation. Strong local preferences, often mere prejudices, 

 are urged in behalf of different plants, such as the cabbage, the Jerusa- 

 lem-artichoke, the potato, the carrot, the rutabaga, the turnip, the radish, 

 &c. What is wanted is a predominant plant, assuri ng a regular abundance 

 of stable-feed and of stable-manure; a plant capable of withstanding- 

 drought, and requiring only a moderate amount of hand-labor. The 

 writer thinks that such a plant has been found in the maize, which 

 promises especiallj^ to meet the necessities of those parts of the country 

 which suffered most from the frosts of last May and the drought of the 

 following summer. It will take the piai^e of the sugar-be«t in rotation, and 

 will require from four to six tons of stable-manure per acre in the spring, 

 besides a complementary fertilization of sulphare of ammonia and super- 

 phosphate of chalk at planting-time. The maize will have this advan- 

 tage over the sugar-beet, that it will allow t!ie substitution of horse-im- 

 plements for hand-labor. Irrigation in summer will increase the yield, 

 but it can withstand the baleful influence of drought better than most 

 other plants. 



It is true that only some classes of lauds are suited to maize, but vv^ell- 

 chosen and weil-treated land may be made to produce 35 tons of green 

 fodder per acre, equivalent to 6 or 8 tons of dry hay, or three or four 

 times the yield of meadow of average quality. It is doubtful v*'hether 

 the sugar-beet itself can rival such a yield of maize, which has also 

 the advantage in cost, in resistance to drought, in adaptation to 

 local circumstances, and in regularity of production. There are regions 

 in which this crop with a high yield may be depended upon in a system 

 of rotation, affording masses of fodder that could" be obtained from no 

 other plant. Profitable results from its cultivation have been realized 

 by intelligent agriculturists. The writer insists that, in connection with 

 cabbages, turnips, rag-grass, &c., it may be made iwofitably to occupy a 

 large area of waste heather-land. In the South of France it will be of 

 especial advantage, augmenting its live-stock production and its domes- 



