38 



CULTURE OF THE SUGAR BEET. 



Average monthly rainfall in Belgium expressed in inche 



Relations bctiveen the number of years in ivhich the rainfall of the different months is below 

 2 inches (50.5 CI ") and of those in which it is above that figure. 



These tables show certain relations that it will be eminently advisable 

 to notice in the determination of localities favorable to beet-root culture. 

 Tor instance, we see that the maximum average of temperature will not 

 exceed 70° Fahrenheit ; that the minimum average of monthly rainfall 

 for the summer months is never below 2 inches; that the averages for 

 the number of rainy days during the different months do not fall below 

 10; that during the summer months the averages are even above 15, 

 and that the number of years in which the figures recorded are above 

 the average is proportionally greater than the number of years in which 

 they are below the average. And if it were possible to obtain the same 

 extent of figures for the other countries where the industry of beet cult- 

 ure and sugar manufacture is distributed and is prosperous, the relations 

 would doubtless be found to be closely comparable with those we have 

 just given. It is to be regretted, in connection with the matter of the 

 introduction of the culture in the United States, that we cannot quote 

 tables of records showing the average number of rainy days in our coun- 

 try, for it has an undoubted influence upon the value of the crop. 



We may now examine the conditions prevailing in other beet-producing 

 sections of Europe, as shown in the following tables we have been able 

 to compile from the works of Quetelet, Dove, Marie Davy, Jelenek and 

 Fritsche, and from the Atlas de V Observatoire de Paris, the Annuaire de 

 la Socicte Meteorologigue de France, and the Bulletin de la Bureau Centrale 

 de Meteorologie at Paris. 



