CULTURE OF THE SUGAR BEET. 



71 



CHAPTEE IV. 



VARIETIES OF BEETS GROWN IN FRANCE— THEIR CHARACTERS, MODE 



OF SELECTING, ETC. 



The importance of the variety or race of the beet to be grown for sugar 

 cannot be questioned. A beet giving a large cultural yield rich in 

 sugar involves no more cost to the grower in its production than one 

 giving a small yield and low saccharine value. It is therefore useful to 

 choose those which will give the greatest returns and be at the same 

 time the most satisfactory in every way to the grower who must pro- 

 duce them and to the manufacturer who must extract the sugar. 



For the latter it is admitted that the raw material — the juice of which 

 contains the smallest percentage of mineral and organic impurities, other 

 things being equal — will give a larger yield of sugar than juices in which 

 these constituents exist in larger proportions, and it is well known and 

 generally understood that these favorable conditions are found in roots 

 of moderate size more frequently than in large ones. Thus Briem * says, 

 "The size of the beet is in the inverse ratio of its content of sugar and 

 salts ; the content of water increases with the size and weight of the 

 beet"; and Champion and Pellet state t that beets of good quality gen- 

 erally have an average weight of 700 to 800 grams (1£ to 1^ pounds), 

 and this size seems to be general!}- adopted as the most favorable by the 

 best authorities on beet culture in France and by the manufacturers al- 

 most unanimously. 



The rule that the smaller the beet the richer in sugar appears to find 

 illustration if not complete confirmation in the results of examination of 

 the beets submitted by Professor Deherain J to experiment at the college 

 farm at Grignon, and produced from seed furnished by Vilmorin, An- 

 drieux & Co. 



* Journal des Fabricants de Sucre, October 23, 1878. 



\La Bettrave a Sucre, p. 98. \ Annates Agronomiques. 



