90 CULTURE OF THE SUGAR BEET. 



which will at the same time satisfy the demands of the producer and 

 the manufacturer j that is, that will give a large yield to respond to the 

 demands of the former, combined with good quality and high richness 

 in sugar to respond to the demands of the latter. In the opinion of 

 some of those who have devoted themselves to this work, the hope of a 

 result such as we have described must be considered almost useless, if 

 we depend upon the root and its characteristics, but much valuable as- 

 sistance may be rendered in the attainment of this end, as we shall see 

 later on, by the intelligent application of fertilizers to the crop and the 

 methods of culture adopted and employed. 



In the earlier experiments in this line, those of Mons. L. Vilmorin, at- 

 tention was more especially directed to the production of very rich beets, 

 with no particular care to the size, the desire being rather to obtain 

 beets of small size, with tapering form and smooth surface j but the 

 late work of all engaged in this kind of experiment and research has 

 been directed to the enrichment of races giving roots of larger volume 

 and fuller form, making them better adapted to all soils and all methods 

 of culture. In most cases, therefore, the work starts from the races 

 most extensively grown. 



Vilmorin began his work by following the method employed in Ger- 

 many of taking the specific gravity of the roots by plunging them in 

 saline solutions of known density, but he soon found that, in conse- 

 quence of the almost constant presence of an internal cavity, this method 

 was inexact. 



Dubrunfaut further explains the cause of the inaccuracy of this method 

 in the fact of the existence of air and gases within the body of the root. 

 Vilmorin therefore resorted to the method of taking from the center of 

 the root under examination a cylindrical portion by means of a cutting 

 tube, and determining the density of the portion thus obtained, in solu- 

 tions of sugar of known specific gravity, but these solutions were dis- 

 carded on account of their unstable character, and similar solutions of salt 

 substituted. But the loss of sugar in the sample by osmosis when im- 

 mersed in the saline solutions renders this mode of procedure also on- 

 suited to the attainment of the end in view, and he finally turned to the 

 determination of the density of the juice itself as the readiest and most 

 exact means of determining the sugar content of the sample. The sample 

 removed from the beet, furnished on grating and pressing sufficient of 

 juice to admit of taking the weight of a metallic cube of known dimen- 

 sions immersed in it, from which the density of the juice could readily 

 be calculated. This method of determination he found to give more 

 accurate results than any other when working upon so small a quantity 

 of material. 



It is useless to add [lie says in his paper read before the Academy of Sciences in 

 November, 1856] that the temperature taken by means of a thermometer with tenths 

 of degrees is carried on the register after each weight of the ingot, and that the gauge 

 of the vases, the fineness of the suspending thread, and the identity of all the condi- 

 tions of the operation eliminates errors which at first produced certain irregularities 

 in the manner of working. 



