CULTURE OF THE SUGAR BEET. 113 



2. The proportion of alkaline salts, giving at the same time the meas- 

 ure of the foreign organic matters, was for 100 of beet : 



With large distances 1. f>12 



With small distances 0. 722 



3. With large distances there were 1G,326 roots per acre, and with the 

 small distances 40,122, or nearly triple. The yield in weight per acre was : 



Tons. 



With large distances 28.035 



With small distances 36. 045 



4. The quantity of salts removed per acre would be equal in round 

 numbers to : 



Pounds. 



With large distances 8-10 



With small distances 520 



If. Pagnoul says, in conclusion : 



Beets at small distances, while producing more of sugar, absorb less of saline matters. 



Now we know that the constituent principles of sugar are entirely furnished by the 

 atmosphere, and that the saline matters are furnished by the soil and by fertilizers ; 

 therefore, beets at small distances from each other (i. e., closely planted) are less exhausting 

 to the soil. 



Close culture is more profitable at the same time to the grower and the manufacturer. 



Dubrunfant says :* 



The multiplication of subjects to avoid large roots, and to facilitate at the same 

 time the production of a good constitution of the cellular tissue, is another condition 

 to which great importance should be attached in the interest of riclmess in sugar. 



Briem sayst "the separation of the roots should be 15 by 10 inches." 



In a late discussion in the meeting of the Cercle Agrkole du Pas-de- 

 Calais A it was developed that though the distance of 17 inches between 

 the rows was still in use, it is gradually giving way to the wider sepa- 

 ration of 20 inches, on account of the difficulties experienced in horse- 

 hoeing and the deficient aeration of the improved races of beets with 

 strong foliage, which require more room. 



At the same time that the wider distance between the rows is adopted, 

 the roots are left closer to each other in the row about 8 inches ; that is, 

 to confine them to from 7 to 9 roots to the square yard of surface. 



The experiments of M. Pagnoul, and results he obtained, together 

 with the other facts and figures given, will be sufficient to show the im- 

 portance of this matter of close planting, without quoting the results of 

 the same character obtained by Corenwinder, Ladureau, Mariage, Pellet, 

 Deherain, Yilmorin, and others; and we may conclude that for the 

 methods of culture that must be employed in the United States, where 

 hand labor cannot be obtained, the wider distance between the rows, 20 

 inches, should be adopted, separating the roots not more than 8 inches 

 in the rows. 



* La Sucrerie Indigene, xiii, 460. 

 t Journal des Fabricates de Sucre, October 23, 1878. 

 t Journal des Fabricants de Sucre, June 4, 1879. 

 8SB 



