794 TRANSACTIONS OF THE AMERICAN INSTITUTE. 



pursued ; but it has penetrated into the east, the west, and the 

 south, — into German}^, Russia, Italy, Austria, Spain — everywhere." 



Another says, that "everywhere the beet is cultivated in France, 

 land advances in value, and the wages of workmen take the same 

 direction." 



"All Europe, though France has contributed the largest and 

 most glorious part towards the accomplishment of the result, is 

 destined to become a great sugai'-producing country, not less 

 important than those where the}' cultivate the cane, which many 

 believed to be the only plant suitable for the production of sugar, 

 that precious food, of which people of the present age are such 

 large consumers. Why should not sugar, which the mysterious 

 forces of nature have secreted in the beet, be extracted from it, 

 and the soil, prepared for new harvests, and rendered doubly 

 fertile by the thorough cultivation it demands, furnish increasing 

 quantities of food for man, and for beast ? It is the triumph of 

 industry." 



L'Echo Agricole says, that "all farmers who obtain first prizes 

 at the agricultural exhibitions are either sugar manufacturers, dis- 

 tillers, or cultivators of the beet. Those who have adopted this 

 branch of agriculture, either as proprietors or tenants, have really 

 obtained astonishing resuUs. They would be surprised if they 

 did not cavvy off all the first prizes at the pul)lic exhibitions, and 

 were consequently mentioned in the official reports of the govern- 

 ment." 



M. Vallerand, who took the first prize in the Department of 

 Aisne, bought, in 1853, a farm of eight hundred and thirty-two 

 acres, the sales of produce from which amounted to $8,000. In 

 1859 it produced $41,200. M. Dargent, who took the first prize 

 in the Department of Seine Inferieure, cultivated only fifty acres. 

 He so increased the production of this ftirm that he obtained 

 154,000 pounds, or 6S tons and 168 pounds, of beets from a single 

 acre. His 3'ield of wheat was 43^ bushels, and of oats 59| bushels, 

 to an acre. 



M. Har}', Pas de Calais, obtained from two hundred and ninety- 

 five acres 5,225 bushels of wheat, 2,500 tons of beets, and fattened 

 150 head of cattle. 



The culture of the beet involves the necessity of deep ploughing, 

 heavy manuring, and thorough weeding. The pulp fuom which 

 the juice is extracted in the manufacture is an excellent food for 

 cattle, the number of which has been increased, in ihe districts 



