CULTIVATION OF THE BEET. 27 



vence that also succeeds in the centre of the empire." 

 Tomlinson says, in his Cyclopedia, " It has been 

 shown by practical experiment and chemical analysis, 

 that there is no material difference in beet grown over 

 a region extending from the Atlantic to the Caspian 

 Sea, and from the Mediterranean Sea nearly to the 

 Arctic Ocean." 



The universal testimony of the che-mists, manufac 

 turers, and farmers, with whom I conversed, was, that 

 any good wheat land was suitable for beets. The 

 sugar beet is almost identical with the mangel wur- 

 zel, the cultivation of which for stock has been very 

 extensively and successfully practised in the Northern 

 and Western States. 



Repeated analyses made in the United States of 

 beets, as well as of carrots, and other sugar-containing 

 vegetables, show that they contain as much sugar as 

 similar vegetables in Europe. 



An analysis made of sugar beets, raised in Illinois, 

 showed that they contained twelve and one half per cent. 

 (12^-) of crystallizable sugar in October, and eleven 

 and four tenths per cent, in the following spring. A 

 fair average percentage of sugar in the beet of France 

 is eleven and one half per cent., in Germany it is about 

 thirteen per cent., and in Russia even richer. 



The quality of the beet has been very much im 

 proved within a few years, and within the last year 

 extraordinary results have been attained, beets having 

 been produced, containing even as high as eighteen per 

 cent, of sugar. In one instance twenty-one per cent, 

 was contained. 



The quality of the beet, as well as the amount ex- 



