CULTIVATION OF THE BEET. 67 



plain how the cultivator of the north can extract as 

 much sugar from a hectare of his cold and wet land, 

 as the indolent Creole from the rich soil of the Antilles, 

 bathed in sweet odors and in sunshine." 



The basis of the agriculture of England is the turnip. 

 In the best cultivated districts of France, it is the beet. 

 M. Barral, a celebrated writer on agriculture, says, 

 " I did not find any good crops except in those coun 

 tries where an industrial culture prevailed, which is 

 especially the case in those where the beet is culti 

 vated." 



Another writer says, " Of all species of industry 

 which it is desirable to see extended in France, the 

 manufacture of sugar and alcohol occupies the first 

 rank. Branches of industry which are pursued in the 

 winter deserve to be supported, because they give em 

 ployment to laborers who work in the fields in sum 

 mer, and thereby enable them to increase the amount 

 of their yearly wages." 



Another writer says, that " all cultivators and econ 

 omists are unanimous in recommending the cultivation 

 of the sugar-producing plant, which is the source of 

 deep tillage, heavy manuring, and increased produc 

 tion. No one believes now that it exhausts and im 

 poverishes the soil, or that it hurts other crops : these 

 are the prejudices of a by-gone age, which science 

 and practice have banished, to set up in their place a 

 recognition of benefits of the highest order produced 

 by the culture of the beet." 



M. Bureau says, " The manufacture of beet sugar 

 was formerly charged with being a local industry. 

 To-day it no longer deserves that reproach, for it is not 



