120 BEET-ROOT SUGAR AND 



with a layer of straw six inches thick, and follow with 

 a covering of earth six inches deep, patting it down, 

 so that the rains shall not furrow it. Set one or more 

 tile ventilators loosely rilled with straw. In covering 

 the heap, throw up the earth so as to leave a ditch 

 around it about two feet from the base line, being sure 

 to so construct it as to drain the water away. Cover 

 the heap with an additional six inches of earth as late 

 as the season will allow. Heaps of roots, however 

 stored, must be properly ventilated. Vegetable mat 

 ter is invariably decomposed by heat ; hence the fre 

 quent loss invariably resulting from a want of care in 

 storing them. Let them be kept at as low a tempera 

 ture as possible above freezing point." 



SEED. 



The saving of seed is a matter of the greatest con 

 sequence, in connection with the production of the 

 sugar beet. In the infancy of beet-sugar manufacture 

 the ordinary forage beets, such as the red mangel-wur 

 zel, that contains only five to six per cent, of sugar, and 

 often less, were generally employed ; * but varieties far 

 richer were gradually introduced, and by judicious 

 selections and crosses of different varieties, the char 

 acter of the plant has been improved, and its saccha 

 rine properties largely increased. Experiments have 



* This accounts, in some measure, for the low percentage of 

 yield, and also for the high cost of sugar in former days ; for the 

 expenses were greater to work the poor beets, and less sugar was 

 obtained, than is now done. In 1840 it required eighteen tons 

 of beets to make a ton of sugar in the Zollverein. It now requires 

 less than twelve tons. 



