CULTIVATION OF THE BEET. 37 



sugar contained in the French beet was ten to ten 

 and one half per cent., and in those raised at North- 

 ampton seven and one half to nine per cent. He 

 attributed " the inferiority in richness to the inexpe- 

 rience of cultivators, and mainly to improper manuring. 

 The probability is, that with equal culture our beets 

 will surpass, in saccharine richness, those of France." 



Mr. Child estimated the cost of raising a crop of 

 beets at forty-two dollars per acre. He u had seen a 

 great number of estimates based on more or less prac- 

 tice ; and the great agreement which we find among 

 them satisfies us that the general result may be relied 

 upon. They are all very near forty dollars per acre. 

 The lowest is thirty-five dollars and the highest is for- 

 ty-four dollars." 



At the same time Mr. Child estimated the cost of cul- 

 tivating an acre of corn at thirty-one dollars and fifty 

 cents, and an acre of broom corn at forty-two dollars. 

 He says that the cost of cultivating an acre of beets 

 and that of an acre of broom corn are exactly alike. 



This corresponds with what I have said about the 

 sorghum, the cultivation of which is identical with 

 that of broom corn. He says, moreover, in reference 

 to the corn and broom-corn crops, 



" But neither of these crops is an enriching or a 

 cleaning crop : the beet is both, exterminating every 

 noxious plant, and leaving good stuff on the ground, 

 which ploughed in is equal to a quarter or half manur- 

 ing, i. e., to five or ten loads of manure per acre and 

 the expense of carting it." 



In cane-sugar-producing countries the number of 

 acres "tended" by a hand varies from one to five, 



