CULTIVATION OF THE BEET. 6 1 



to thrash it. This person, after thrashing a quantity, 

 observed to his employer that the wheat on one side 

 of the loft thrashed easier, and had a better berry and 

 brighter straw, than on the other. Upon examination 

 it was found that the former had been produced upon 

 the beet, and the latter upon the corn, section of the 

 field, but with this difference, that the beet grew near- 

 est to the river, where it is considered that wheat is 

 most likely to blast. We had the advantage of exam- 

 ining these wheats, and the difference was clearly such 

 as the thrasher had stated. The proprietor found a 

 difference of three and a half pounds per bushel in 

 the weight. We presume that the difference in the 

 flour would be found much greater, because, the grains 

 of the inferior wheat being smaller, it would require 

 more of them to fill a measure ; and as the shrunk 

 grains have the same quantity of skin as the large, 

 and as it is the skins which make bran, it follows 

 that the superiority remarked would appear still 

 more signally if the two samples were ground and 

 bolted." 



Mr. Child, in a note, remarks, " Mr. Harrison O. 

 Apthorp, of Northampton, one of the earliest culti- 

 vators of the sugar beet in this country, has informed 

 us of the remarkable growth of herdsgrass as a succes- 

 sor of sugar beets on his grounds. The crop was pro- 

 nounced by the oldest farmers in Northampton village 

 superior to any of the kind they had ever seen in the 

 meadows." 



Several years ago, beet sugar, of very fine quality, 

 was made by the society of Shakers at Enfield, but 

 upon too small a scale, and by too crude a method, to 



