IOS BEET-ROOT SUGAR AND 



of the spade or fork are too tedious and costly to be 

 employed in this country, and the common plough 

 injures a great many of the beets, thereby promoting 

 their decay in the pits. 



In harvesting the beet, it is advisable, chiefly for two 

 reasons, to select dry weather and a dry state of the 

 soil. If the weather immediately preceding harvest 

 is very wet, not only is the beet rendered more watery, 

 and the percentage of sugar contained in it less, 

 which of course is a disadvantage for the manufac- 

 turer, but the beets will not keep so well in the pits. 

 They are also more susceptible to the action of frost ; 

 for the richer the beet is in sugar, the better it will 

 keep, and the less likely is it to freeze. 



If the ground is wet, the earth also adheres more 

 closely to the roots, and they are neither so easily dug 

 nor so easily cleansed of the adhering soil. When the 

 ground is wet and the extracted roots are very dirty, 

 they must be gently knocked together to free them 

 from the superabundant soil, but not with such force 

 as to bruise them. Roots keep better when some 

 soil adheres to them ; but too much induces vege- 

 tation in the pits, which destroys the sugar. 



When the roots are thrown out by the u arracheur," 

 women and children place the beets from two rows 

 side by side upon the ground, all lying in the same 

 direction, with their leaves on one side and their roots 

 on the other. This is for the convenience of the 

 workman who cuts off the leaves. If the beets are 

 properly placed, his labors are lessened, and he is not 

 obliged to touch the beets with his hands. It takes 



o 



but little extra labor, and that of women and children, 



