IIO BEET-ROOT SUGAR AND 



son, has grown much above the surface, then a portion 

 of the green neck, which has been exposed to the air, 

 should be sliced off with the leaves. Mutilation of 

 the beet must be avoided, for every wound riot only 

 hastens decay in the pits, but even a slight exposure 

 to the air induces fermentation at the wounded part, 

 which somewhat lessens the production of crystallized 

 sugar ; therefore it is advisable to cultivate the plant 

 so that it will not be necessary to cut oft' any part of 

 the neck. After the leaves are cut off, the beets may 

 be either put at once into the pits or silos, transported 

 to the factory, or thrown into small piles. If the 

 latter course is adopted, the piles should not be made 

 more than two and a half feet high, and should be 

 covered at once with the leaves as a safeguard against 

 frost, and to exclude them from the unfavorable influ- 

 ence of light and air, which causes them to wither 

 and become flaccid, and tends to promote decay. 



The treatment after harvest is of the greatest im- 

 portance : upon it depends the ultimate value of the 

 crop, which may otherwise prove a total loss. 



PRESERVATION OF BEETS. 



The methods of preserving beets are various. In 

 some parts of Europe they are kept upon the surface 

 of the ground, and in immense solid piles, covering 

 acres of land to a uniform depth of about six feet. 

 I have even seen them between nine and ten feet deep. 

 In other cases they are placed on the ground in piles 

 ten or twelve feet wide at the base, five feet high, and 

 of any desired length, with the sides of the pile grad- 

 ually converging as they approach the requisite height. 



