128 BEET-ROOT SUGAR AND 



admirably ; but the method is not universally approved 

 even by those who practise it. They say that sheep 

 manure is bad for the beet, but the disadvantage is 

 in a measure compensated for, when the pulp is fed to 

 sheep, by the excellent quality of mutton produced. 



Well-rotted, strawy manure is preferable to that 

 without straw. If applied to the beet, without any 

 preceding crop, it should be done in the fall, as directed 

 on page 92 ; if employed in spring, it should be 

 thoroughly " worked over," and made as fine as possi- 

 ble. vS table manures may be advantageously com- 

 posted with muck, with wood or coal ashes, or with 

 the young beets which have been thinned out, if they 

 are not all required for stock. Muck may be com- 

 posted with lime, or ashes, either of wood or coal. 

 The refuse of the sugar manufactory furnishes great 

 quantities of fertilizing materials, most of which are of 

 the very highest value. The earthy refuse of the 

 wash-house, where the beets are cleansed before rasp- 

 ing ; the little roots and fibres ; the decayed portions of 

 such beets as it may be necessary to trim ; the scum 

 of defecation ; the incrustations of the boilers, reser- 

 voirs, and cisterns ; the worn-out sacs ; the waste and 

 exhausted bone-black ; the ashes from the boilers ; and 

 the exhausted lime of defecation, are of great value. 

 They are all sources of revenue to the European manu- 

 facturer, and I have even seen mill-owners, besieged by 

 applicants for the privilege of buying the mud accumu- 

 lated in their factory yards from soil that fell off the 

 wheels of wagons used in transporting beets. 



The scums and incrustations, the lime and the bone- 

 black, should be mixed thoroughly together with an 



