CULTIVATION OF THE BEET. 139 



PRESERVATION OF THE PULP. 



Beet pulp may be kept perfectly good for several 

 years. I have seen at Masny cattle eat with avidity 

 that which was two years old. 



The method of preservation there adopted was to 

 dig a ditch of any required length, eight or nine feet 

 deep, and of the same width, in a soil so dry and 

 hard that there was no danger of the sides crumbling. 



The bottom of this ditch was a little lower on one 

 side than on the other, to permit any water that might 

 exude from the mass to settle in the lower part. The 

 pulp was then packed and trodden solid into the ditch, 

 raised one or two feet above the surface at the sides 

 of the trench to allow for the settling of the mass, 

 then built up into the form of a sharp roof, and the 

 whole covered with one and one half to two feet of 

 earth, beaten solid with the back of a spade. 



Where the soil is not of a nature to allow the walls 

 to stand safely, the pit is walled with bricks laid in 

 cement. 



LEAVES. 



The practice of plucking from the beets a portion 

 of their leaves for feeding stock prevails in some dis- 

 tricts, but it is entirely unadvisable. When it is done, 

 the stripping begins in the month of August. Two 

 or three leaves are taken from each plant, until a suffi- 

 cient supply is obtained for the daily wants of the 

 herd. 



The reasons why the practice is a bad one are, that, 

 the leaves having important functions to perform, the 



