268 BEETROOT SUGAR IN FRANCE. 



of France ; but in 1866 the yield was 27 hectolitres. The 

 number of sheep and oxen has also increased for the same 

 arrondissement. 



Thus would it seem that tracts which yield the most beet 

 yield also the most wheat, oxen, and sheep are those, in 

 short, which contribute most largely to public alimentation. 

 In the arrondissements of Lille and Valenciennes the agri- 

 culture of beetroot has attained a high state of perfection, 

 yielding sometimes from 70,000 to 80,000 kilogrammes per 

 hectare. In the other parts of France the yield is by no 

 means so great, the general average being probably from 

 35,000 to 40,000 kilogrammes. 



The saccharine contents of good beet may be taken at 

 from 5 to 6 per cent, and 2,000 kilogrammes of sugat per 

 hectare may be set down as a fair average. Beet-refuse, or 

 the dry mass from which the juice has been extracted, is a 

 material of great value for cattle-feeding. 300 kilogrammes 

 of refuse, after being subjected to a preliminary fermenta- 

 tion, may be considered equivalent in nutritive value to 100 

 kilogrammes of dry hay. 



A draught-ox can be kept in -perfect condition by a ration 

 of 40 grammes of pulp in addition to 2 or 3 kilogrammes of 

 hay ; and on the calculation that beet-refuse amounts to one- 

 fifth of the original root, it follows that with an aggregate 

 mass of 900,000,000 kilogrammes a herd of 55,000 oxen, 

 or a flock of 550,000 sheep, yielding 600,000 kilogrammes 

 of flesh, could be kept in condition for the space of one year. 

 In this calculation it must not be forgotten that the herd 

 of oxen would furnish manure enough for the service of about 

 12,000 hectares of land. 



Beetroot is a crop eminently conducive to the fertility 

 of a soil, and this for many reasons. In the first place, its 

 cultivation is necessarily accompanied by the presence of a 

 considerable live-stock. Next, the green leaves cut away on 

 the spot and left on the soil are of themselves a valuable 



