THE FARMERS' CABINET, 



Devoted to Agricultiire, Horticulture, and Rural and Domestic Economy. 



Vol. IV.-No. 7.] 



February 15, 1840. 



[Whole No. 61, 



Beet. Culture. 



(Concluded from our last number.) 

 GENERAL REMARKS. 



The important uses to which the beet is 

 now applied, having attracted great attention 

 to its habits, it is found under some circum- 

 stances to degenerate ; the seed of the white 

 plant producing yellow and red roots; this 

 tendency may be checked by changing the 

 seed from clay to sandy, and from sandy to 

 clay soils. Experience may show that changes 

 from the North to the South, and from the 

 South to the North, would be attended with 

 good consequences. The seed, if carefully 

 preserved from moisture, insects, and vermin, 

 will keep for several years, but after four 

 years, it will not be prudent to sow it. When 

 the object is to make sugar, care should be 

 taken to have seed that will produce white 

 roots, and early sowing will afford the oppor- 

 tunity of commencing the crushing and boil- 

 ing at an early period. French writers on 

 the subject inform us, that the early bruisings 

 produce the largest proportion of sugar. Some 

 of their remarks on soil, it is difficult for 

 Americans to understand, as in this country 

 we have no chalk soil. The routine of crops 

 where the beet is cultivated is very varied. 

 Some French farmers plant potatoes the first 

 year, beets the second, and clover the third — 

 and repeat. Now we do not understand how 

 clover can be made to follow beets, or how it 

 could grow when sown amongst them, as it 

 would be destroyed by the process of working 

 the crop — but they may have an annual clover 

 we are not acquainted with. Others sow 

 beets two years in succession, oats the third, 

 clover the fourth, and repeat. And one man 

 is mentioned, who has sown beets with suc- 

 cess, for fifteen years in succession on the 

 Cab.— Vol. IV.— No. 7. 201 



[same land; his practice was to change the 

 nature and kind of manure, and dressing, put 

 on the land. 



In this country, as yet, there is nothing of 

 strict system in the rotation of crops. The 

 important article, Indian corn, grown all over 

 the United States, and tobacco and cotton, in 

 particular districts, renders it necessary for 

 us to adopt a system suited to our circum- 

 stances and resources ; our farmers have to 

 exercise tlieir own judgment, and select prac- 

 tices suited to their particular positions. 



In most instances, the beet crop will not 

 be got off the land early enough to be fol- 

 lowed by wheat, and late sown wheat in 

 general is not a safe crop. Wheat is found 

 to yield more grain with a less show of straw 

 in those cases where manure is not directly 

 applied to it, but to a previous crop. Where 

 manure is immediately applied to wheat, it is 

 more liable to mildew, than where it has been 

 used to a preceding crop. 



When the beet is employed in feeding cat- 

 tle, one of the effects will be, to produce 

 more and richer manure, and this will place 

 in the farmer's power the entire command of 

 his farm, — he can do with it whatever he 

 pleases. Every encouragement is held out 

 for the culture of beet. It being a green 

 crop, draws much of its nourishment from the 

 atmosphere, and in place of exhausting the 

 land, leaves it in fine order, for any crop the 

 farmer may choose to put on it. Beets in no 

 way interfere with the cultivation of wheat, 

 clover, barley, Indian corn, potatoes, turnips, 

 &c. With the aid of a few beets, the profit- 

 able effects of that most useful grain, Indian 

 corn, will be greatly increased in feeding cat- 

 tle. Calves fed with beets or roots in their 

 first winter, will generally be as good animals 

 at the end of two years, as those that have 



