FARMERS' REGISTER. 



91 



saccharine matter than even the grape, why should 

 t-he sweet beet not be used to make wine, iC it can 

 be divested of its empyreumalic oil and flavor, as 

 it is in niakino; sucrar ? The beet wine (ever is 

 now raginfr in France, as the morus muiticaiilis 

 rages in the United States. Of its success in this 

 grape-growing, wine-making country, I shall, as it 

 developcs, keep you advised." 



Tiie cultivation of this plant being new and in- 

 teresting to the fanners ofthe United States.it may 

 be usefiii to lay before tiiem a lew observations on 

 the subject, for which we are mainly indebted to 

 the ireiuleman to whom we have already referred; 

 and what is said must be received as general prin- 

 ciples ; the practice that will suit in Maine will 

 not answer in Georgia, and yet the beet is a plant 

 that will thrive throughout the whole extent of the 

 United States ; and as a food for cattle will prove 

 for this country all that the turnip is for the moist 

 and humid climate of Great Britain. 



Cultivation of beet. — The beet is a biennial plant 

 growing to seed the second year, its seed-stalk 

 rises to the height of from three to five feet. It is 

 from the root, and in the first year of its growth 

 that tl'.e sugar is extracted. As yet the process 

 of extracting susar from beet has not been made 

 sufficiently perfect to obtain the whole saccharine 

 matter, as in the case of the sugar cane, therefore 

 the residue forms excellent food lor cattle. 



Choice of ground. — Beet thrives in the soil 

 suited to the potato, to wit ; in all soils that are 

 somewhat sandy and loamy — these soils mixed 

 with vegetable mould and decayed matter are 

 particularly suitable. From land essentiallysandy 

 much cannot be expected, unless it be highly ma- 

 nured ; under these circumstances we have seen 

 a good crop growing in New Jersey. In the 

 absence of manure the roots will be small, but 

 where they grow fresh and healthy, it has been 

 found that small plants yield a large proportion of 

 sugar — but this by no means makes up for the 

 want of mass, and therefore with this as with 

 other crops— it is proper to use land naturally or 

 artificially good, to insure large returns. Clay 

 may be added to sandy soil, and sand mixed with 

 clay ground, to correct their defects, but the process 

 is expensive. 



Where land is essentially stiff clay, it is not suit- 

 able for beets, because the seed germinates badly 

 and the root, finding it difficult to penetrate and 

 imbed itself, becomes forked and rises too much 

 above tlie surfiice, whereby it is too much exposed 

 to the sun and atmosphere, which dispose it to 

 become hard and reedy. One of the evils attend- 

 ing forked roots is, that stones, gravel, and earth 

 get enveloped in the interstices, and thus blunt 

 and injure the machine that is employed to reduce 

 the roots to pulp, when the object is to make sugar, 

 day soils are improved by deep and frequent 

 ploughing and harrowing ; the manures iiest suited 

 to this kind of ground, are half rotted strav/, fresh 

 stable dung, leaves, &c. and sand can be em- 

 ployed to advantage where it can be had with 

 little labor; the quantity required to produce useful 

 effects has to be very considerable. In France 

 calcareous soils are not considered suited for grow- 

 ing beets. In America we may mistake vi'hat the 

 French refer to, when on this occasion they use 

 the term "calcareous;" possibly it may be by 

 them applied to chalk soil, a kind of land we have 

 Hone o)^ and not refer to the limestone land that 



abounds here, and is justly held in high estimationj 

 as it answers well' tor all crops. Tlie farmers of 

 America must not be deterred from trying to cul- 

 tivate beets on limestone land, because it is said 

 of other countries, calcareous soils are not suif^d 

 for growing that root ; in this, as in many other 

 cases, we must determine the fact by our own ex- 

 perience. Here, on limestone land, the beet may 

 sutler fiom drought, but all crops grown upon it 

 are exposed to the same effects. In France, the 

 products on different soils vary very much, and are 

 greatly influenced by belter or worse manafjement, 

 the difference rating from fifty to two hundred. 



Preparation of the ground. — This will vary 

 according to the nature of the soil, and here, as in 

 all other departments of the fiirming business, 

 much of the success depends on the skill and 

 judgment of the farmer. In many cases three 

 ploughings will be necessary, and one of these 

 ploughings should be before winter, that the turned 

 up soil may be mellowed by the frost, the last 

 ploughing has to be in the spring immediately 

 before planting the seed ; two ploughings in this 

 country will be found sufficient ; in all cases it 

 should be well harrowed, and rolling will be an 

 improvement that amply repays the expense. 

 Deep ploughing is generally useilil, but the larmer 

 has to consider the nature of the substrata. It 

 would be improper to turn up much of the poor 

 clay or gravel bottom, and where the substrata is 

 an open sand, deep i)loughing is not required. 

 Manure, in which the process of fermentation has 

 not advanced fi\r, will answer best for beefs; 

 nevertheless all kinds are useful ; but the half rot- 

 ten best divides the soil and sufliers the roots freely 

 to expand. In the state of Delaware, marl has 

 been found an excellent manure for beets, and 

 mar! is found in many places in the low light soils 

 on the Atlantic coast south of Sandy Hook. 

 Some farmers in France allow the beet leaves 

 that are cut off at harvest-time to remain on the 

 land, and consider them a tolerably good manure, 

 but this practice is not so good as having them 

 carted into the barn yard to be eaten and trodden 

 on by the cattle. It will be found that straw of 

 any kind when properly laid into the Jiirrows and 

 covered with the mould, will give good crops ; and 

 this open species of manure is suited to clay soils 

 and the beet root. The roller is especially neces- 

 sary on clay soils ; by it clods are well broken, 

 which favors the coming up of the plants, and 

 facilitates the future hoeings and horse-hoe weed- 

 ing. 



Of sowing. — There are four ways of sowing 

 beets, first in beds as in a nursery ; second, broad 

 cast as in sowing wheat ; third, sowing or dropping 

 by the hand in drills ; and fourth, drilling by a 

 machine. 



By the first of these methods the whole of the 

 seed is sown on a small portion of land compared 

 with what it is intended to occupy ; these plants 

 will be fit to pull up and plant out where they are 

 finally to remain, in a month or six weeks from the 

 time of sowing ; this planting is performed by 

 means of a dibble with which holes are made in 

 the ground, always a little deeper than the length 

 ofthe plant that is to be put into them, and with 

 this dibble the earth must be carefully pressed 

 close to the root. This method is attended with 

 several inconveniences ; it requires much manual 

 labor, the roots are exposed to injury during the 



