23 



when decomposed or pu trifled leaves a canal through 

 which the air penetrates to forward decomposition 

 in the lower strata. 



Formerly, the fields in which beets were intended 

 to IDC sowed were worked over several times, either 

 with the spade or hoe. Ploughing is a more certain 

 and rational operation and the only one that can be 

 employed in working to any great extent. Here, as 

 every where, machinery is better than hand labor, 

 which is always more expensive. The plough is 

 adapted to all agricultural labor and is more efficient 

 than unskilled hand labor in opening up the soil 

 regularly and to a constant depth. If required, the 

 land may be alternately ploughed across its length 

 and breadth and the soil thus equally mixed. The 

 rapidity of the work, due to the use of the plough, 

 allows a larger surface of ground to be prepared, an 

 essential condition for beet culture. 



It will be seen by that which precedes what are 

 the advantages to be derived from careful ploughing 

 in the autumn, and the influence it has upon the 

 growth of the beet. Its influence is none the less 

 felt upon other crops, raised from the soil under a 

 good system of rotation. The earth contains an in- 

 exhaustible quantity of substances adapted to assist 

 the nourishment of plants. To be assimilated, these 

 substances must become soluble and everything 

 that tends to this end, will increase the immediate 

 richness of the soil and render it capable of returning 

 a maximum yield to the farmer. Land is capital, 

 real capital, unvarying capital; cultivated in any 



