44 SELECT PLANTS FOR INDUSTRIAL CULTURE 



Berberis Nepalensis, Sprengel. 



Himalayas, at elevations between 4,000 and 8,000 feet. The 

 fruit of this evergreen species is edible. 



Beta vulgaris, Linne.* 



The Beet or Mangold Root. Middle and South Europe, 

 Middle Asia, North Africa. This well-known perennial or 

 biennial herb ought to engage the general and extensive atten- 

 tion of our farming population. The herb is most valuable as 

 a palatable and nutritious spinage ; the root is of importance 

 not only as a culinary vegetable, but as well known, also for 

 its content of sugar, fit to be crystallised. That of beet, 

 indeed, is now almost exclusively consumed in Russia, Ger- 

 many, Austria, France, Sweden, and Belgium ; and these coun- 

 tries not only produce the beet sugar, but also export it 

 largely to the neighbouring States. The white Sicilian Beet 

 is mainly used for salads, spinage, and soups. The thick- 

 ribbed variety serves like asparagus or sea-kale, dressed like 

 rhubarb. Cereal soil, particularly such as is fit for barley, is 

 generally adapted also for the culture of beet. The rearing of 

 the root, and the manufacture of the sugar, can be studied 

 from manifold works ; one has been compiled by Mr. N. Levy, 

 of Melbourne. A deeply-stirred, drained soil, rich in lime, 

 brings the saccharine variety of beet to the greatest perfection. 

 The Imperial Beet yields from 12 to 20 per cent, sugar. The 

 Castlenauderry, the Magdeburg, the Siberian Whiterib, and the 

 Vilmorin Beet are other varieties rich in sugar. About 5 Ibs. 

 of seeds are required for an acre. In rotation of crops, the 

 beet takes its place best between barley and oats. In Middle 

 Europe the yield averages 14 tons of sugar beet to the acre, 

 and as many hundredweight of raw sugar. The mercantile 

 value of the root, at our distilleries, ranged from 20s. to '30s. 

 per ton. In our clime the beet harvest can be extended 

 over a far longer time of the year than in Middle Europe. 

 The extraction of the sap is effected generally by hydraulic 

 pressure. The juice is purified with lime and animal coal. 

 Excess of lime is removed by carbonic acid, and the purified 

 and decolourized juice is evaporated in vacuum pans, with a 

 view to prevent the extensive conversion of the crystallisable 

 sugar into treacle. The production of beet sugar needs far 

 less labour than that of cane sugar, and the harvest is obtained 

 in so short a time as eight months. Beet has shown itself 

 subject neither to alarming diseases nor to extensive attacks of 

 insects. Beet is grown in extra-tropical zones, while the 

 sugarcane is a plant confined to tropical and sub-tropical 

 latitudes. Beet culture, by directly or indirectly restoring the 



