IN EXTRA-TROPICAL COUNTRIES. 47 



Berberis Darwinii, Hooker. 



Chiloe and South Chili. Considered one of the most handsome of all 

 shrubs for garden-hedges. Hardy in England. Several other 

 evergreen Berbery shrubs serve the same purpose. 



Berberis Nepalensis, Sprengel. 



Himalayas, at elevations between four thousand (4,000) and eight 

 thousand (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 attention of our farm- 

 ing population. Can be grown for mere foliage even in sandy soil 

 near the sea. 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 con- 

 sumed in Russia, Germany, Austria, France, Sweden and Belgium ; 

 and these countries 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 mani- 

 fold 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 



