H4 . PLANT PRODUCTS 



like the extent that nitrogenous ones are. It appears to 

 be necessary that the nitrogen should always be in much 

 larger proportion than the other fertilizing ingredients. 

 Indeed, where this has not been the case, individual observers 

 have not infrequently reported that phosphates have done 

 harm, but that is only a particular case of the importance 

 of preserving a proper balance of fertilizers, which has so 

 often been alluded to. In experimental results obtained 

 under good conditions in India quantities amounting to 

 nearly five tons of crude sugar per acre have been obtained. 

 At the larger industrialized concerns in the United States 

 about 10 or 12 per cent, of the weight of cane is obtained 

 as sugar. In vegetarian countries sugar replaces the meat 

 of meat-consuming countries, and the amount produced on 

 the small scale is in excess of anything recorded in ordinary 

 Government statistics. Considerable quantities of softer 

 canes are never made into sugar at all, but are eaten as 

 they are. 



Sugar Beet. In temperate climates the sugar cane 

 does not ripen satisfactorily, and sugar is therefore prepared 

 mostly from the sugar beet. Sugar beet is a crop which 

 closely resembles the mangel wurzel in its properties. An 

 enormous amount has been written upon this subject, and 

 there is no particular reason why the sugar beet should not 

 be cultivated in many parts of the British Isles. Sugar beet 

 can certainly be grown in the north of England, as well as 

 in the south, but if grown will replace some of the other 

 crops. Whether that will be a profitable arrangement only 

 the future can tell. The manufacture of sugar from sugar 

 beet follows a somewhat different course to that of the sugar 

 cane. The system adopted is called the diffusion process. 

 In the process the sugar beet is cut into slices, extracted with 

 water (at 85-90 Cent.), and the weak solution obtained used 

 to make a stronger solution by extracting more beet. The 

 concentration of the sugar liquors rises until it becomes 

 approximate to the strength of the juice in the beet them- 

 selves, that is to say, it rises to nearly 18 per cent, of sugar. 

 This process has the great advantage that the cell-wall of 



