SUGAR BEET. 



that affor I starch, or substances that by chemi- 



,al procc ;s can be convened into sum, as flax, 



igs, Ac.; still none have yet been found, 



which can successfully enter into competition 



'he cane. 



Keports of the Commissioner of Patents 



contain much information on the production 



ir from the beet. The latest publica- 



tion upon the Cultivation of the Beetfor Sugar- 



making is by E. B. Grant, of Boston, 1867. 



he a growing interest upon 



thin rohjeot in the U. 8., especially in the 



Wfwtern States. 



The following information relative to the 

 beet culture, &c n is from Mr. Colman's Fourth 

 Krpart upon the Agriculture of Massachusetts : 



- Beets are often a very profitable crop, 



They are raised in considerable quantities; are 



packed in barrels and shipped to the south, 



One dollar and a half is a common price for a 



barrel containing 2 bushels. The farmer 



this statement has often produced 600 



the acre. They are planted on 



ridges abont 4 feet apart, in double rows ; and 



rmediate spaces are often sown with 



The ridge planting is decidedly pre- 



ferred here for all vegetables of this kind. In 



my opinion, and so far as my own experience 



goes, which has not been small, it would be 



> make the ridges about 27 inches apart, 



plant the beets in single rows, and cultivate 



them with a plough. A very useful machine 



for planting beets is a wheel, set like that of a 



-:>arrow, with pins projecting from the 



rim 2 inches, and placed 8 inches apart, which 



d along on the lop of the ridge, and the 



*eed> dropped by hand into the holes marked 



pins. They may then be covered by 



u' a rake-head along the top of the ridge. 



Too much care cannot be taken to perform all 



operations in planting, where the vegetable is 



afterwards to be cultivated, in straight lines. 



The work is by this means greatly facilitated." 



A crop of sugar beets was raised at Nahant, 



in 1840, by Mr. Frederick Tudor, of 42,284 Ibs. 



on 93 rods, or at the rate of 36 tons 746 /^ Ibs. 



net weight per acre, being about 1300 bushels 



per acre, allowing 56 Ibs. per bushel. One of 



i* cropped and cleaned, weighed 31 Ibs. 



Thr '.'fund was trenched to the depth of 20 



. and well manured, the stones removed 



being all laid at the bottom of the trenches. 



Allowing the beets worth $5 a ton, this would 



ISO to an acre, leaving the land in high 



tilth for further rich crops. The expenses of 



culttvatinj* an acre of sugar beets in the New 



England States, have been thus stated by the 



f the Yankee Farmer. 

 Use of an acre of land well prepared for beets, 

 and manured, or managed in the previous 

 ........ 



Plout bint ........ 



(MlHmtar-i*/, horse, cultivator and hand, two 

 hours -....__ 



Twtee more before sowing .... 



Harrowing -----._ 



H*-d ?* 25, sowing with a machine 75 - 

 hoeing 



13 00 

 4 00 



2, thinning, and transplanting to 

 .encies - - - 



r igmln, and loosening the ground with 



Harvesting .... I ~ 



1022 



50 

 1 00 

 50 



3 00 

 400 



4 00 



200 

 9 00 



f 40 00 



SUGAR BEET. 



This we think a high estimate. Still, it must 

 be admitted that the cost of cultivating an acre 

 of sugar beets much exceeds that of an acre of 

 Indian corn. In some places the proportional 

 expense of a root over a corn crop is double, 

 in others treble. The following observations 

 upon the mode of cultivating the beet crop, are 

 also taken from the Yankee Farmer. 



Make the rows 2 feet 4 inches apart, and 

 then a cultivator can be used in hoeing. If 

 the beets stand one foot apart in the rows, and 

 weigh 2$. Ibs. each, the yield will be 20 tons. 

 In rich ground, at that distance a great number 

 will weigh 4 or 5 Ibs. each ; 20 tons is a good 

 crop, but not extremely large, for in some cases 

 25 or 30 tons to the acre have been raised in 

 this country. At the above expense of $40 to 

 the acre with a yield of 20 tons, the cost would 

 be $2 per ton. We make this estimate, to show 

 how cheap beets may be raised under favour- 

 able circumstances, such as good land at a fair 

 price, convenient machinery and implements, 

 and the most prudential management in the 

 culture, with labour at a moderate price, and 

 a favourable season. 



Supposing we reckon the produce only two- 

 thirds as much as above, say 13$ tons, and the 

 cost 32 per cent, more, which will be $53 33; 

 then the cost of the beets will be only $4 per 

 ton, one-fifth less than Mr. Bosson reckoned in 

 his calculation on the cost of beet sugar. If 

 we reckon 50 Ibs. to the bushel, 13^ tons per 

 acre would be only 533 bushels, which would 

 be no more than a middling crop ; not half as 

 much as has been raised in a number of cases 

 that have been named. 



In estimating the value of sugar beets for 

 feeding stock, &c., Mr. P. Diehl, of Pennsyl- 

 vania, says that in his neighbourhood, persons 

 feeding the beet to cows, readily procure 2 

 cents per Ib. more for their butter than their 

 neighbours who do not use the beet. His hogs 

 are wintered entirely on beets and kitchen slop, 

 and kept in fine condition. He states that he 

 has fattened solely on sugar beets, beeves, 

 which when sold, were pronounced by the 

 butchers the best they had killed for many 

 years before. In contrasting the probable 

 amount of profit to the farmer, per acre, of a 

 crop of corn and a crop of beets, he says : Al- 

 lowing for the average crop of beets 1000 bu- 

 shels per acre, which is moderate, this quantity 

 will fatten 11 head of steers in 90 days, at one 

 bushel per day for each steer. Allowing the 

 average corn crop to be 50 bushels p^r acre, 

 which is very large, this product will fatten 

 only 1 head, in the same time, feeding at the 

 usual rate of 1 pecks per day. This leaves 

 a balance in favour of beets, fractions aside, 

 of about 800 per cent. (See Cultivator, vol. viii. 

 p. 119.) There is perhaps no food which will 

 contribute in winter so much to increase the 

 quantity and quality of the dairy products as 

 the sugar beet. But it should be used along 

 with good hay, fodder, and other dry pro- 

 vender. 



Under the head of MATSTGEL WURZEL, a tabular 

 view is given of the comparative nutritive ma- 

 terials in several of the roots most usually cul- 

 tivated for agricultural purposes. From this 

 it will be seen, that in saccharine matter as 



