294 



Cultivation of Sugar Beet. 



Vol. II. 



1837, equal to 190 days full feeding of 2 

 bush, per day or 380 bushels as above, at 

 70 cents, S SCO 00 



100 bushels Mansiel Wurtzel Beets at 25 . 25 CM) 

 5 tons Hay at $10 80 00 



g 831 00 



Grass during the summer of 1837 80 00 



Commenced feeding grain on 1st Sept., 

 1837, twice per day till Isl Dec, and then 

 three times per day till 19th Feb., say 

 140 days Ml feeding or 280 bush, at 70 

 cents, lOf) 00 



100 bush. Mangel Wurtzel, at 25 cts. 25 00 



3i tons Hay, at §12 42 00 



g 1174 20 



On the 19th Feb.. 1838, sold them to Messr.?. 

 Drum, Wartman Ar. Co., Victuallers, for $1200. In 

 the spring of 1836 the two steers would have sold 

 for §240, and in the spring of 1837 I estimated them 

 at current market price as worth 750, and if then 

 sold tiicre would have been an apparent loss, but it 

 should be remarked in explanation, that the stall 

 feeding extends to the first of May, ^vhe^eas the 

 season for selling is the middle of Feb. to 1st March, 

 when their cost was about what I estimated them 

 as worth to the butcher. 



RECAPITULATION. 



First cost ofthe four cattle, $260 00 



Pasture during two seasons, IGO 00 



G-ain fed to them 786 bush, at 70 cts. 550 20 



Mangel Wurtzel 200 bush, at 25 cts. 50 00 



7 tons of Hav, at $16, 112 00 



3J tons of Hay, at f 12, 42 00 



g 1174 20 

 And being sold for §1200 gives as before stated the 

 manure for straw and labor, leaving a balance of 

 .■^26 and paying me a liberal price for the produce of 

 the farm; about two thirds of the grain cons'.^ted 

 of equal measure of corn and oats, and one third 

 was corn and mill feed. 



By the foregoing statement it appears that the 

 average increase in value of each animal was about 

 §100 ])er annum. 



STATEMENT OF WEIGHT AND GIRTH. 



STEERS. 



Live nipiglit — Drad ivright — GiriU. 



iVo. 1. 2422 ibs. 1671 lbs. Oft. 1 in. 



No. 2. 2324 " 16131 " 8 " 9i " 



Cwltivatioii of SHgar Beet. 



The following letter, addressed to a gentle- 

 man of this city, has been politely handed 

 us for publication : 



Philadelphia, March, 1833. 

 Dear Sir : — Mr. Lovering's experiments 

 are decisive of tlie fact, that beet sugar of su- 

 perior quality to that imported from France, 

 can be niade from roots grown in this coun- 

 ti-y, and that too under very unfavorable cir- 

 cumstances. It is satisfactory also, to find 

 that his results, as to quantity of saccharine, 

 &G., agree witli the statements contained in 



your published report. There can be no' 

 doubt, therefore, that large quantities of this 

 invaluable root will be grown this year, for 

 tlie purpose of sugar making, as well as for 

 the feeding of cattle, than which a more pro- 

 fitable crop cannot be raised : and as the time 

 for sowing the seed is fiist approaching, per- 

 haps you will permit me to ofler a few re- 

 marks on the best mode of condiicting that 

 process, upon which so much of the success 

 of the result depends. 



Chaptal, in his "Chemistry applied to Agri- 

 culture," recommends the English mode of 

 culture, which consists of throwing the land 

 into ridges, placing the manure in the trench- 

 es formed by the operation, and then splitting 

 these ridges by a double plough, by which tlie 

 dung is covered with a pulverized soil : and 

 upon the ridges so formed, the seed is sown, 

 either by hand or drill; so that the plants 

 will stand immediately over the dung, which 

 their roots will soon reach, and by which 

 their growth will be astonishingly accelera- 

 ted. This is, decidedly, the best mode of cul- 

 tivation, and if the ridges are formed two feet 

 apart, it will give sufficient space for the 

 working of the plough or cultivator, in the 

 after clearing of the crop. This method of 

 sowing on the ridge is practised in the grow- 

 ing of turneps,. by that best of Agriculturists, 

 iMr. Walker of Holmesburg, with what effect, 

 all who have the happiness of knowing him 

 can testify ; his mode too, of thinning the 

 plants by hand, leaving only the strongest to 

 form the crop, i.s admirable. Could you not 

 induce him to give some details that others 

 might "go and do likewise." 



If therefore, let me repeat, the rows be two 

 feet apart, the land might be kept clean by 

 the plough, the operation of which will be 

 found of immense advantage to the future 

 well-being of the crop; tlie roots miglit stand 

 12 or 14 inches distant in the rows. Sow 

 about eight pounds of seed per acre, this will 

 give a sufficient number of plants from which 

 to select the strongest for the crop ; no prac- 

 tical man can endure to hear of ti'ansplant- 

 iiig' and watering with the view of saving 

 seed, &c.; it is better to sow largely, and thin 

 the plants, selecting the strongest only. 



It has been ascertained by experiment, by 

 one whose judgment in this matter will be 

 considered as decisive by all who know him, 

 Dr. Gibbons, of Wilmington Del., that a crop 

 of sugar beet can be raised with as little la- 

 bor and expense as a crop of corn. Estima- 

 ting then, the value of an acre of corn at '^i), 

 and the crop of sugar beet 40,000 lb*, p.acre at 

 a fair price, (they sell readily in France for 

 20 cents per cwt.) the difference in the 

 value of the two crops must satisfy any one;; 

 bat when to this is added the advantage of 

 the beet culture to the succeeding crops, and: 



