22 SUPPLEMENT. 



soil which for the first time is turned into use for the produc- 

 tion of sugar-beets, and tlie seed-beet fields ought to be kept 

 separated from the general sugar-beet fields.* 



Soil for Sugar-Beet Cultivation. 



The best soil for the cultivation of sugar-beets is a mellow, 

 deep, sandy loam with a free and permeable subsoil, — a soil 

 named by German agriculturists a rich, first-class barley soil. 

 A sandy loam, if deep and rich' in well decomposed organic 

 matter, is preferable to a clayish soil, for the latter becomes too 

 compact and hard in a dry season, particularly after heavy rain 

 showers, and thus frequently interferes with the growth of the 

 fleshy roots ; and in wet seasons it produces a watery beet of in- 

 ferior saccharine properties. In case the subsoil is not perfectly 

 free, under-drainage becomes indispensable. A stony soil, or 

 a thin surface soil, with gravelly subsoil, or a deep virgin soil 

 with large quantities of half-decayed vegetable matter, are very 

 objectionable ; and stagnant waters cause the premature decay 

 of the roots at their lower termination. 



Favorable physical properties of the soil are of the first im- 

 portance, for fitness of the soil, as far as a necessary amount of 

 plant food is concerned, may be secured by a carefully selected 

 system of rotation, supported by a proper selection of special 

 manures. Inferior kinds of soil, may, to a certain degree in 

 some exceptional cases, answer for beet-sugar cultivation, yet 

 they ought not to be solely relied upon as a safe basis for beet- 

 sugar manufacture. A moderately warm and moist climate 

 seems to be best adapted to this crop ; the northern sections of 

 Germany and France being considered more successful than the 

 southern parts of those countries. This observation may find 

 its confirmation in the United States. Whether a change from 

 Wisconsin to California merely on account of a warm climate 

 would be a judicious move, future experience may teach, — but 

 past experience does not point in that direction. The sugar- 

 beets raised in southern portions of Europe have been found to 

 contain more saline constituents than those raised in northern 

 sections, a circumstance which must counteract tlieir superior 

 richness on sugar. A careful change to deep plowing is for 



* The amount of beet seed raised per acre, varies from 12,500 to 25,000 pounds. 



