SUPPLEMENT. 23 



obvious reasons highly recommended, provided the subsoil 

 proves of a fit quality. In no case is the soil to be plowed to a 

 less depth than eight inches ; from ten to sixteen inches and 

 deeper being desirable. Wherever deep plowing is undertaken 

 for the first time, it is done during the fall, and the lands are 

 immediately afterwards well manured. The rules for preparing 

 the soil may be summed up as follows : Manure in the fall and 

 plow the manure in deep ; use only well rotted compost, if you 

 are obliged to manure in the spring ; begin the work in autumn 

 at any rate, and turn the soil two or three times ; do not work 

 the soil when wet ; pulverize it with the best implements, and as 

 soon as possible ; let not much time be lost between the last 

 mechanical operation and the seeding. 



Stable manure is the basis of the whole system of manuring ; 

 commercial or artificial manures are only relied on as an aid. 

 For this reason sugar-beets are usually raised as second crop, 

 giving a chance for a thorough disintegration of the stable man- 

 ure ; the ellect of the latter is supported in the second year 

 previous to the planting of the sugar-beet, by a special com- 

 mercial manure. The condition and the composition of the 

 soil, quite naturally, control the whole system of manuring. As 

 the soil in both respects will differ more or less, practical experi- 

 ence does not point out any one manure, which will answer 

 under all circumstances ; yet sufficient is known to assert what 

 kind of manure has a good effect, and what has a bad effect on 

 the sugar-beet, as far as the percentage of sugar and its final 

 successful separation are concerned. The production of sugar 

 being the main object, and on account of its high price affect- 

 ing most decidedly the balance sheet, it is but natural that the 

 agriculturist has now and then to compromise in the interest of 

 the sugar manufacturer. Large crops of watery sugar-beets are 

 not economical, where, as for instance in Germany, the beet-root 

 is taxed ; in France, where the sugar resulting from the sugar- 

 beet is taxed, spring manuring is more freely resorted to. 



Plants differ less in regard to the various kinds of food they 

 need, than in regard to the quantities of each kind. Stable 

 manure and plant ash are for this reason the only universal 

 manures we recognize ; the former is preferable to the latter, on 

 account of its decided effect on the physical condition of the 

 soil. The beet partakes largely of atmospheric food, and as the 



