^ SUPPLEMENT. . 29 



the food accumulated iu roots, stalks and leaves, and the seeds 

 themselves again store up an amount to enable the embryonic 

 germ to provide itself with such organs as will fit it to fulfill 

 its mission in the production of a new plant. Sugar is undeni- 

 ably one of those substances which are required to support the 

 beet-root plant in this last stage of growth. 



The amount of sugar in the sugar-beet is largest when the 

 root has just attained its ripeness ; subsequently, it diminishes 

 gradually in consequence of advancing growth. To preserve 

 undiminished the maximum percentage of sugar till the time 

 of manufacture is somewhat difficult. There is no such thing 

 in nature as absolute rest. If it were practicable to keep the 

 beet-root frozen from the beginning to the close of the manu- 

 facturing season, it might prove to be the most efficient mode, 

 so far as the preservation of sugar is concerned. The manu- 

 facture of the sugar begins usually in the latter part of Sep- 

 tember, and the beet-roots are daily carried in such quantities 

 from the fields as the factory can dispose of. Those varieties, 

 like the Vilmorin beets, which do not keep well in the jjits over 

 winter, are first gathered and worked up. As soon as frost 

 becomes imminent, all the roots are gathered after the removal 

 of the leaves, which operation is carried on upon the fields. 

 They are then buried in suitable pits without loss of time. 

 The beets are raised out of the soil by means of forks, and the 

 leaves cut off with sword-like knives about one-half to one 

 inch from the root. To cut off the top of the beet-roots from 

 those which are to be kept over winter is disapproved of. The 

 use of the plow in harvesting is also objectionable on account 

 of frequent laceration of the roots. 



The mature roots after being freed from the leaves in the 

 manner just described, are with the adhering soil laid carefully 

 into shallow pits about six feet long by three feet wide, and 

 from four to five feet in depth. These are, finally, covered with 

 soil to protect them against frost. Small pits of the size just 

 described are preferred, for they allow a better control of the 

 temperature than large pits, which frequently suffer from an 

 undesiraltle increase of heat, causing the growth of leaves or 

 degeneration by decay. The covering of soil is gradually in- 

 creased in thickness with the advancing season, amounting 

 usually to a final thickness of three feet, and this is sometimes 



