Nitrate of tna n is required for its later development and the perfecting 

 Su alteets ^ * ts structure > 4 u i te without reference to the formation of 



sugar, which, as we have said, is accomplished without the 



16 co-operation of phosphoric acid. For this, the nineteen 

 pounds of phosphoric acid soluble in water, which we give 

 to push on the crop, suffice, and if there is present in 

 addition a store of some nineteen to twenty-two pounds, in 

 a form not readily soluble, that is ample. 



In numerous experiments in fertilizing which we have 

 carried out in Saxony and the Altmark, on soils poor in 

 phosphoric acid, these quantities have always sufficed, and 

 I do not doubt that they will also suffice under the condi- 

 tions in which you are farming, regard being had, of course, 

 to difference of climatic conditions. In colder situations, 

 gentlemen, we are compelled to use phosphoric acid more, 

 largely because there it is necessary to hasten the develop- 

 ment of the beet more than in warmer situations; and I will 

 therefore not apply the rules which we have just laid down 

 to your district without reservation ; but, for the reasons 

 which I have given, I believe that you will have no need 

 to have recourse to a more lavish use of phosphoric acid. 

 Lastly, gentlemen, before I turn to the special topic 

 with which I have to deal the employment of Nitrate 

 of Soda and other Nitrogenous manures / have still to 

 lay stress on one more point ; the selection of the varieties 

 of beet suited to particular conditions of cultivation. 

 Ho S 1 ^ n ^ s matter, likewise, we do not now 

 y . . need to be anxious ; for, gentlemen, in no 



department of agriculture has greater pro- 

 gress been made than in that of beet selection. The 

 intensive and scientific manner in which beet selection has 

 been carried on, has produced varieties, which are, so to 

 speak, en tout cas y and which thrive just as well in France 

 and America as in the Magdeburg district, in Austria- 

 Hungary and South Russia, which bear all climatic condi- 

 tions to which they may be exposed the climate of districts 

 bordering on the sea and the climate of the steppes and 

 which, notwithstanding the diversity of those climatic con- 

 ditions, yield an equally high percentage of sugar. It was 

 the Frenchman, Vilmorin, who gave the first direction to 

 the selection of beets rich in sugar. But Vilmorin has long 

 since been surpassed by the varieties of the brothers Dippe 



