HARVESTING, 189 



CHAPTER yi. 



HARVESTING. 



Some few years past the men of science asserted 

 that beets at all periods contained the same percentage 

 of sugar. If this hypothesis had been true there would 

 have been no necessity for a special time for harvest- 

 ing. During our travels in the noi'thern part of France 

 we met several manufacturers who so argued, and con- 

 sidered that in order that a beet sugar factory should 

 realize large profits, it was necessary to commence 

 operations as early as possible, and not wait for the 

 so-called maturity ; but we consider this plan a bad 

 one, as the beets at that period have not attained their 

 development either in size or in sugar, and the quan- 

 tity of each that would have been lost in the " silos"^ 

 would not have been greater during the same period 

 after maturity. 



From experiments that we have made during the last 

 three years, we conclude that the best plan for ascer- 

 taining when the harvesting should take place is to 

 make daily analyses during the last months, and when 

 no inci'ease of sugar can be noticed with the saccharo- 



' See "Preservation of the Beet." 



