23 



of September it has finished its growth and is acquiring 

 its maturity, generally attained in less than a month whea 

 ever the weather is favorable, that is to say dry and warm. 

 This dryness and heat of the soil produced by a warm sun 

 renders the beet less watery, and in no other tooyy in^nen' 

 ces the productiveness of the root in sugar. It is easy 

 therefore to concieve that northern latitudes may as they 

 do, offer the most favorable circumstances for the succes^s 

 of the beet. The seed may be sown in April, or the time 

 at which generally the frost has left the ground and the 

 weather becomes favorable for culture ; the roots continue 

 to grow through June, July, and August, and the heat 

 which is usually great in high latitudes at this season con- 

 tinues to the maturity of the plant and is highly favorable 

 to its richness in saccharine matter. It is well known that 

 if the northern summers are short, the sun's rays act dur- 

 ing that season with redoubled intensity, and its rapid in- 

 fluence on vegetation is a source of surprise and delight to 

 the inhabitants of more temperate regions. 



From all that has been said, therefore, we must conclude 

 that a manufacture of the beet root sugar has the better 

 chance of success the farther it is placed (extremes except- 

 ed) to the north, all other things equal, and in addition to 

 the other causes which tend to produce this result in favor 

 of the North, I would venture to suggest whether the se- 

 \eref70sts of these climates, of New England for instance, 

 which tend to expand and loosen the soil (a most impor- 

 tant consideration for the beet) do not exert a powerful 

 agency in favor of the North. This conjecture seems to 

 me rational, though I have not met with it anywhere.* 



ArgiJaceous and deep soils, with a mixture of silicious 



* It is a fact too well known to need observation perhaps that our 

 North American climates are incomparably colder than those of 

 Europe under the same parallel of latitude. 



