CULTIVATION OF THE BEET ROOT. 31$ 



CHAPTER XXL 



ON THE CULTIVATION OF THE BEET ROOT, AND THE EX- 

 TRACTION OF SUGAR FROM IT. 



I FEEL myself authorized by ten or twelve successive 

 years of experiments and observations upon the cultiva- 

 tion of the beet root, and the extraction of sugar from it, 

 to publish some results which may be relied upon. 



As this new branch of industry is capable of being ren- 

 dered a fruitful source of agricultural prosperity, I shall 

 be pardoned if I enter into all those details which I con- 

 sider necessary for directing the agriculturist, that he may 

 not try such experiments and commit such mistakes, ac 

 often lead to useless expense and are always discouraging- 



SECTION L 

 On the Cultivation of the Beet Root, 



Beet seed is sown in the latter part of April and th« 

 beginning of May, when there is no longer any danger of 

 the return of frost. I have sown it with good success 

 towards the middle of the month of June ; it is better, 

 however, to sow it neither too early nor too late. If it be 

 sown immediately after the cessation of the frosts, the 

 ground being cold and very wet, the seed does not germi- 

 nate immediately, and the soil, becoming hardened by the 

 violence of the rains, does not admit the air to penetrate, 

 so that if the seed do not decay, the beets come up badly; 

 when sown late, they suffer from evils of another descrip- 

 tion ; the rains will then be less frequent, but the great 

 heat dries up the ground, and those soils that are rich and 

 compact form a crust, which the tender plumule of the beet 

 cannot pierce. Those seeds which are sown at the right 

 season have to encounter the danger of being stifled by a 

 host of strange plants that spring up with them, and which 

 render weeding very expensive. The most favorable period 

 is that when the earth, although heated by the rays of 

 the sun, still contains sufficient moisture to produce get- 



