320 CHYMISTRY APPLIED TO AGRICULTURE. 



seeds with their hands. Each woman can sow, in this 

 manner, six or eight thousand seeds in a day. 



The quantity of seed necessary in this method, is a little 

 less than half what is required for sowing broad-cast, and 

 the weeding of the beets is much easier, and by no means 

 60 expensive. 



The method of sowing beet seed which has been adopt- 

 ed in England, can scarcely fail . of being successful : it 

 consists in opening a deep furrow, in the bottom of which 

 is placed a portion of the manure which is to be used upon 

 the land ; a second furrow is then drawn parallel to the 

 first, and so near it that the earth thrown up shall cover 

 that over : the second trench is prepared in the same man- 

 ner as the first, and so on ; the seeds being sown immedi- 

 ately over the manure. By this disposition of the ground 

 the roots easily penetrate through the loose soil to the dung, 

 which retains its moisture, and furnishes the plants with 

 nourishment. 



But whatever mode may be followed in sowing beet seed, 

 it is necessary to observe the three following rules : first, 

 to sow only new and naturally fertile soils ; second, not to 

 place the seed at the depth of more than an inch ; third, 

 not to sow the seeds too thickly. 



ARTICLE V. 



On the Care required hy Beets during their Vegetation, 



There are few plants that require more care than beets : 

 their developement is greatly impeded by the neighbour- 

 hood of other plants, and if the soil be not light and loose 

 around them, they languish, turn yellow, and cease to 

 grow. 



When beet plants begin to show their second leaves, 

 they must be weeded : if they have been sown broad-cast, 

 this can be done only by the hand or with a small hoe or 

 weeding fork ; all the weeds must be rooted up, and as 

 many of the plants removed as will leave spaces of eigh- 

 teen inches between those that remain. If the plants are 

 sown in furrows, the plough may be passed between the 

 rows, and the roots of the plants be cleared with the weed- 



