AND GAR DENE US JOURNAL. 



^ 



PUBLISHED BY GEORGK C. liARRETT, NO. 52 NORTH MARKET STREET, (Agricultural Warehouse.) — T. G. FESSENOEN, KDITOR. 



VOI« xv 



BOSTON, \VEDNF:SDAY evening, JULY 20, 1836. 



NO. 2. 



AOjaa<2ws,'S'WiBAig.a 



(From Chaptal's Agricultural Chemistry.) 



ON THE CULTIVATION OP THE BEET ROOT, 



AND THE EXTRACTION OF SUGAR PROM IT. 



I feel myself authorized by ten or twelve suc- 

 cessive years of experiments and observations up- 

 on tbe cultivation of the beet root, and the e.xtrac- 

 tion of sugar from it, to publish some results which 

 may be relied upon. 



As this new branch of industry is capable of 

 being reuiieied a fruitful souj-ce of agricultural 

 prosperity, I shall be pardoned if I enter into all 

 the details which I consider necessary for directing 

 the agriculturist, that he may not try such experi- 

 ments and commit such mistakes, as often lead to 

 useless expense and are always discouraging. 



ON THE CULTIVATION OF THE BEET ROOT. 



Beet seed is sown in the latter part of April and 

 the 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 or too late. If it be sown immediately af- 

 ter the cessation of the frosts, the ground being 

 very cold and wet, the seed does not germinate 

 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 fiom evils of another description ; the rrius 

 will then be less frequent, but the great heal uries 

 lip 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 ))lants 

 that spring up with them, and which render 'vecd- 

 ing very expensive. The most favorable period 

 is that when the earth, although heated by the 

 rays of the sun, still contains sufficient moisture 

 to prodr; ;e germination, and to facilitate the growth 

 of the young plant : the last days of April and 

 the first fifteen days of May generally unite these 

 advantages. 



ON THE CHOICE OF SEED. 



A good agriculturist should always raise bis 

 own seeds: for this purpose he will |)lant his beet 

 roots ill the spring in a good soil, and gather the 

 seed in September as fast as it ripens, selecting 

 only the best and leaving upon the stalks such as 

 are not thoroughly ripe : each beet root will fur- 

 nish from five to ten ounces of seeds. 



When no care is taken in selecting the seeds, 

 and they are sown indiscriminately, not only are 

 many of the beets small, and ill grown, but half of 

 the seeds sown do not yield anything. 



Beets vary in color, some being white, others 

 yellow, red, or marbled ; there are even some of 

 which the skins are red and the substance white : 

 it is generally known, that seed from a beet of one 



color does not always produce the like: afield 

 which is sown with the seeds of yellow beets 

 alone, will invariably yield some roots of the other 

 colors. 



Too much importance has hitherto been affixed 

 to the color ; I have never myself observed any 

 considerable difference in the products of the dif- 

 ferent kinds; however,! cultivate from preference 

 the yellow and the white, because the process of 

 refining the sugar made from red beets requires a 

 little more time ; for although the lime which is 

 employed in the first operation instantly dejirivcs 

 the juice of color, yet it aciiuires, during concen- 

 tration in the boiler, a brownish tinge, which the 

 sirup from white and that from yellow beets does 

 not receive. 



ON THE CHOICE OF SOIL. 



All corn lands are more or less adapted to the 

 cultivation of beets, but the best soils for tlie pur- 

 pose are those that have the greatest depth of veg- 

 etable mould. 



Sandy soils formed by alluvions and the depos- 

 its of rivers are also very favorable to the growth 

 of beets, nor is any other artificial manure neces- 

 sary upon spots so situated as to receive it than 

 the mud which is periodically deposited by inun- 

 dations. 



Beets may be cultivated with good success up- 

 on natural or artificial grass lands ; but I have al- 

 ways observed, that beets came up badly when 

 sown in the spring upon such lands as had been 

 broken up in the autumn, and ploughed two or 

 three times during the winter : the turf and roots 

 do not in so short a time become sufficiently de- 

 composed ; and in order to have good beet roots, 

 I find it necessary to raise a crop of oats between 

 the time of breaking up a meadow and sowing it 

 with beet seed : after this I can raise two successive 

 crops of the finest beets. If the soil of u natural 

 grass land is dry, or not closely united, it may be 

 sown with beet seed six months after being brok- 

 en up ; but I have never obtained good harvests 

 of beets from clover lands without having first 

 sown them with a crop of grain : In these lands 

 the beets have always been better the second yetir 

 than the first. 



Dry, calcareous, and light soils are hut little 

 suited to the culture of this root. 



Strong clayey soils are not well adapted to the 

 cultivation of beets ; in order that these roots may 

 prosi)er, it is necessary that they should grow in a 

 loose, fertile soil, having a bed of vegetable mould 

 of at least twelve or fifteen inches in riepth. 



Beets jirosper to a certain extent in all arable 

 lands, but the quantity as well as quality of the 

 product varies surprisingly with the nature of the 

 soil. Good soil will furnish 100,000 lbs. per hec- 

 tare, (2 acres, 1 rood, 35 perches English ;) a poor 

 soil only from 10,000 to 20,000 lbs. 



Upon several hectares of lands of very diflcrent 

 nature which I put in cultivation each year, the 

 average rate of production is 40,000 lbs. 



The value of beets cannot be calculated by the 



from ten to twenty pounds, contain a large jiropor- 

 tion of water, and the specific gravity of the juice 

 extracted from such will not be more than S'' or 

 G" of the hydrometer (= 1.03G to 1.044) whilst that 

 of beets weighing a pound less will rise as high as 

 8" or IC (= l.OeO to 1.07.5,) so that the juice of 

 tlie last contains in the same volume nearly twice 

 as much sugar as does that of the first, and the ex- 

 traction of it is easier and less expensive, because 

 less time and fuel are required for evaporation. I 

 therefore prefer in my manufactory, beets which 

 weigh one or two pounds, though the soil upon 

 which 1 raise them should not yield me more than 

 from 23,000 to 30,000 lbs. [ler hectare. 



ON THE PREPARATION OF THE SOIL. 



Generally speaking, I cultivate beets upon ail 

 such lands as are appropriated for sowing grain 

 upon in the fall. The lands I prepare for receiv- 

 ing the seed by three good tillings, two of which 

 are performed in tbe winter, and one in the spring: 

 by this last ploughing the dung which is thrown 

 upon the ground after the second, is mixed with 

 it : the quantity of manure employed is the same 

 as if the ground was to be immediately sown with 

 wheat. 



When the cultivation of the beet was less known 

 than it is at present, it was thought that the use of 

 dung rendered the root less rich in sugr.r, and 

 more disposed to produce saltpt;tre ; my own ob- 

 servations have never verified the truth of this 

 opinion, nor have I ever perceived any other dif- 

 ference than that of size between beets raised in 

 ground dressed with barn yard manure, and those 

 raised in a soil not so prepared. That which has 

 given rise to this error is tlie greater quantity of 

 sugar contained in the same volume of small beets, 

 in consequence of the more concentrated state of 

 their juices. 



ON THE MANNER OF SOWING BEET SEED. 



Beet seed may be sown in either of the three 

 following methods.. I. in a seed |ilot: 2. in drills : 

 3. broadcast. The first of these Waysoiters to 

 the agriculturist t!;e advantage of requiring much 

 the least time at a season of the j-ear when every 

 mofnent is precious: the young plants may be 

 transplanted in June before the commencement of 

 the hay harvest,, so that the cultivation of beets 

 need not in any way impede the ordinary labors 

 of the fields. There are however, some serious 

 inconveniences attendant upon this mode of sow- 

 ing ; the first of these is the care that is requisite 

 in pulling up the young plants so as not to leave 

 behind a portion of th root ; for if a tap root be 

 broken off, it ceases to increase in length, but 

 grows in circumference, and throws out radicles 

 from its surface in every direction. The seconit 

 difficulty is, that if in i)laciiig the root in the earth 

 its long and very slender point he bent upward, 

 its growth in length is frustrated in the same man- 

 ner as if it was broken of!" It is however, advis- 

 able for the tiirmer to sow a portion of liis best 



gross weight ; the large roots, which oflen weigh seed in a seed plot, in order that he may be able 



