^ AND HORTICULTU R A L REGISTER. 



PUBLISHED BY JOSEPH BRE^\^"cO.:NO~5rNORTH UXRK^S^^^CA~o^~,^,^rw;.'^,;^^ 



^ 



xvra.] 



AGRICULTURAL 



BOSTON, WEDNESDAY EVENING, AUGUST 14, 18;». 



[NO. 6. 



From the Cultivator. 



THE SUGAR UEET—QUERIES. 



Guil/ord, near JFIiite-Post P. O. \ 

 Clark Co., Fa., July 3, 18:19. j 

 DGE BiEL— Sir — I have recently become ^ 

 rilier to, and a constant reader of your valua- 

 tid interesting- paper, the Cultivator, and as I 

 1 information respecting the cnlture of the 

 beet, I am sure it will give you pleasure thus 

 mote improvement, by difiusing useful knowl- 



member of my family being about to com- 

 3 farming on what we consider here as a small 

 a fartn of 200 acres, which, in ordinary sea- 

 will produce five or six barrels of corn, or 

 3 or fifteen bushels of wlieatto the acre, wish- 

 to combine with it the culture of the sugar 

 :f, after inquiry, it shall be advisable to do'so. 

 ftaestone land, of a light soil, and the cleared 

 uuch exhausted by excessive cultivation, un- 

 last thirty years, when it changed hands, 

 nee then has been gradually improved to the 

 bove mentioned. The part in woods con- 

 ilack oak, white oak, hickory, walnut and ash. 

 this description of our land.', you will, per- 

 le able to decide whether they are adapted 

 sugar beet 



letter published in the National Intelligen- 

 "ew months ago, from Mr Ellsworth, the com- 

 ler of patents, he stated that an acre of good 

 ould produce twenty tons of the sugar beet, 

 would make 3,600 pounds of sugar, worth 

 :enls per pound. Now if our lands would 

 be half or a fourth of that qunntity, it would 

 litely betler for us to go to making sugar at 

 nstead of raising corn and wheat at a heavy 

 e, while the seasons are so precarious and 

 :es 30 fluctuating. 



stated in a report on " root culture," in the 

 number of the Cultivator, for 183P, that 

 the high state of perfection and of profit, 

 :he business has arrived at in France and 

 ly, that the culture of this beet will soon be 

 vely gone into in this country, for the pur- 



5th. Do you know of any individual or company 

 in New York or Pennsylvania, or even nearer to 

 me, that is engaged in the manufacture of sugar 

 from the beet? 



Gth. Can you inform me what such a manufacto- 

 ry would cost, and whether it is worked by water, 

 steam or horse power .' 



7th. What is the practice in France or Germany, 

 amongst those wlio cultivate the sugar beet, in re- 

 gard to its manufacture .' Does the farmer make 

 his own sugar, or are there public establishments, 

 j like our mills, and the manufacture of the beet a 

 I distinct occupation from the raising of it ? Since 

 the plan of kiln drying the beet has been adopted. 

 It would, r presume, bear transportation to market 

 as well as other products. 



6th. Is there any French or German work (trans- 

 lated into English,) on the subject, in the bookstores 

 of New York or Philadelphia, that you can recom- 

 nioiid .' 



Any information, not eiribraced in the above in- 

 terrogatories, which may be deemed pertinent to 

 the occasion, will be, I assure you, sir, most thank- 

 fully received, by your very ob't and humble serv't, 

 JA.MES M. HITE. 



Mr Hite our impression, that the climate of Virgin- 

 ia is not well adapted to the culture of the sugar 

 beet— that it is too far south— the root in the south 

 of France being far less rich in saccharine matter 

 than that grown in the northern departments. We 

 do not pretend to determine the beet zone; but we 

 are inclined to think, that upon our Atlantic bor- 

 der, it is north of 42".— Conduc. Cult. 



ANSWERS. 



j We are not practically acquainted with the beet 

 culture or the manufacture of beet sugar. We have 

 published in former volumes, the best information 

 we could obtain ; but the business has been under- 

 going constant improvement in France and Ger- 

 many ; and it is upon this improved management, 

 the details of which have not yet been made known 

 to the American public, sufficiently to guide in the 

 practice— it is upon this improved system of man- 

 agement that Mr Ellsworth has based his calcula- 

 tions. We have no doubt but the business will be 

 ultimately introduced and made profitable, when 

 judiciously managed, and we have as little doubt 

 that it will prove to many a losing concern. We 

 would rather be a follower than a pioneer in it.— 

 Inviting from correspondents a more general an- 

 swer to Mr Hiie's queries, we will content ourselves 

 for the present, with responding briefly to some of 

 his inquiries. And, 



J. The best time and mode for preparino- land 



On the Injlutiue of JVative Magnesia on the Germi- 

 nation, Vegetation, and Fruetijication of Vegeta- 

 bles. By Angelo Abbene. 

 Among the various causes which produce bar- 

 renness in lands, has been enumerated the presence 

 of magnesia, because it had been observed that the 

 various magnesian soils are sterile. '1 his opinion 

 has begun to lose credit, since Bergmaiin, who ex- 

 amined the composition of fertile soils, considered 

 magnesia as forming one of their principal constit- 

 uents. 



Prof. Giobert has performed a number of experi- 

 ments to inquire into the action of native magnesia, 

 which is found in numerous cultivated soifs. In 

 the environs of Castellamonte and of Baldissero, 

 this substance is abundantly diffused in the soils' 

 cultivated with great success, and which exhibit a 

 vigorous vegetation. There are many districts in 

 Piedmont and elsewhere, where the bi-carbonate of 

 lime and of magnesia is abundant in the cultivated 

 lands which ^iroduce beautiful plants. Giobert 

 concluded from these experiments — 1st, that native 

 carbonated magnesia is not injurious to the various 

 functions of vegetables ; 2nd, that on account of 

 the solubility of magnesia in an excess of carbonic 

 acid, this earth can exercise an action analogous 

 to that of lime ; 3rd, that a magnesian soil may 

 become fertile when the necessary manure is em- 

 ployed. 



From these facts naturally proceeds the conclu- 

 sion, that if the magnesia was dissolved in an ex- 

 cess of carbonic acid and water, and had entered 

 like the lime into the composition of the sap, it 

 ought to be found in the plants with the potash, 

 lime, oxide of iron, &c. M. Abbene has ascertain- 

 ed this by the analysis of the ashes of plants which 



had -rrnwn in n,n n-no^l Torino ,^;..f.,.„„ »T 



