580 Transactions of the American Institute. 



A person who is expert in bunching will tie four or five dozen an 

 hour, day after day, for weeks at a time, M'orking day and night, I 

 might say, for the market gardener seldom gets through his work in 

 " celery time " before nine or ten o'clock at night. The morning is 

 usually devoted to getting in the celery from the trenches, and the 

 afternoon and evening for trimming and bunching. 



"When the day's work in bunching is finished, the bunches are 

 counted and carefully placed in chests made expressly for the pur- 

 pose. These are then placed on the market wagon and sent to mar- 

 ket at nine or ten o'clock at night. 



The man and team are out all night; in ftict this happens four and 

 five nights of each week, rain or hail, for nine months of the year, 

 with the market gardener in the vicinity of New York. 



Adjourned. 



November 2, 1869. 



Natha:!: C. Ely, Esq., in the chair; Mr. John YV. Chambeks, Secretary. 

 The Silesian Sugak Beet. 

 Prof. S. D. Tillman read the following paper, which was listened 

 to with close attention : From an article covering nearly thirty pages 

 in the " Journal of the Royal Agricultural Society of England," 

 ^' On the Chemistry of Silesian Sugar Beets," by Dr. Augustus 

 Voelcker, I have gathered the following interesting information : 

 All the varieties of sugar beet may be considered as belonging to one 

 of five chief sorts, viz. : 1. The French or Belgian sugar ])eet. 2. 

 The Quedlinburg (German). 3. The Silesian. 4. The Siberian. 5. 

 The Imperial. On the continent the white Silesian beet is the kind 

 most approved. It does not contain so large a precentage of sugar 

 as either the Belgian or the Quedlinberg, yet it yields a larger weight 

 of roots per acre, is of a more vigorous growth, and produces a larger 

 amount of sugar per acre. Good sugar beets possess the following 

 characters : 1. They have a regular pear-shaped form and smooth 

 skin, carrot-like; long, tapering roots are considered inferior to pear- 

 shaped Silesian beets. 2. They do not throw out many fibrous-branched 

 roots or forks. Forked roots are difiicult to clean, and not so readily 

 pulped as well-grown, symmetrical, pear-shaped roots. 3. They have 

 a white, fij-m, and dense flesh, and clean, sugary taste. Such roots 

 are readily reduced to a fine pulp by proper machinei-y. Soft and 



