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462 Canadian Record of Science. 
one that nothing repays care so well us a beet, have caused 
a revolution in the state of agriculture wherever beets are 
grown in any quantity. It is the only crop grown by man 
on whose quality everything depends, and the only one 
which is subject to severe scrutiny. It is true that barley is 
also carefully examined by the maltsters, but we do not hear 
of careful chemical analysis of barley, or hundreds of 
thousands of dollars spent in the mere propagation of the 
seed. When a farmer grows a crop of beets, and knows 
that the more sugar they contain the better for him, he 
takes care to find out the best way to manage his soil. And 
this care produces a great effect on all other crops. Instead 
of ploughing three or four inches deep, he goes down to four- 
teen inches, and he keeps his land clean. He also begins 
to understand about manures. In this country, for instance, 
the farmer will buy anything that looks black and smells 
bad, or will take any artificial manure you may offer him 
on trust. But the beet grower calmly offers so much per 
pound for potash or nitrogen or phosphoric acid, and cares 
not a bit whether these elements are in guano, or Chili 
saltpetre, or sulphate of ammonia, or anything else. Of 
course there are enlightened farmers in all countries, but in 
beet districts such accurate knowledge is universal. 
Beets are most extensively cultivated now in the tract of 
land extending from Paris and Prague on the south, to the 
Baltic Sea on the north, and between the German Ocean on 
the west and the Russian boundary on theeast. In Russia, 
the beet fields extend from Kiew to Moscow principally. 
Several attempts have been made in Italy without success, 
and in Spain as well; the ignorance and backwardness of 
the farmers in these countries was the greatest difficulty. 
In California, beets are now grown extensively, but experts 
seem agreed that, of all countries, Canada is the best adapted 
to this industry. Let us hope that this opinion will be 
justified in times to come. 
So much for the beet. Now let us turn to the sugar- 
cane, the other great source of sugar to the world. It is 
still, I may say, looked upon by many as the only source, so 
