38 THE DII.-rX'TOR, EXPERIilEXTAL FlRMa 



Q. Tliey are not a long-bodied beet ? 



A. No, they are something like the short white carrots, but tlw bwt is not so regu- 

 lar in growth as the carrot, and for that reason there is more labour in harvesting them. 



By Mr. Kidd : 



Q. They have more fibres ? 

 A. Yes. 



By Mr. Eohinson (Elgin) : 



Q. In the manufacture of sugar, is the whole of the beet made into pulp ? 

 A. Yes, the whole of the beet. If the crown of the beet has been exposed while 

 growing, the part above ground produces less sugar than the part below the surface. 



By Mr. McEwen: 



Q. What is the best time to plant ? 



A. We find the earlier plantings always give us the larger crops. 



By Mr. Wright : 



Q. And a larger percentage of sugar ? 



A. I cannot say as to that ; we have not kept the early and later crops apart. 



By Mr. Farquharson : 



Q. Your conditions difTer from ours, but if we can have some information from 

 our neighbours to the south, they say that in certain sections of the United States it 

 is a success, and their conditions would be perhaps similar to our own, and if we could 

 know how they treat the whole question and what kind of a beet gives them the best 

 results, it would be of value because it would set at rest a feeling which exists here 

 that we should have the sugar beet, and I do not know that there is very much in it. 

 I would like to know something of the great success which appears to attend beet cul- 

 ture in certain sections of the United States, and how they treat the whole question 

 there. 



A. That information would not be difficult to get. Many of the experimental 



stations in the United States have been working on this subject for some years past 



the Chemical Department at Washington has been working on it almost constantly 

 for some years — and a number of reports have been published. The impression left 

 on my mind after going through a number of these reports is that we are quite as 

 favourably situated in Ontario and Quebec, as to the quantity and quality of the 

 beets we can grow as any of the States. They had once a record-breaking season in 

 Nebraska, when beets they sent to Washington for analysis were found to contain over 

 17 per cent, which has been cited by Nebraskans as proof that their State is to be 

 regarded as the best sugar producing State in the Union. It is said they had a 

 very dry season and that year the roots only weighed a few ounces each, and that 

 the sugar, which ordinarily would have gone into a large root was concentrated in a 

 small one. 



Q. Fortunately they did with such a light crop. 



A. One can sometimes tell the truth, and yet be misleading if you tell only 

 side. It is true that they grew beets that year with that lar^e percentage of sugar 

 but I have not heard of it being done a second time. 



By Mr. McEwen : 

 Q. You have got away from my question regardir^ the time of plantian-. 



