HAEVESTING. 189 



CHAPTER VI. 



HARVESTING; 



Some few years past the men of science asserted 

 that beets at all jpefiods contained the same percentage 

 of sugar. If this hj^pothesis had been true there would 

 have been no necessity for a special time for harvest- 

 ing. During our travels in the northern part of France 

 we met several manufacturers who so argued, and con- 

 sidered that in order that a beet sugar factory should 

 realize large profits, it Was necessary to commence 

 operations as early as possible, and not wait for the 

 so-called maturity; but we consider this plan a bad 

 one, as the beets at that period have not attained their 

 development either in size or in sugar, and the quan- 

 tity of each that would have been lost in the " silos'" 

 would not have been greater during the same period 

 after maturity. 



From experiments that we have made during the last 

 three years, we conclude that the best plan for ascer- 

 taining when the harvesting should take place is to 

 make daily analyses during the last months, and when 

 no increase of sugar can be noticed with the saccharo- 



' See "Preservation of the Beet." 



