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5 lbs. of seeds are required for an acre. In rotation of 

 crops, the Beet takes its place best between Barley and 

 Oats. In Middle Europe the yield averages 14 tons of 

 Sugar Beet to the acre, and as many hundred weight of raw 

 sugar. The mercantile value of the root, at our distilleries, 

 ranged from 20s. to 30s. per ton. In our clime, the Beet 

 harvest can be extended over a far longer time of the year 

 than in Middle Europe. The extraction of the sap is 

 effected generally by hydraulic pressure. The juice is 

 purified with lime and animal coal. Excess of lime is 

 removed by carbonic acid, and the purified and decolorized 

 juice is evaporated in vacuum pans, with a view to prevent- 

 ing the extensive conversion of the crystallisable sugar into 

 treacle. The production of Beet sugar needs far less labor 

 than that of cane sugar, and the harvest is obtained in so 

 short a time as eight months. Beet has shown itself 

 subject neither to alarming diseases nor to extensive attacks 

 of insects. Beet is grown in extra-tropical . zones like ours, 

 while the sugar-cane is a plant confined to tropical and sub- 

 tropical latitudes. Beet culture, by directly or indirectly 

 restoring the refuge, ameliorates the soil to such an extent, 

 that in some parts of Grermany land, so utilized, has risen 

 to fourfold its former value. Beet, furthermore, affords one 

 of the most fattening stable fodders ; and thus again an 

 ample supply of manure. In Middle Europe now about 

 one-sixth of all the arable land is devoted to Beet, yet the 

 produce of cereals has not become reduced, while the rearing 

 of fattened cattle has increased. Notwithstanding a heavy 

 tax on the Beet-sugar factories in Europe, the industry has 

 proved prosperous, and assumes greater and greater dimen= 

 sions. In 1865, the sugar consumption of Europe amounted 

 to 31,676,497 cwt., one-third of which had been locally sup- 

 plied by the Beet, from over one thousand beet-sugar 

 factories. Treacle obtained from beet is distilled for 

 alcohol. Eor establishing remunerative factories on a 

 large and paying scale, it has been suggested that farmers' 

 companies might be formed. Eor ascertaining the per- 

 centage of sugar in Beet, sac char ometers are used. In 

 Germany, some scientific periodicals are exclusively devoted 

 to the fostering of this industry. 



