THE PRODUCTION OF BEET-SUGAR. 199 



come to an end, and men could hope that it would last at least 

 through another era. Those who could not attend the public 

 ceremonies watched kneeling on the roofs of their houses. The 

 secular festival was suppressed by the Spaniards, the last human 

 victim having been sacrificed on the pyramid of Tlaloc in 1507. 

 — Translated for the Popular Science Monthly from a review, by 

 M. L. Barre, in the Revue Scientifique. 



THE PRODUCTION OF BEET-SUGAR 



By A. H. ALMT. 



IN the May number of this magazine a sketch was presented of 

 the rise and progress of the beet-sugar industry. In this arti- 

 cle it is proposed to outline the method of growing the plant, and 

 the processes employed in extracting the sugar. The sugar-beet, 

 like other plants, contains a definite number of chemical elements 

 which are indispensable to its growth, and which must be present 

 in suitable proportions in order to insure its highest development. 

 Yet it is not long since the proportions of these constituents were 

 looked upon as merely incidental, and without any direct bearing 

 on the processes of growth. Plants are nourished by air, water, 

 and the substances contained in the soil ; but they differ in the 

 kinds and quantities of nourishment required. Some need to have 

 their roots constantly in water, others are best suited to dry soils, 

 and others again prosper only on the best and most richly manured 

 land. There are some elements common to all plants, and some 

 peculiar to each kind. Like animals, plants are endowed with 

 taste or choice regarding their food — they do not absorb indis- 

 criminately nor in the same proportions all the substances pre- 

 sented to them. From this it follows that the fertilization of the 

 soil should be adapted to the character of the plant that is to be 

 cultivated. Wheat, rye, barley, and other cereals push up long 

 stalks having few and slender leaves, which absorb little nourish- 

 ment from the air. These plants consequently take most of their 

 food through the roots, and are, therefore, great exhausters of the 

 soil. Plants, on the contrary, having large, fleshy, green leaves, 

 like the beet, take greater quantities of carbonic acid and water 

 from the air, and hence withdraw less material from the ground. 

 In the process of growth plants exhaust that portion of the soil 

 which comes in contact with their roots ; hence, after the surface 

 layers have been drawn upon by short, creeping roots like those 

 of the cereals, a long tap-root, like that of the beet, may be 

 able to extract an abundance of nourishment from the deeper 

 layers. 



