THE PRODUCTION OF BEET-SUGAR. 201 



tained 5,145 pounds per acre. In other words, with the use of a 

 fertilizer, an increase of 3,030 pounds of sugar was obtained. 



The application of highly nitrogenous fertilizers, or the in- 

 corporation of partly decayed organic substances — like stable 

 manure — in the soil in the autumn or in the spring, directly pre- 

 ceding the cultivation of the sugar-beet, is known to act injuri- 

 ously on the composition of the roots. Such manuring increases 

 the foreign substances in the juice, prevents a desirable develop- 

 ment of the sugar, besides placing the latter under unfavorable 

 circumstances for separation. Thus no fertilization must be used 

 during the year of the beet crop. 



After the plowing and harrowing of the soil, much the same as 

 required for a potato crop, leaving the ground as smooth as a gar- 

 den, the sowing of the seed commences early in the month of May, 

 when the beet-planter, represented in Fig. 1, is brought into requisi- 



Fig. 1.— The Germania Beet-Planter. 



tion. Like the mower, reaper, binder, and other agricultural won- 

 ders, it saves the labor of many workmen. It is drawn by two 

 horses, and plants eight rows, eighteen inches apart, at each pas- 

 sage. The seed is placed in hoppers extending along the top of 

 the machine ; thence it descends through chutes or apertures, 

 which can be enlarged or contracted at pleasure, into the body 

 of the machine. A shaft, furnished with small spoons, runs 

 through the body of the machine, and is made to revolve with 

 greater or less rapidity by an arrangement of cog-wheels connect- 

 ing the shaft with one of the driving-wheels. At each revolution 

 each little spoon brings up a seed and deposits it in a small hop- 

 per, from which it descends through a series of funnel-shaped 

 tubes, which telescope into each other, into the seed-box of the 

 drill. Another series of cog-wheels is set in motion by the other 

 driving-wheel, and these cause another shaft to revolve, faster or 

 slower, according to the arrangement of the wheels. This shaft 

 is furnished with eight wheels, with cams or projections on the 

 circumference, which operate the valve-rods that open and shut 

 the seed-boxes in the drills, and thus this gearing regulates the 

 distance at which seeds are dropped, just as the other regulates 



VOL. XXXV. — 13* 



