SELECT PLANTS READILY ELIGIBLE 



sugar, can be studied from manifold works ; one has been 

 compiled by Mr. N. Levy, of tliis city. A deeply-stirred, 

 di'ained soil, rich in lime, brings tbe saccbarine variety of 

 Beet to the greatest perfection. The Imperial Beet yields 

 from 12 to 20 per cent, sugar. The Castlenauderry, the 

 Magdeburg, the Siberian "Whiterib and the Yilmorin Beet 

 are other varieties rich in sugar. About five 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 efiected generally by hydi-aulic 

 pressure. The juice is j^urified with lime and animal coal. 

 Excess of lime is removed by carbonic acid^ and the purified 

 and decolourized juice is evaporated in vacuum pans, with a 

 view to preventing the extensive conversion of the crystal- 

 lisable sugar into treacle. The production of Beet-sugar 

 needs far less labour 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 dii-ectly 

 or indirectly restoring the refuge, ameliorates the soil to such 

 an extent, that in some parts of Germany 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 

 dimensions. In 1865, the sugar consumption of Europe 

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

 locally supplied by the Beet, from over one thousand Beet- 

 sugar factories. Treacle obtained from beet is distilled for 

 alcohol. For establishing remunerative factories on a large 

 and paying scale, it has been suggested that farmers' com- 

 panies might be formed. For ascertaining the percentage of 

 sugar in Beet, saccharometers are used. In Germany, some 

 scientific periodicals are exclusively devoted to the fostering 

 of this industry. 



