798 



The Cultivation of the Sugar-beet. [Jan., 



The sugar-beet is grown to perfection on the rich loams of 

 Saxony, between Magdeburg and Halle, in mid-Silesia, 

 Brunswick and Anhalt; it is also grown on heavy soils in 

 Westphalia, Thuringia, Saxony, the Northern and Southern 

 slopes of the Harz, and on light soils in Mecklenburg, 

 Pomerania, Southern Posen and Altmark. In France sugar- 

 beets are chiefly grown in the following Departments : — 

 Aisne, Nord, Oise, Pas-de-Calais, Somme, Seine-et-Marne. 



Rotation of Crops. — A satisfactory rotation is of consider- 

 able importance, and the sugar-beet should only be grown on 

 the same land once in three or four years; if grown too 

 frequently the crop is liable to be small and the sugar content 

 reduced, while the multiplication of parasites, such as eel- 

 worms, is much favoured. It seems, in fact, that with 

 repeated cultivation on the same soil the land becomes 

 "beet-sick." 



In the rotations chiefly followed in France, sugar-beet 

 leads the rotation, and is manured, wheat following it. 

 In order to provide a better division of labour, give more time 

 for tillage operations, and permit the keeping of more stock 

 and the improvement of the soil by the growth of leguminous 

 crops, the following rotation has been suggested: — sugar- 

 beet, oats, clover, wheat. This rotation, on the other hand, 

 exposes the oats to "lodging," while it does not give a 

 sufficiently important place to wheat. 



The following are examples of rotations practised in 

 different localities on the Continent. 





France. 



Austria. 



Belgium. 





Nord. 



Pas-de-Calais. 



Bohemia. 



Bohemia — 

 ^Moorland Soil. 



Hainault. 



1st year 



Sugar-beet 



; ugar-beet 



Sugar-beet 



Sugar-beet 



Sugar-beet 



2nd ,, 



Wheat 



Wheat 



Spring cereal 



Straw crop 



Wheat 



3 ld >> 

 4th „ 



5 th „ 

 6th ,, 



Oats 



Oats 



Clover and 

 annual 

 fodders 



Sugar-beet 

 Spring cereal 



Red clover 



Winter cereal 



Sugar-beet 

 Straw crop 



Fodder crop 



Straw crop 



Oats or rye 

 with clover 

 Clover 



Wheat or 

 winter 

 barley 



