8oo 



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



method of distributing them, while the rotation adopted must 

 also be taken into account. Though the sugar-content of the 

 sugar-beet is large, this in itself does not mean the extraction 

 from the soil of any of the fertilising elements ; the sugar is 

 formed in the leaves, chiefly at the expense of the carbon 

 dioxide of the air. In order that the sugar-beets may grow 

 well and rapidly, however, to supply the rest of the plant 

 constituents, and to enable the accumulation of the sugar to 

 take place in the root, the crop requires a complete manuring 

 with dung and artificial fertilisers. This manuring is not lost 

 when the crop is harvested. The sugar is certainly extracted 

 for human consumption, but a large part of the plant food is 

 returned to the soil in the leaves and crowns of the crop, 

 while the pulp from which the sugar has been removed is 

 fed to stock and thus in part converted into meat and milk, 

 and in part returned to the soil as dung. Use is also made 

 of other residual products. When the pulp is fed to stock 

 and the dung is well managed, the manurial losses are small 

 and comparable to those which take place in feeding man- 

 golds. If the pulp is not fed the losses are heavy, as when 

 roots are sold off the land. For the purpose of raising a crop 

 of sugar-beets, however, large quantities of nitrogen, phos- 

 phoric acid, potash, and lime are required, and the percentage 

 of the chief ingredients appears to vary with the sugar- 

 content, beets rich in sugar taking comparatively less from 

 the soil than those which are poor in sugar. According to 

 Garola, lime and nitrogen are the ingredients most favour- 

 able to the crop during the first two months after the sowing 

 of the seed, after which phosphoric acid and potash are in- 

 creasingly required, though lime is the dominant ingredient 

 to the end of growth. The practical conclusion derived from 

 a consideration of the movements of absorption seems to be 

 that the sugar-beet needs moderate manuring with dung, 

 fortified with superphosphate, nitrate of soda (or sulphate of 

 ammonia), and a potash manure. 



The quantities of manures recommended are from 8 to 12 

 and not more than 16 tons per acre of dung, according to the 

 soil and conditions of cropping; with 2J- to 4J cwt. of super- 

 phosphate, 1J--2 cwt. nitrate of soda, and lj cwt. sulphate of 

 potash or 6 cwt. of kainit. Artificials are usually distributed 



