On the Chemistry of Silesian Sugar-Beets. 
The land in the neighbourhood of Lavenham, upon which the 
beets were grown in 1868, was for the greater part rather too 
stiff and retentive, not over fertile, and altogether not particu- 
larly favourable to beet-root culture. In several instances the 
land was in too poor an agricultural condition to promise a fair 
crop, and use was made of Peruvian guano in raising the beet 
crop. Mr. Duncan has entered this season into an engagement 
with a number of Suffolk farmers to pay them at the rate of 20s. 
per ton for well cleaned trimmed beets, and with a favourable 
season expects to receive 4000 tons. His works, when fully 
employed, are capable of using up 60 tons a day. At this 
rate he will be able to complete the extraction of the sugar from 
6000 tons in 100 days. 
Besides the experiment at Lavenham, Mr. Duncan last spring 
(1868) distributed seed in various parts of England and Scotland 
with a view of testing by analysis the sugar-yielding qualities of 
different districts, and, by way of comparison, obtained some 
Dutch beet-roots, which he sent me for analysis. 
Much credit is due to Mr. Duncan for the spirited manner in 
which he is now carrying out an experiment on a large scale, 
which, it is to be hoped, will benefit alike the beet-root grower and 
the manufacturer of sugar ; and which moreover recommends itself 
by providing rural districts with a new agricultural industry that 
will afford employment, if successful, to a large body of people 
during three months of the slackest period of the year. 
In reporting on the numerous beet-root analyses which I made 
of roots grown in 1868, I will, in the first place, refer to the 
composition of the roots grown in the neighbourhood of Laven- 
ham (see Table I., following page), and afterwards on that 
of beets grown in other districts, and on roots under special 
conditions. 
The weight of the roots, to which the following analyses refer, 
varied, it will be seen, from 1^ to 2| lbs. Several of the heavier 
roots yielded a higher percentage of sugar than No. 2 beet, 
which weighed only 1|- lb., and contained 9]- per cent of sugar, 
that is, a smaller percentage than any of the other 7 roots. It is 
quite true that big roots generally are more watery and less rich 
in sugar than beets of a moderate size, but, at the same time, it 
does not hold good that small roots invariably contain more 
sugar than large beets. In the course of my investigation I 
found frequently beets weighing above 2 lbs. and not exceeding 
3 lbs. richer in sugar than roots weighing only 1 lb. and under. 
As far as my present experience with respect to sugar-beets 
grown in England goes, I am inclined to think that, as a rule, 
it is neither profitable for the farmer to grow beets of less weight 
than 2 lbs., nor to the manufacturer to work up any small roots. 
