368 On the Chemistry of Silesian Sujar-Beets. 
I have not been able to ascertain wlietlier both varieties were 
sown at the same time, and whether each were dressed with the 
same amount of London sewage. Judging by the physical 
character of the white Barking beet, and its chemical compo- 
sition, I am inclined to think that it probably received an excess 
of sewage and by it was forced on too rapidly. If this be so 
we learn from the remarkably good qualities of one of the 
sewage grown beets, and the watery poor condition of the other, 
the lesson of applying sewage to beets and mangolds with 
discrimination. Used at the right time, and in proper quan- 
tities, town sewage may become one of the most useful fertilizers 
for sugar-beets ; on the contrary, when applied in excess or at a 
period of the year when the further supply of plant food ought 
to be withheld as much as possible, sewage is likely to do serious 
mischief to that crop. 
As yet our experience with regard to the most profitable mode 
of applying sewage to the land is very limited, and it would, 
therefore, be rash to give special directions as to the quantities 
of sewage which should be applied to sugar-beets, or to point 
out how often and when this fertilising liquid should be used. 
It may be stated, however, in a general way, that town sewage 
may be employed with great advantage in repeated doses during 
the first 2 or 3 months of the growth of the root-crop. It will 
then encourage an early luxuriant and healthy development of 
leaves, by which sugar is afterwards elaborated from atmo- 
spheric food and stored up in the roots. The more completely 
the supply of soil-food is withheld during the late summer 
months, the more fully will the beet-crop ripen, and the richer it 
will become in sugar in consequence. Sewage, therefore, should 
not be applied to sugar-beet during the last 2 or 3 months of its 
growth. 
Many persons with whom I have conversed on the subject of 
sugar-beet culture have entertained doubts whether our English 
summers are warm enough to ripen sugar-beets sufficiently, 
because they have an idea that this crop requires a great amount 
of heat for coming to perfection. Whether or not England is a 
country favourable to sugar-beet culture experience alone can 
decide, but if beet-root culture should ultimately prove to be a 
failure in England, it will not be on account of the want of 
summer heat. In point of fact sugar-beets do not nearly so well 
in Central France or Germany, nor in the South, as in the 
North where the summer temperature is much lower. It is not 
so much heat as a dry and unclouded sky during the autumnal 
months which makes the sugar in the beet. It is furtlier of 
much consequence whether the end of April and the month 
of May are wet or dry. The more rain falls on the land — 
