160 On the Composition and Nutritive Properties of Swedes, 
scope for the exercise of judgment, and presents a wide field for 
experimental inquiry. 
All interested in root-growing are familiar with the fact that 
the distance between the rows, and between plant and plant, 
affects both the weight and the quality of the crops ; and they 
further know that under some circumstances it is better to grow 
roots on the flat, and under others on ridges. On these, and 
similar questions of a purely practical nature, general directions 
are of no avail, and rather calculated to mislead than to afford 
useful directions for the successful cultivation of root-crops. 
The fact is that practical experience of this kind cannot be taught 
by lectures or written treatises, but must be acquired by close 
observation, careful comparison, and actual trials. All skilful 
and experienced agriculturists are of necessity experimenters in 
the best sense of the word. However, it will not be out of 
place to direct attention to the tendency which prevails in some 
districts to grow swedes too far apart in the rows, and to leave 
too wide a space between the drills. In bad seasons, roots thus 
planted do not properly ripen, and the weight per acre is often 
less than when they are planted more closely. Bearing on this 
point, some interesting experiments have recently been made in 
France by M. Ladureau. A five-acre field was divided into 5 
equal plots. On each of these plots, furrows were run 17 inches 
apart, and sugar-beets were planted in the rows at intervals of 
10, 12, 14, 16, and 20 inches respectively, in the several plots. 
The total yield per plot, and the chemical composition of the 
juice from the roots grown upon each, were carefully noted. 
The following Table embraces the principal results which were 
obtained. 
Number 
of Plot. 
Distance. 
Yield per Acre. 
Specific 
Gravity of 
Juice. 
Percentage 
of Sugar. 
Percentage 
of Ash. 
1 
Inches. 
10 
Tons. cwts. qrs. 
28 0 0 
1055-5 
11-62 
•6G5 
2 
12 
27 12 3 
1055- 
11.21 
•750 
3 
14 
27 15 3 
1050- 
10-48 
•750 
4 
10 
25 1 3 
1051- 
10-61 
•810 
5 
20 
25 5 2 
1046- 
8-97 
•820 
From these results it appears: — 
1. That the roots planted nearest together, viz., at a distance 
of only 10 inches, not only gave the heaviest crop per acre, but 
also yielded a juice richest in sugar. 
2. That the difference in yield between 28 tons per acre on 
plot 1, and 25 tons 1 cwt. 3 qrs. on plot 4, was entirely due to 
