Sufjar-Beet Cultivation in Austria. 
333 
excellent for the purpose, provided it coutains plenty of lime. 
It is essential that the soil should be capable of deep cultivation, 
as the plough must penetrate to a depth of 8 to 10 inches, 
and the subsoil plough 6 inches below that. The roots must be 
buried almost entirely in the ground to yield their full pro- 
portion of sugar, and must penetrate freely into the subsoil if 
they are not to be stunted and to run too much to tops. 
There is no soil so well suited for beet as a good, well- 
worked, deeply cultivated, and thoroughly drained clay-loam ; 
or, in other words, a soil containing a good deal of clay, with a 
fair proportion of sand. On calcareous soils the roots are gene- 
rally small, rich in sugar, and yield a juice of great purity. 
^[ost good clay-loams contain sufficient lime to meet the re- 
quirements of the beet-root crop. Many light soils, on the other 
hand, being poor in lime, are much improved by the application 
of clay, marl, chalk, or quicklime previous to ploughing up the 
land in autumn. 
The subsoil has an important influence on this, as on all root 
crops. It should be sufficiently friable to allow the ready pene- 
tration of the roots, and be thoi-oughly well drained ; for it is 
vain to hope to grow successfully good sugar-beet on land- 
resting on a stiff, cold, and partially drained subsoil. In 
dealing with rather heavy land particular attention has to be 
paid to autumn cultivation. Deep ploughing in autumn and 
stiiTing the subsoil without turning it up, and above all steam 
cultivation — much practised by the large factories in Austria — 
are some of the means of preparing such land for beet roots. 
" In short,'" says the late Dr. Voelcker in a report on the subject 
in this Journal,' which I have laid largely under contribu- 
tion, " the same rules which apply to the proper cultivation of 
the soil for other root crops should guide the farmer in preparing 
his land for sugar-beets." 
Too much stress cannot be laid upon the necessity of care- 
fully choosing and properh- preparing the land intended for the- 
cultivation of sugar-beet. To obtain long, clean, properly 
shaped roots, the plants must have a sufficient depth of soil to 
grow in, as nothing fosters the development of side roots more 
than the stoppage of the passage of the tap root by the hardness 
or bad quality of the subsoil. 
Place of the Beet Eoot in the Rotation. 
The most suitable preparation for sugar-beet is a white straw 
crop, or well-manured potatoes. Wherever possible, beet is 
' Jcuinal E. A, S. E., Vol. V. (2nd Series), 1869. 
