Sngar-Beet Cultivation in Austria. 
should be matle and all the puny plants destroyed. It is better 
to save the vigorous plants even if regular intervals are not 
preserved, but no space should be left greater than twelve to 
fifteen inches in extent. Much of the thinning can be done 
by a narrow hoe, but where the plants are very close together, 
at the place where the plant to be preserved is to grow, the 
work must be done by hand. It is well to give a thorough 
hand-hoeing at the same time, and the subsequent cultivation, 
in most seasons, may be carried on with horse power. 
When the plants are more advanced a few deeper cultiva- 
tions may be desirable, and for these any good cultivator may 
be used. The cultivation in all cases should be conducted for 
the two-fold purpose of keeping the crop entirely free from 
weeds, and for preserving a proper tilth of the surface of the 
soil. At least once a fortnight during the period of' growing 
the beet field should be cultivated. If the season be veiy dry, 
more frequent cultivation will be found useful. The final culti- 
vation should leave the soil practically level. During cultivation 
care should be taken not to injure either the leaves or the 
root of the beet ; and when the foliage of the growing crop 
begins to cover well the surface of the soil cultivation mav be 
suspended. 
The cultivation of the beet, like that of the mangel and 
of root-crops generally, consists, in fact, in timely and careful 
thinning, weeding, and keeping the soil in a loose and friable 
state, by means of the harrow and the horse- or hand-hoe. 
As long as the young plants are not injured by hand-hoeing, 
the repeated application of the hoe from time to time is attended 
with the gi'eatest benefit to the crop. 
!MaN*URES AXD MAXtRlNCf. 
Xext to the soil, manure has a powerful influence on the 
quality of sugar-beet. If possible, beet should not be grown 
in freshly dunged soils, though with the improved varieties and 
on good land this is not now considered so injurious as it used to 
be in rendering the roots poor in sugar and overcharged with 
saline matters. The presence of an excess of saline matters in 
the juice of the beet is much dreaded by the manufacturer of 
sugar, inasmuch as it largely prevents the extraction of the 
sugar in a crystallisable state. 
If the soil, however, is very poor, it is impossible to grow 
ami:hing like a crop without manure ; in that case farmyard 
manure must be applied to the land in autumn, or 3 or 4 cwt. 
of guano, or a mixture of guano, bone-dust, and superphosphate 
