344 
Sugar'Beet Cultivation in Austria. 
and sulphate of potash. Peruvian guano has been used with 
advantage for beet on naturally poor soils, and when applied in 
moderate quantities in autumn it greatly benefits this crop. 
Ammoniacal salts, guano, rotten dung, and in general all 
nitrogenous manures, reqiiire to be used with discrimination, 
for their tendency is to encourage the luxuriant gi'owth of tops, 
and to diminish the percentage of sugar in the roots. A certain 
amount of available nitrogen in the soil appears to be necessary 
for the healthy growth of the sugar-beet, and hence the use of 
guano or animal manures cannot be dispensed with when the 
soil on which the crop is intended to be grown is either 
naturally very poor, or out of condition by repeated cropping. 
On the other hand, nitrogenous manures, such as guano, sul- 
phate of ammonia, or rotten dung, should not be applied to 
beet when the land is in good heart. For soils in good agri- 
cultural condition an extra supply of nitrogenous organic matter 
or ready formed ammonia does harm, inasmuch as, though it 
produces a very heavy crop, it both diminishes the percentage 
of sugar in the roots, and prevents the manufacturer obtaining, 
in a crystallised form, as large an amount of sugar as he can 
produce from beet containing the same percentage of sugar, 
but grown without the use of nitrogenous manure. 
Superphosphate of lime may be applied to the land with 
excellent effect at the time when the seed is di-illed in. Bone- 
dust also does good. On light soils, in which potash is gene- 
rally deficient, a mixture of superphosphate and sulphate of 
potash has been found most serviceable to beet in many cases, 
not only upon light sandy soils but upon all soils in a com- 
jiaratively poor agricultural condition. 
The constituents to be taken into account in the necessary 
restitution to the soil for the growth of beet are potash, phos- 
phoric acid, magnesia, and nitrogen. The quantities of these 
constituents in 1,000 lb. of beet and beet leav^es, averaged fi^om 
numerous analyses, are as follows : — 
Constituents Roots Leaves 
lb. lb. 
Potash 3-3 6-5 
Pbospboi-ic acid 0-8 1'3 
Magnesia 0-5 3'0 
Nitrogen I'G 3-9 
Total ash 7-1 18-1 
Of all these fertilisers, that which combines in itself in the 
highest degree all the elements of plant food, and which is 
naturally the most economical, is formyard manure. To pro- 
vide the necessary dung, as well as to eat up the refuse pulp 
