954 
THE TROPICAL AGRICULTURIST. 
[May i, 1882. 
AGRICULTURE ON THE CONTINENT OF 
EUEOPE. 
{Special letter.) 
Paris, 25th February. 
At the end of May, the Bugar manufacturers intend 
to hold a Congress, when, among other matters, will 
be discussed the comparative value of beet pulp by 
the two processes for extracting the juice and refining 
the latter. In the meantime, the sugar beet growers 
have met and exchanged views as to the best means 
for cultivating the root &c. In point of practical 
utility, the Congress was very remarkable. What 
are the moet favorable conditions for the culture of 
sugar beet? Deep tillage, in order to have roots 
uniform and not forky ; abundant manurings, but 
manures easily absorbed and not rich in nitrogen, 
for excess of nitrogen produces roots poor in sugar 
and difficult to be worked up ; sow as early as 
possible, when frosts are no longer to be feared, and 
the soil has been dried after the winter ; select good 
seed ; no supplemental manures during the growth of 
the plant, as such develope the bulb at the expense 
of the sugar ; above all, no stripping of leaves during 
summer and autumn. Eleven roots to the square 
yard are considered fair spacing, and it is better to 
have the rows rather distant, and the plants rather 
close. Good seed is essential, and to obtain such, 
the bulbs for bearing ought to be selected under 
normal conditions of growth and analyzed to test 
thei ■ richness and purity of juice, for it is possible 
by special conditions of culture to produce a bulb 
exceptionally rich in saccharine matter, without the 
root being able to transmit that quality hereditarily : 
further, such culture might produce an unbranching 
root, yet the next generation would display all the 
forkiness. 
Beet extracts a great deal of potash from the soil ; 
so the necessity of restoring that salt is urged upon 
the attention of growers. A deficiency of potash in 
the soil induces a premature fall of leaves ; holes 
in the neck of the root, and a resumption of vege- 
tation in September — which revival takes place at 
the expense of the sugar-cells. Phosphates are ex- 
cellent, and the more so if wheat be intended to 
follow the beet. Some recommend applications of 
magnesia. Respecting the period of sowing : in cold 
regions early sowing is to be recommended, while, 
in warmer districts, the plant is held to resist the 
beat in proportion to its youthfulness. It was ever 
a knotty point what ought to determine the monetary 
value of beet, for till lately it was the only agri- 
cultural product where quality was ignored? To test 
the industrial value of the root was not less an* 
essential factor in price than determining the weight. 
Two methods were proposed ; estimating the density 
of the juice, and that is now generally employed, and 
analysing its richness — a process abandoned as being 
laborious and unreliable, although the densimetric 
standard has also its drawbacks. 
The question of pulp did not raise serious dis- 
cussion, as practical stock fatteners corroborated the 
scientists: when the pulp is too aqueous, correct the 
defect by dry rations in increased proportions. The 
sugar interest of France has two grievances : the in- 
land duties and foreign importations. It is proposed 
to double the tax on the bounty sugars of Russia, 
Austria, and Germany, and reduce the tax on the 
consumptive home product still farther. As to levying 
the other inland impost, on the beet-root, as in Ger- 
many, instead of at present on the brut sugar in 
the factory, it was agreed to leave that subject as it is. 
Since June last M. Pasteur has vaccinated 90,000 
head of stock, among which were 10,000 oxen, cows, 
and horses. In every ins'ance his process was suc- 
pennful : the animals vaccinated escaped the charbon 
malady, while those non- vaccinated fell victims to 
that plague. M. Pasteur, and other who have corrobor- 
ated his view, lays down that the effects of his 
preservative vaccine do not last longer than eight 
months ; so that vaccination must be repeated annually, 
and that April is the best month for executing the 
operation. 
Perhaps there is no city in the world, where so 
much is made out of the soil in its vicinity as 
Paris ; its early kitchen garden delicacies are pro- 
verbial ; there are veritable fields of asparagus, peas, 
strawberries and violets Of fruits I say notliing; only 
that they abound. Of late years the cultivation of 
violets has taken an enormous extension, as also of 
figs in pots. Nice and Parnia violets have more than 
a rival at present in the rich market gardeners of 
the suburbs. It is not the less singular than true, 
that the inhabitants of the suburbs have to obtain 
their vegetables purchased in the city markets. 
From 1,500 to 2,000 fr_ per acre is the net average 
produce of a kitchen garden. The commercial cultiv- 
ation of flowers is also becoming very productive, 
and, as for mushrooms, they are a veritable "gold- 
diggings." France alone consumes the esculent to 
the value of nine million francs per year. 
The irrigation of vineyards in autumn is universally 
recognized as efficacious against the phylloxera. Some 
proprietors now resort to summer irrigations, and 
small doses of sulpho-carbonate. At best, such can 
be but a check, as water is an insecticide, and in 
summer it augments the vigor of the vine, by causing 
it to throw out fresh rootlets : but no process can 
so far place the vine beyond the reach of re- 
invasions of the insect, under the form of swarms 
and the hatching of its winter eggs. 
Coco-nut cake is being tried for feeding purposes. 
The analysis of Petermann shows, that it is rich 
(20 p. c.) in nitrogenous substances. 
The reports respecting winter crops are satisfactory. 
No complaints are made respecting wheat, which bears 
up well. Indeed farmers are here so contented that 
their attention is chiefly given to agitations for the 
suppression of several small and vexatious taxes, the 
making of good roads, and the reduction of railway 
transport rates. 
EXPERIMENTS WITH MANURES. 
Here is a paragraph on the relative value of some 
manures you may think worth preservation in the 
Tropical Agriculturist : — 
Experiments with Manures— Mr. Cardno, Fraserburgh, 
has sent us the following result of experiments with manures 
made by him for turnip crop grown on Kinbog Farm, season 
1881, without dung, four drills 12 yards long by 27 inches wide, 
in centre of field, the proportion given per acre in each case 
being seven cwt. : — 
Weight 
Tur- Equal Cost Cost 
nips, per per per Description of 
12th Acre to cwt. acre. Manure used. 
Dec. 
Lb. T, Cwt. Q. L. s. d. £ s. r>. 
106 25 8 3 24 3 9 1 6 3 Odam's Super- 
phosphate. 
73| 17 12 3 18 4 0 1 8 0 Huon Guano. 
71 17 0 3 18 6 6 2 5 6 Dissolved Bones. 
68 16 6 2 0 7 3 2 10 9 Bone dust. 
Prices of potatoes continue ruinously low. Retail 
dealers offer to deliver orders at 4d per stone. 
Large consignments are being shipped for America. 
A cargo by steamer is to go from Aberdeen to New 
York; another cargi from Dundee to Baltimore; a 
third of 1,700 tons from Invergordon to New 
York, the last costing less for fi eight to New 
York than railway carriage to London would 
have been. Large shipments continue to be made 
at Glasgow, and Ireland has been exporting surplus 
crops of her staple tatil. The Belfast correspondent 
pf the North British Agriculturist writes: — "Th e 
