406 
juice be pressed out; that it be filtered, evaporated, and, after evaporation, the sugar be procured 
by crystallization and pressure. That account having been printed in England, I shall not notice 
it further, but proceed to such other observations as have arisen from subsequent experiments. 
The kinds of Beets which have been used for the preparation of sugar from their roots, are 
varieties of that species called the Beta vulgaris, or Beta caule erecto of Linnaeus, and of his Pen- 
tandria Digynia class and order: they consist of the Beta rubra vulgaris, Beta rubra major, Beta 
pallide virens major, Beta alba vel pallescens quae Cicla officinarum, and Beta communis viridis. 
Of these the principal are the Beta rubra vulgaris, runkel Rube of the Germans, or red Beet of the 
English, and the Beta Cicla, den weissen Mangold, of the Germans, or the white English Beet; and 
varieties of these whose roots have coloured rings. 
Method of culture of the Beta vulgaris of Linnaeus; Runkel Rube, of the Germans; La Bette , of 
the Erench; or Common Beet , of the English. 
The soil should be a good black earth, not too moist; the land should be prepared as for cab¬ 
bages, namely, dunged in autumn with short rotten dung, and ploughed; turned again in spring, 
and then ploughed a third time much deeper than before. The land on which (Kohl) white cabbage 
has been planted the preceding year, answers well for the culture of the Beet, such land having 
been generally kept clean from weeds, and well dunged. The seeds are usually placed from twelve 
to eighteen inches distant from each other, and one inch deep in the earth. The finger is used for 
the purpose, or an instrument resembling a bean-setter, with this difference, that the teeth are an 
inch long, and the above-mentioned distance from each other. In each hole one seed is laid, and 
immediately covered with earth. As the field where the Beet-root is sown is easily overrun with 
weeds, and the Beet-plants do not spring so soon as many of the weeds; therefore the ground must 
be weeded in four or five weeks time, and some weeks afterwards hoed: and since from one seed 
three or four plants frequently grow, or by negligence several seeds are sometimes thrown into one 
hole, therefore the extra plants must be drawn out to be placed where there are vacancies, and the 
weeds must be frequently destroyed. There is this advantage in sowing the seed in the method 
above mentioned, that the plants remain, and are not checked in their growth by change of situation. 
It is necessary, however, to pick out good and ripe seed, to prevent vacant places in the field. 
Some prefer transplanting the roots to sowing the seed on the ground where the plants are in¬ 
tended to remain; and, in such, case, make use of a stick to form the hole; the length of the stick 
determining the distance at which the plants should be placed from each other. After the plants 
have been some weeks in the ground, the earth should be loosened with a hoe, and the weeds 
destroyed. 
The Red Beet is the kind which has been usually grown in the neighbourhood of Halberstadt; 
and the leaves of this, and the others, are eaten, when prepared, as spinach for the table; but are 
principally employed as herbage for cattle, who are fed therewith in the stalls. 
The roots are pleasant food when boiled, sliced, and eaten cold, either alone or in salads. 
As the method which Professor Gottling has invented, to separate the sugar from Beet-roots, 
appears to me the most easy to be put in general practice, at little expence, and best calculated for 
Great Britain, I shall notice it more particularly. 
Ide recommends the Beet-roots to be taken out of the ground about the middle of September, 
or from that time to the middle of October, in order to have good weather to dry them: they should 
be washed from their adhering earth, as speedily as possible, and their small fibres should at the 
same time be cut off; as likewise such part of the root as in growing had risen above the surface of 
the earth. 
The roots are to be afterwards wiped with a cloth, and laid upon a dry floor; their heads are 
to be cut off and given to the cattle: the roots should be then sliced lengthways down the middle, 
each half again cut into thin slices, and loosely hung on strong thread upon nails, in an airy cham¬ 
ber or place secure from the rain. The slices should not be placed too near together, lest they 
spoil, nor too many be put upon one string, lest it should break; it is advisable to turn the strings 
upside down, once or twice, to effectuate a speedy drying. In the course of ten or twelve days 
they become so dry that the strings may be removed nearer together, in order to allow fresh Beet¬ 
roots to be hung up, if there should be scarcity of room. 
In the course of fourteen days, or three weeks, they will be sufficiently dry for their sugar to be 
