78 
THE CULTIVATOR. 
cessfuUy cultivated in France when foreign sugar did not compete 
with it in the market at a less price than ten cents per pound. We 
did not then consider, nor did our readers probably understand, that 
the remark then had reference to refined sugar. The fact now seems 
to be this, that beet sugar, equal to our double refined loaf, which 
now sells m the New-York market at eighteen and twenty cents per 
pound, can be profitably sold in France, by the producer, at nine 
cents per pound, or at half the price of cane sugar. It follows as a mat¬ 
ter of course, for bating the difference in labor, we can produce it here 
as cheap as they can in France, that the culture of the beet, and the 
manufacture of beet sugar, can be rendered a profitable business in 
this country. Our soil and climate are well adapted to the beet; 
and in the interior, in particular, where the price of foreign sugar is 
enhanced by the charges of transportation, beet sugar must ere 
long be among the staple products As an offset to the difference 
in labor, we have an advantage in the cheapness of land. Chaptal’s 
estimates are predicated on a rent of 40 francs ($7.60) per acre. 
Chaptal states his average product in beet roots at 40,000 pounds 
the hectare (which is 2 acres 1 rood 35 perches English) ; that in 
his establishment he operated upon 10,000 pounds in a day; that 
this quantity (10,000 lbs. roots) produced, of 
1 Refined sugar, 187 lbs. worth.. 210 francs. 
2 Middling do. 67 lbs. worth. 67 “ 50 c. 
3 Trimmings, 1,000 kilograms, (fed) worth... 2 “ 50 c. 
4 Mash, (fed to stock) 1,250, worth.• • • • 30 “ 
5 Molasses, 130, worth. 12 “ 
322 francs. 
equal to about $61 on the products of one-fourth of a hectare, or 
something more than half an acre of land. The expense of cultivat¬ 
ing an acre is stated at 133 francs, about $25, which includes 40 fr. 
for rent, and 10 for taxes, and leaves about. $15.75 for cultivating, 
digging, transporting and storing the crop. He states the expense 
of cultivating and manufacturing 10,000 lbs. roots, including all 
charges, at 192 francs, about 36 dollars, leaving as a profit on this 
quantity of roots, about $25, say $35 the acre, clear profit. Upon 
1,200,000 lbs. of roots, the average produce of three hectares, he es¬ 
timates a nett profit to the manufacturer, after deducting interest on 
capital, repairs, &c., of 6,650 francs, about $1,260. 
After penning the above, we received the interesting letter of M. 
Le Ray de Chauinont, which will be found under the head of corres¬ 
pondence, showing the importance of beet sugar as a household 
manufacture. 
SUMMER PRUNING. 
We are advocates for summer pruning, both from experience and 
philosophy. And we invite those of our readers who are wedded to 
the old practice of pruning at other seasons, to examine the reason¬ 
ing in favor of our practice, contamed in the following extract, which 
we make from the essay on useful and ornamental planting, publish¬ 
ed by the society for the diffusion of useful knowledge. It contains 
interesting facts in vegetable physiology, and indicates the propriety 
of early fall planting. 
“ Every individual leaf of a tree is furnished with its own particu¬ 
lar series of vessels for the course of the sap, and not only prepares 
and elaborates the sap for the increase of substance of its own 
branch, but also for the parent stem and root. Hence it is that trees 
regularly furnished with branches from the base upwards, have more 
tapering stems, than trees with branches confined to the upper half 
of the stem, the increase being equal, from the point where the 
branches begin, downwards to the root; or, in other words, what¬ 
ever length of stem from the root upwards is destitute of branches, 
that part of it, from the period of losing them, increases in size equal¬ 
ly throughout. [Hence the importance of taking off the lower 
branches of trees intended for timber; and of taking out the centre 
shoot of fruit trees, when they have attained a sufficient height to 
form a top—the object in one case being to obtain a straight clean 
bole, for timber, and in the other a low wide-spreading top for fruit— 
a straight lofty tree giving the most and best timber, and a low and 
spreading one giving the most and best fruit.] Without a just know¬ 
ledge of this principle in the economy of vegetable life, the impor¬ 
tant process of pruning in the culture of forest trees, cannot safely 
be performed by the forester. That the sap never ceases wholly to 
move is evident in the increase of the roots and buds during the winter, 
when the plant is leafless ; but its descent is particularly distinguished 
for greater force and activity at two periods of the year, spring and mid¬ 
summer. The ascent in the spring is the strongest, and com inues until 
midsummer, gradually diminishing in force as the new branches and 
leaves are perfected. This generally takes place about the beginning of 
J uly, when an apparent cessation of ascending motion in the ascend¬ 
ing sap immediately succeeds, and continues usually for the space of 
a fortnight or three weeks—[during this apparent time of cessation 
is the proper time to prune] according to the age of the plant and 
the state of the weather. A second ascent of sap, and growth of 
shoots, now take place, but with diminished vigor;. unless from acci¬ 
dent, disease or unfavorable weather, the spring growth has been 
checked, and the first flow of sap prevented from being exhausted, 
in the production of branches, leaves and blossoms. It is worthy of 
remark, that those shoots which form fruit, flower or seed buds, have 
seldom, if ever, any second growth; but remain without increasing in 
length until the next spring. The midsummer growth'is almost al¬ 
ways confined to those branches which carry wood buds only. Af¬ 
ter the second growth is completed, the effects of the descending sap in 
the formation of new bark is apparent in the healing up of wounded 
parts of the stem and branches, which now proceeds with more activity 
than during any other season of the year. Branches pruned off smooth 
at the stem, though the latter be healthy, young and containing ajper- 
fect pith, before or shortly after the completion of the midsummer 
growth, do not produce shoots from the edge of the wounds caused by their 
removal, which always happens, more or less, when pruning is per¬ 
formed on free growing trees after the fall of the leaf, and before the full 
development of the spring shoots and leaves. It is to be observed, 
however, that the reproduction of branches from the edges of a wound 
is greatly assisted by leaving a portion of the branch or shoot, on its 
parent branch or stem.” See p. 4, 16, 17. 
HAYMAKING. 
Why is it invariably recommended, when medicinal herbs are to-be 
preserved for use, that they be dried in the shade ? For two plain 
reasons; first, because an intense summer’s sun deprives them of a 
portion of their medicinal virtues; and secondly, to prevent their qua¬ 
lity becoming deteriorated by dew and rain. The same precaution 
is observed in the curing of hops, and it is no less important in the 
curing of hay. The sun abstracts much of the best properties of 
both. It is for these reasons, that in many of the best farming dis¬ 
tricts, the grass is never spread from the swath ; but, after it lias par¬ 
tially dried there, it is cured in the cock, where it dries evenly, that 
is, the moisture becomes equalized in the mass, and the stems dry 
as fast as the leaves,—and where neither the sun, nor the rain, nor 
the dew are liable to do it material injury. And we contend, that 
there is not only a great improvement in the quality of the hay, by 
this process of curing, but an increase in quantity, the leaves and 
finer parts being all preserved, and a manifest saving in labor. The 
labor of spreading and raking is in a measure saved; the grass be¬ 
ing cocked from the swath with the fork, and after it has cured there, 
the hay being partially spread lor two or three hours to complete the 
process. We gave our mode of management in our last volume, and 
it might be deemed superfluous to repeat it here ; but we earnestly 
beg, that farmers who have not adopted it, will give it at least a par¬ 
tial trial this month, especially with clover. We estimate the gam, 
in this crop, by the new over the old mode, at least one-third. 
EXPERIMENTS WITH THE POTATO. 
Mr. Howden, of Scotland, has made experiments with 130 varie¬ 
ties of the potato, most of which are unknown among us. From the 
table which he published, the product of the different species varied 
from 280 to 745 bushels the acre, we suspect Scotch measure. The 
produce of four eyes, cut from the cluster species, and planted in four 
different kinds of soil, was— 
On a strong rich loam,.34 pounds, 
On a light rich loam. 29 “ 
On a good gravel,. 19 “ 
On a sandy soil,. 15 “ 
In an experiment accurately managed, under the London Horti¬ 
cultural Society, with a view to ascertain whether whole potatoes 
or sets were best for seed, five acres of ground were taken for the 
experiment, and five kinds of potatoes were planted, one half with 
whole tubers, and the other half with pieces containing one eye each. 
There was obtained— 
Tons. Cwt. Lbs. 
From the tubers,. 113 2 17 
From the single eyes,..... Ill 3 54 
