THE CULTIVATOR. 
on 
As pertinent to this subject, we would ask the reader’s attention 
to the extract in our young men’s department, from “ First Lessons 
in Political Economy,” by Professor M’Vickar, of Columbia College, 
a little work which the man as well as boy may peruse with profit. 
BEET SUGAR. 
We have received, from E. C. Delavan, Esq., a specimen of su¬ 
gar manufactured in France from the beet root, which may be ex¬ 
amined at the office of the Cultivator. It is superior in quality to 
the best American refined sugar that we have seen. Dr. Spoor, of 
Coxsackie, has promised us another sample, which he recently pro¬ 
cured at the manufactory in France, and for which he paid a franc, 
about 18 cents, the pound. We gave in our last Volume, the course 
of culture, and process of manufacture, from Chaptal. But the ma¬ 
nufacturing process has been simplified and cheapened, since Chap¬ 
tal wrote, and the manufacture has been brought down, like the silk 
business, to the adaptation of household labor and family economy. 
We are not yet in possession of the new process; but as soon as 
we obtain it, we intend to give it circulation in the Cultivator. The 
business is not likely to interfere with the interests of the south. 
The amount of foreign sugar imported is very great; and the con¬ 
sumption is likely to increase with the domestic supply. The ad¬ 
vantages which the fabrication of sugar from the beet promises to 
the far west, must be particularly great. 
The culture of the beet, and the fabrication from it of sugar, as a 
branch of national industry, and a source of national wealth, is not 
only exciting great interest in France, but in Prussia, and in other 
states on the continent. Gen. Tallmadge has transmitted to the 
American Institute many facts in confirmation of these truths; and 
the letters of Mr. Pedder, who went to France to obtain a practical 
knowledge of the business, abound with valuable notices of its im¬ 
provement and extent. The Royal Central Society of Agriculture 
in France, awarded in April a premium to M. Lecerf, for having es¬ 
tablished a small manufacture of beet sugar, where he prepared dai¬ 
ly, without other aid than that of his family, 50 kilogrammes (1371 
pounds) of sugar, ready for immediate family use. The society 
have offered premiums to the value of 7,200 francs, ($1,296,) be¬ 
sides medals, as a further inducement to enterprise and improve¬ 
ment in the business. The cultivation of the beet, says Mr. Pedder, 
embraces three grand distinct objects : 1st. the making of sugar ; 
2d. the feeding of cattle ; 3d. the improvement of agriculture: for it 
affords an excellent material, and a substitute for turnips and car¬ 
rots, for stock, and a suitable root crop to alternate with grain and 
grass. It causes a cleansing and perfect pulverization of the soil, 
and wheat is found to succeed it admirably well. It is considered 
the foundation of all good husbandry, as the turnip is in Norfolk. 
Mr. Pedder had visited many of the beet and sugar establishments, 
some of which were on an immense scale, producing two or three 
millions pounds of sugar annually, and had joined in the manual-la¬ 
bor of raising the beet. From the washing of the roots to the pour¬ 
ing of the juice into chrystalizing pans, is only the work of 10 hours. 
100 lbs. of beet yield 85 lbs. of juice. Some machines crush 50,000 
to 75,000 lbs. of roots in 24 hours. The pressed cake sells at about 
10 cents the bushel, for feeding cattle. Mr. P. saw in one place 57 
horses and 30 fatting oxen, fed wholly upon the cake and cut straw, 
the oxen being finished off with oil cake. It is now estimated, that 
under the improved process the beet yields 10 per cent, of saccha¬ 
rine matter. One gentleman had a crop of 400 acres of beets. A 
perfect drill barrow has been invented, which sows five rows at a 
time, covers the seed and rolls the ground. Fifty pounds of the 
cake, mixed with one pound of oil cake, are given daily to ten sheep. 
100 pounds of beets, valued at 25 cents, give 6 pounds of sugar, 4 
pounds of molasses, and 25 pounds of cake. There are 64 manu¬ 
factories at Valenciennes and its neighborhood; and between this 
town and Arras, and to Belgium, the country, says Mr. P. is cover¬ 
ed with beet fields and sugar houses ; and he counted six or eight 
of these large buildings together, and twenty-eight were counted at 
one time in sight. 
Mr. Pedder closes one of his letters as follows : “ I believe that 
two persons cannot meet without the first topic being Betterave, 
(beet root.) Indeed I am not sure that the parson did not preach 
about it last Sunday. Nothing else is thought or spoken of; and 
no wonder, for from 100 pounds of beet root they make six pounds 
of sugar, besides eight pounds of molasses, with which to make su- 
f ar of the second quality, and fifteen pounds of cake, sufficient to 
eep three sheep a day. 
“Three years ago there were 13 manufactories at Valenciennes, 
there are now 64. Land which was then 500 francs an arpent, now 
bring 1,200; the price of labor is much risen, and the people are 
getting fat on the mutton and beef made upon the cake, or caput 
mortuum of the root. What will this not do for America.” 
MARL. 
Through the kind aid of Dr. James Eights, we are enabled to 
present an analysis of various specimens of marl, which have been 
forwarded to us for examination. Most of them are found to be 
very rich in carbonate of lime, the property which gives them value 
as a fertilizing material for our lands. We have reason to believe, 
that this valuable earth abounds, in some of its modifications, in al¬ 
most every district of our country, and that its localities are provi¬ 
dentially fixed in the neighborhood of soils most,susceptible of being 
benefitted by its application. The contemplated Geological Survey, 
if properly directed to this subject, cannot but be of incalculable ad¬ 
vantage to the agriculture of the state. 
The quantity of marl which is most advantageously applied, de¬ 
pends, first, upon the quantity of carbonate of lime, if any, already 
existing in the soil; second, upon the richness of the marl in this 
carbonate ; and, third, upon the depth to which the soil is to be cul¬ 
tivated. M. Puvis has given us a table showing the quantity to be 
applied under different circumstances, graduated upon giving to the 
tilth, or cultivated stratum, three per cent of calcareous earth.— 
Mr. Ruffin, the able editor of the Farmer’s Register, the best au¬ 
thority, we think, which we can quote in these matters, is of opi¬ 
nion that three per cent is too much for safe and profitable dressings; 
and that for a general average, after making due allowance for cau¬ 
ses for exception to the general rule, one per cent is abundantly 
high for the average dressing. He has drawn up a table upon this 
scale, which we here transcribe, omitting the fractions of bushels, 
calculated greatly to assist the farmer in graduating the marling 
process The ordinary cart or wagon load will contain from 20 to 
3 d bushels. 
c o 
o to 
° a 
~ c • 
a o 
£ -£ QJ 
.. a « 
Number of bushels of marl necessary to give one per cent 
of carbonate of lime to an acre, for a ploughed depth 
of soil, of 
When tin 
tains, of c 
lime, per 
3 inches. 
4 inches. 
5 inches. 
6 inches. 
7 inches. 
8 inches. 
10 
875 
1166 
1458 
1750 
2041 
2833 
20 
437 
583 
729 
875 
1020 
1166 
30 
291 
388 
486 
583 
680 
777 
40 
218 
281 
364 
437 
510 
583 
50 
175 
233 
291 
350 
409 
466 
60 
145 
194 
243 
291 
340 
388 
70 
125 
180 
208 
250 
291 
333 
80 
109 
145 
182 
218 
255 
291 
90 
97 
129 
162 
194 
226 
259 
100 
87 
116 
145 
175 
204 
233 
Let it be remembered, that marl is not a substitute for dung; but 
it greatly enhances its benefits, by rendering the soil to which it is 
applied more retentive of moisture and vegetable food, and fitting it 
to exert a better influence in the growth of plants. 
The following is the analysis furnished us by Dr. Eights: 
“ Marl from Cortland Co. —100 parts contains 65 of carbonate of 
lime—the remainder consists of about equal parts of aluminous 
earth and vegetable matter. 
“ Schenectady marl —Lime 66—the remainder principally vegeta¬ 
ble matter. 
“ The Montgomery sample proves, upon investigation, to be the 
agaric mineral of authors ; in some few instances, however, it may 
be seen passing gradually into the purer varieties of calcareous 
tufa. It is nearly a pure carbonate of lime. The specimen I exa¬ 
mined, very readily yielded eighty per cent of that earthy salt, the 
residue consisting of very small portions of silex, alumine and vege¬ 
table decomposition, irregularly combined. 
“ Bennington marl —Lime 70—the remainder silex and vegetable 
matter. 
“Greenbush marl —Lime 30—the remainder a fine grained quartz- 
-ose sand (silex.) If it exists in some considerable quantities, this 
