PRACTICAL PAPERS—SUGAR-BEET AND BEET SUGAR. 253 
facture, or by their becoming blighted, which causes the root 
to sprout, and eventually deprives it of the best part of the 
sugar and renders the extraction of what remains extremely 
difficult. The beet should be preserved so as to be in exactly 
the same condition when worked up as it was v hen taken from 
the ground. 
In France, and other countries, where the climate will per¬ 
mit, the roots are usually stored in heaps in the field or open 
air, and are protected by a covering of straw and earth, pro¬ 
vision at the same time being made for drainage and ventila¬ 
tion. In making one of these places, or root houses, (silos), 
for the storage of the beet, a trench is first cut in the ground, 
over which the bests are afterwards placed in piles. The 
trench is made eighty centimeters wide and from sixty-five to 
seventy centimeters deep. The length varies according to the 
quantity of beets to be stored ; it must be, however, at each 
end about one meter longer than the pile of beets. This 
trench is then covered with branches of trees or shrubs suJQI- 
ciently thick to prevent the beet from falling through, but not 
too thick to prevent the air from freely circulating upward 
through the roots. In the middle of the pita triangular chim¬ 
ney, made roughly of pine boards three centimeters thick, 
twenty centimeters broad, and one and a half centimeter long, 
is set up. The beets are then piled up over this trench so as 
to form heaps with sloping sides about three meters wide at 
the base, and from twe ity to twenty-five meters long, accord¬ 
ing to the length of the trench. No special care need be ta¬ 
ken to make the piles regular in appearance, the beets thrown 
roughly together will naturally arrange themselves to the 
required shape. The height of the pile is usually one meter 
and a half, corresponding to the height of the chimney. The 
upper part of the pile should be regular, so that the roof with 
which it is covered may fit evenly. The cover or roof is made 
out of three pine boards, so arranged as to fit the top of the 
pile. The sides are braced together at certain distances by 
grooved tie-pieces, the' groove of which is .08 centimeters 
square. The wddth of the boards which form the gutter is 
