46 
JOURNAL  OF  HORTICULTURE  AND  COTTAGE  GARDENER. 
July  13,  1899. 
Nevertheless,  a  Frenchman  can  live  where  an  Englishman  would 
starve,  and  save  where  his  neighbours  across  the  water  would  consider 
there  was  no  appreciable  margin.  The  farming  classes  and  the 
peasantry  work  harder  and  fare  more  plainly  than  we  do,  and  yet 
appear  to  get  as  much  or  more  pleasure  out  of  life,  and  certainly  have 
oftener  a  balance  at  the  end,  where  we  show  a  deficit.  Whether  their 
modes  of  agriculture  could  be  adopted  successfully  iu  this  country  is 
an  open  question. 
Parts  of  northern  France  resemble  England  closely,  and  those  are 
the  parts  to  which  we  should  turn  our  attention.  Like  the  Canadian 
summer,  we  have  an  idea  that  the  French  summer  is  much  hotter. and 
drier  than  ours,  and  it  is  wonderful  what  a  continuance  of  hot  dry 
weather  will  do  for  vegetation. 
The  particular  form  of  cultivation  we  have  in  view  now  is  the 
sugar  Beet  root  crop,  and  our  attention  has  been  directed  to  it  by  the 
reading  of  a  letter  from  Col.  Victor  Mil  ward  of  Warwickshire,  who  is 
so  much  interested  in  the  subject  that  he  has  paid  a  special  visit  to 
the  Beet  root  farm  and  factory  of  M.  Tetard  at  Gonesse,  near  Paris. 
We  used  always  to  suppose,  as  children,  that  our  sugar  supply'  was 
from  cane  grown  in  the  West  Indies;  now  the  tale  is  different. 
Professor  Long  says  that  three-quarters  of  our  whole  supply  is  derived 
from  Continental  Beet  ;  that  seems  an  astounding  fact,  but  fact  it  is. 
Now  consider  the  price  we  pay  per  lb.;  2d.  will  buy  a  far  better 
class  of  sugar  than  that  for  which  our  fathers  and  mothers  gave  lOd. 
Could  we  possibly  grow  it  here  at  that  price  per  lb.,  and  make  a 
profit  ?  We  doubt  it.  Certainly  there  is  no  class  who  would  be 
willing  to  go  back  to  the  old  price  paid  for  this  cheap  luxury.  The 
Frenchman  does,  because  he  has  Government  bounty  to  back  him 
up — that  is,  Government  does  not  allow  him  to  be  a  loser  on  his 
exports,  while  the  price  he  pays  himself  for  sugar  for  his  own 
consumption  is  at  least  5d.  or  5jd.  per  lb.  We  are  not  fond  of  too 
much  interference  from  Government,  and  we  know  nothing  here 
of  the  bounty  system. 
But  to  return  to  this  farm  at  Gonesse.  M.  Tetard  owns  and  farms 
1000  acres,  and  also  rents  500  acres  more,  at  a  rent  of  £1  18s.  5d. 
per  acre,  and  the  rates  come  to  6s.  or  8s.  an  acre  in  addition.  The 
labour  is  done  by  imported  Belgians,  whose  wages  run  from  4s.  to 
4s.  lOd.  per  day,  together  with  lodgings  and  soup.  From  100  to 
150  men  are  employed  on  the  land,  and  about  forty  in  the  factory. 
Beet  will  grow  in  almost  any  soil,  but  does  the  best,  of  course,  on 
good  land — good  land,  that  would  bring  other  crops  to  the  highest 
perfection. 
What  is  the  greatest  quantity  of  Beet  that  can  be  grown  per 
acre  ?  For  this  information  we  must  turn  to  Dr.  Schack  Somner, 
who  has  spent  many  years  in  investigating  this  subject.  He  says 
from  12f  to  26  tons  per  acre  ;  but  that  is  not  all.  We  might  get 
a  heavy  crop  of  roots  per  acre,  but  what  about  the  sugar  percentage  ? 
That,  he  says,  will  vary  from  2  tons  to  3  tons  14  cwt. 
Of  course,  the  pulp  is  of  value  for  feeding  purposes.  M.  Tetard 
makes  of  that  large  product  5s.  per  ton.  Then  there  is  the 
treacle  and  other  waste.  We  could  find  the  laud,  possibly,  at  a 
rather  less  rent;  we  could  find  cheaper  labour — Irish,  to  wit;  but 
could  we  insure  a  sufficiency  of  sunshine  ?  As  far  as  we  can  make 
out,  the  very  best  of  cultivation  is  required,  and  a  liberal — very 
liberal — application  of  “  artificials.”  A  good  mixture  is  160  lbs. 
nitrate,  320  lbs.  superphosphate  ;  or  320  lbs.  Peruvian  guano,  and 
160  lbs.  superphosphate  per  acre.  Of  course  there  is  something  of 
value  left  in  the  soil,  and  it  is  said  that  the  following  grain  crop  is 
much  benefited.  This  we  can  quite  believe,  for  wre  know  that  Wheat 
after  Potatoes  (that  is,  if  the  Potatoes  have  been  properly  treated)  is 
invariably  a  good  crop.  It  certainly  must  clean  the  land. 
Mr.  James  Duncan  says,  “  I  found  the  east  of  Ireland  and  the  east 
of  England  gave  the  best  results  (i.e.,  trial  crops),  the  west  of  England 
the  worst ;  the  midland  counties  very  fair.  Sugar  Beet  wants  a 
warm  wet  summer  and  a  cool,  dry  autumn ;  also  a  cold  winter  to 
conserve  the  roots.  In  the  west  of  England  the  Beet  continues  to 
grow  in  the  autumn,  and  does  not  ripen — dry  frosty  weather  ripens 
the  root,  mild  moist  weather  keeps  the  leaves  growing.” 
We  suppose  a  man  who  thoroughly  understood  the  management  of 
a  crop  of  Mangolds  would  succeed  with  B  et.  Mangolds  are  nor, 
tested  for  saccharine  properties,  we  are  content  with  bulk  ;  but  should, 
we  improve  ourselves  if  we  grew  roots  to  be  'turned  by  machinery 
into  sugar,  which  we  must  sell  at  2d.  per  lb.,  rather  than  if  we  grew 
roots  that  could  be  converted  in  sweet  wholesome  beef  and  mutton. 
Of  course  the  thing  is  worth  a  trial  on  the  soils  ind  ented,  but  wo 
have  always  a  distaste  for  embarking  on  new  enterprises  that  we  ar  • 
not  quite  sure  about,  and  we  fancy  the  cost  of  machinery  and  plant,, 
unless  supplied  by  the  landlord,  would  cause  mo3t  tenant  farmers  to 
hesitate.  Let  philanthropic  landowners  ome  forward  and  have 
scientific  experiments  conducted  on  their  home  farms,  and  then  let 
them  publish  a  balance-sheet  for  the  benefit  of  outsiders. 
We  must  always  remember  we  have  in  England  a  most  important 
and  uncertain  factor  to  take  into  our  calculations — the  weather. 
WORK  ON  THE  HOME  FARM. 
Yes!  it  is  the  old  story;  we  farmers  are  never  satisfied.  We  want 
rain  for  the  Turnips  to-day,  and  next  week  we  are  grumbling  because 
continued  wet  weather  is  spoiling  our  hay.  It  may  be  that  we  are  too 
ready'  to  quarrel  with  the  decrees  of  Providence,  but  we  fancy  that  the 
manufacturer  would  be  quite  as  ready  to  complain  if  he  had  to  run  llw 
rislc  of  fire  without  insurance. 
Damage  by  rain  to  growing  crops,  or  rather  perhaps  we  ought  to 
say  to  mature  crops,  is  really  so  inestimable  that  insurance  is  out  of 
the  question,  therefore  the  farmer  has  to  take  hie  own  risks,  and 
times  of  deluge  or  drought  has  a  right  to  the  sympathy  of  his  neigh¬ 
bours,  as  much  as  the  sailor  or  collier,  during  times  of  disaster. 
The  heavy  rains  have  been  very  serious  in  the  grass  districts,  for 
great  breadths  of  hay  have  been  much  damaged,  and  the  loss  wall  bo 
severely  felt  when  winter  comes,  for  either  the  cattle  must  make  the 
best  of  inferior  food,  or  the  farmer  must  spend  that  scarce  article — 
money — in  purchasing  artificial  food  to  make  up  for  the  valuable  juices- 
washed  out  by  the  rain.  Let  us  hope  the  weather  may  allow  of  the 
remainder  of  the  hay  being  well  saved. 
Turnips  and  weeds  are  growing  fast,  and  there  is  plenty  of  work  for 
every  hand.  Most  farmers  let  their  Turnips  to  hoc  by  the  acre,  the 
price  varying  from  5s.  6d.  to  6s.  6d.,  according  to  the  width  between- 
the  rows.  The  men  have  to  go  over  them  twice  and  leave  them  properly 
thinned  and  clear  of  weeds.  The  chance  of  earning  an  extra  pound  or 
two  encourages  the  men  to  make  greater  exertions  and  longer  days, 
whilst  the  employer  needs  only  to  pass  the  work  before  paying  the  bill,, 
the  advantage  to  him  lying  in  the  completion  of  the  work  expeditiously 
and  at  the  proper  time. 
It  will  goon  be  time  to  wean  the  lambs,  and  they  should  now  bo 
having  some  linseed  cake  or  lamb  food  ;  the  mothers  will  get  the  lion’s 
share,  but  will  educate  their  offspring  in  the  knowledge  that  there  is 
something  good  in  the  trough. 
METEOROLOGICAL  OBSERVATIONS. 
Camden  Square,  London. 
Lat.  51°  32’  40"  N.;  Loug.  0°  8'  0"  W.;  Altitude  111  feet. 
Date. 
9  A.M. 
In  the  Day. 
Rain. 
1899. 
July. 
|  Barometer 
j  at  32°,  and 
1  Sea  Level 
Hygrometer 
Direc¬ 
tion  of 
Wind. 
Temp, 
of  soil 
at 
1  foot 
Shade Tem¬ 
perature. 
Radiation 
Tempera¬ 
ture. 
Dry. 
Wet. 
Max. 
Min. 
In 
Sun 
On 
Grass 
inchs. 
deg. 
deg. 
deg. 
deg. 
deg. 
deg. 
deg. 
inchs 
Sunday  .... 
2 
29-590 
58-9 
53-4 
W. 
62  0 
66-3 
51-2 
114-2 
51-4 
0-0301- 
Monday  .... 
3 
29-865 
56-2 
53-9 
W. 
60-9 
65-2 
53-5 
101-2 
50-2 
0-010i 
Tuesday  .... 
4 
30-080 
60-6 
5S-2 
N.W. 
59-8 
72-1 
53-7 
118-1 
50-0 
— 
W  ednesday 
5 
30  -245 
66-3 
59-1 
N.W. 
60-0 
78-6 
50-9 
124-4 
47-6 
— 
Thursday  . . 
6 
30-240 
68-8 
64-1 
N.W. 
62*0 
79-6 
57-7 
125-6 
53-8 
— 
Fridav . 
7 
30-260 
T  2’  < 
63-2 
N. 
63-0 
84-4 
56-1 
130-0 
52-7 
— 
Saturday.... 
8 
30-201 
71-7 
64-4 
N. 
65-0 
81-3 
603 
127-0 
56-8 
. - 
30-069 
65-0 
59-2 
61-8 
75-4 
54-8 
120-1 
51-8 
0-049' 
REMARKS. 
2ml. — A  little  sun  early  ;  frequent  slight  showers  after  11.30  A.M. 
3rd. — Overcast  day,  with  slight  showers  at  times  ;  gleams  of  sun  about  midday. 
4th. — Fair,  but  generally  overcast. 
5th.— Bright  sunshine  almost  throughout. 
6th. — Sunny,  but  hazy  and  close,  with  thin  cloud. 
7th. — Bright  hot  day  ;  cloudy  evening  ;  frequent  distant  lightning  at  night. 
8th. — Bright  and  licit,  but  a  little  hazy  in  morning. 
A  fine  warm  week.— G.  J.  Symons. 
