552
EXPOSITION AT VIENNA.
prove antagonistic to its profitable production as a sugar plant; but beet does not need a brilliant sk}*, or much light and beat. Light has comparatively little to do with producing its saccharine matter, for this is formed, not in the portion above ground (where the saline particles gather), but in that beneath. A moist climate with moderate sun is what it requires.
“ The seed germinates at a temperature of 44° F.; the root rots on thawing if exposed to a cold much below the freezing point.”
Dr. Yoelcker, chemist for the Royal Agricultural Society of England says :—
“ The cultivation of the beet-root sugar in the north of Germany has tended more than anything else to raise the general agriculture of large districts of country, and it would produce a similar effect in England.
“ The tendency of the sugar-beet is to go into the soil, but only when the latter is properly prepared. It is sometimes said that if beet grows out of the soil the seed cannot be of the right sort; but this is a mistake, for if the soil and the subsoil are badly worked, the root will come out even if the right kind of seed is grown.
“ In making an analysis of beet-root grown in England, Dr. Voelcker found that while the percentage of sugar in a portion of the root covered by the soil was 8y per cent., in a portion which grew above the soil the percentage was only 4 per cent., or about one-half.
u The best soil must be loose, fresh, and free from stones.”
Respecting the most suitable soil, Mr. Baruchson, in his work on "Beet-Root Sugar,” published at London, 1868, says :—
“ The land most suitable for growing beet is that on which the soil is free from peat and salt, but is rich, light and loam}’. Clay land is too cold ; the roots do not easily penetrate it, and they would be deficient in saccharine matter. On moorland and heavy marsh land, the result is the same; nor does dry, sandy soil, or soil with a hard, rocky bottom, yield a satisfactory crop. Stony ground also is to be avoided, as it cannot be thoroughly worked, while ground newly cleared contains matter detrimental to the sugar-producing power of the beet. ... As this root takes up ^3 to 4 per cent, of mineral salts, lime, potash, and soda, and