REPORT OF MR. FRANCIS H. APPLETON.
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as the bases of these may interchange with one another, all attempts to make good sugar from the products of salt lands, soil too much manured, or ground recently cleared of timber, are certain to be entirely futile. Sloping land, of moderate elevation, will give the best result. The most suitable soil for the purpose would be that which should contain four parts mould, fifty-six argil, thirty-six silex, and four carbonate of lime.”
Dr. Yoelcker, in his paper "On the Chemistry of the Sugar-Beet,” remarks :—
“ Like other grown crops the sugar-beet, although not equally well adapted for every kind of soil, is nevertheless grown on land varying greatly as regards depth, texture, and general physical and chemical properties. It may, however, be observed at once, that all soils incapable of being cultivated to a depth of at least sixteen inches, are unsuited for the growth of sugar-beet, which, unlike the ordinary yellow globe mangel, grows almost entirely under ground, and therefore cannot be cultivated with advantage on very shallow soils. Peaty soils, and, more or less, all soils, in a bad state of cultivation, are unsuitable for its cultivation. The chief requisites in soil upon which this crop is intended to be raised, are a sufficient depth and ready penetrability by the plant. ... A moderate or even large amount of clay, far from being an undesirable element, is very useful for this crop, provided the land is well worked and the clay has become friable by exposure to the air, and by general good management.”
Under the head of "Manures and Fertilizers,” Dr. Belcker is quoted as saying : " There is no soil so well suited for beets as a good, well-worked, deeply-cultivated, and thoroughly- drained clay-loam; or, in other words, a soil containing a good deal of clay, with a fair proportion of sand. Most good clay-loams contain sufficient lime to meet the requirements of the beet-root crop.” " On land deficient in lime the sugar-beet is apt to get fingered and toed, and hence care should be taken before taking the land in hand for the cultivation of this crop to ascertain whether it contains a fair proportion of lime.”
Sour-Fodder.
This is a kind of " sour-hay,” which is used in Hungary, and consists of our ordinary fodder-corn, cut green and placed 70