Richmond dispatch. [volume] (Richmond, Va.) 1884-1903, 1897-11-14
o,ar - noaae 10 contain . per cent. Of

| As TO lands suitapie rior sosaf oeo'''
Professor Wiley says:
The suxar-bcet does not require par
tscular soil. In general. soils are de-
| scribed for practical purposes as ciayey,
| sandy loamy, or allnyial soils; all these
will produce beets. The black prairie
! sells also have been found, with proper
cultivation, 10 produce excellent beets.
| Generally, the least favorable soils are
stIf clay. which is cultivated with DIM
Guilty, and readily packs under hard
/ rains and hot suns, and virgin soils, or
hose especially rich In organic matter
! or alkaline salts. Perhaps the best sou
may be described as a sandy loan;
soil containing a happy equilibrium be-
| tween organic matters. clay and sand
In general II may be said that any
sol. which VIII produce good crop Oh
! Indian corn wheat, or potatoes, VIII,
under proper cultivation. produce goou
crop of sugar-beets. The land, however
| shc,ad be reasonably level, and this
being the case 1t should be wen
| drained. Natural drainage on level SOL
| being somewhat deficient. 1t Is adyan-
| tageous that tile drainage be practiceu.
| II would be difficult TO grow sugar-pee's
on level land without good drainage
especially in rainy season.
Happily. in most American SOILS, tneio
! Is still sufficient natural ferility 10 pro
duce a good crop OF sugar-Deets; where-
a.. in the soils Of Europe. wnere susa,
| beets have been grown for years. the
| farmers must depend on fertilizers 10
/ insure a remunerative crop.
For general purposes, stall manure -
! desirable. II should be applied, wen
rotted I'm the autumn before the srouhu
is poughed. The quantity depends, Vi
course. on the fertility Of the soil; but
| il is not best TO apply a very hedVy
| dressing. In poor soils II Is best 10 ap-
ply the fertilizer for several years III
succession, rather than to apply enough
at once TO bring 1t up to the required
state of fertility. Too copious an apph-
cation Of stall manure is apt to produce
overgrowth in the beets, which makes
them ill-suited to the manufacture Oh
sugar. III the fertilizer be applied in an
unrotted condition, IT is apt to injure
the crop in case Of dry weather.
OF commercial fertilizers three classes
are employed, containing, respectively
nitrogen, phosphoric acid, and potash
In some instances these three eleihehtS
are found combined. heterogeneous ma
nure should be applied with great care
10 sugar-beets. 1t tends to produce
very heavy growth of the beet, and
thus to diminish it's content or sugar
Potash and phosphoric acid can be APP
piled with great freedom; In general
they act much better in conjunction than
when applied separately.
Since experience has taught that beets
raised on fields freshly fertiliZed with
stable manure are inferior, the rule has
long been established that not the beets.
but the previous crop, should be fertilized
with this material, or that the beets
should be raised in rotation as the Sc
cond. or even the third crop. Unfortu-
| nately, this rule is not always observed,
| and as a consequence OF heavy manuring
large crops have been produced but at
the cost of diminished sugar content.
| This applies especially to stable manure
| and night-soil, as well as to Chile salt
petre, the misuse of which has produced
such serious consequences for factories
| but not to phosphate manures, which
! usually exert a favorable influence upon
! the crop.
| The constituents to be taken into ac-
| count in the necessary restitution TO the
| soil of the elements removed by Deets
| are potash, phosphoric acid, magnesia,
| and nitrogen. Following are the quanu-
ties of these constituents in 1,Wp POUNDS
of beets and beet leaves, determined by
numerous analyses:
Constituents. Roots' Leaves
Potash ............... 3.3 ID. 6.5 ID.
Phosphoric acid ............ 0.S 10
Magnesia ...''.'.'''' V'o o'o
| Nitrogen .......... ....'''''' I'o 80
| Total ash ...''.'... 81 'o''
Ii will be seen from the relation between
the roots and leaves that for equal
weights the quantities distracted by the
latter are considerably greater, and de-
serve especial consideration In case the
leaves are used for cattle food. From
| this noint of view the leaves should be
| left I'm the field 1t is certain that other
wise complete restitution Is ATTENDED,
with some difficulty. The form II whlch
the aforementioned plant constituents
| shaT he returned to the SOIL is well estap-
ushed for phosphoric acid and magnesla'
| and partly for nitrogen. Superphos-
phates, with gree or less content OF
| phosphoric acid, or with addition OF a
heterogeneous element, and basic phos-
| phatic slags. are OF universal appiica-
| ton AS has been shown by direct in
vestieations, the magnesia is nearly all
| retlrned in the press cakes from the
| factory. though a more uniform distrlbu-
| tion than Is thus secured is much 10 De
| desired.
| The soil ingredients most essential are
| nitrogen. phosphoric acid, potash, lime
| and magnesia.
We learn from the Country Gentle
man. which is published at Albany, and
which has devoted great attention to
the subject Of beet culture, that the fac
tory at Rome, n. Y, is In successiui
oneration. and that the Batavia and
auburn people are working hard TO es-
tablish factories at those places. Ar
engagements have been completed for the
erection of a factory at Fartham, TWEEN
i tv-two miles from Buffalo. Penn yam
is TO have a factory, also. Rochester
has about completed arrangements LOT
the erection of a factory. More than GOO
farmers are delivering beets at the
| Rome factory, and the quality of the
sugar is better than the experts expect
ed from the quality of beets- DR.. j. M.
| Hines. a special agent of the United
States Department of Agriculture, Is
ouoted bv the Country Gentleman as
saving that the most important factor In
raising sugar-beets is procuring the pro-
per seed Of the white varieties. That
paper also says it has been clearly de-
n,onstrated that had the farmers who
furnished beets TO the Rome Factory
been properly instructed in the culti-
walton and harvesting Of beets. the re-
Suits would have been far better for all
concerned; "but," it adds, "notwithstand-
ing the many disadvantages under which
II started. the first sugar-factory east