THE CULTIVATION OF SUGAR BEET.

Waikato Times, Volume XXIV, Issue 1981, 19 March 1885, Page 2

THE CULTIVATION OF SUGAR BEET.

[The Field.] Wt cnll the particular attention of our readers to the subjoined lepoit hy Professor Church as to the growth of sugar beet in 1884, and especially to the fact that previous investigations earned nut liy him at (Jirencester appear to indicate; that the percentage ot sugar u nut entirely a question of summer heat, although there can be no doubt that it is one of the main factors. Hut what we would specially point out is that, by careful attention to instructions issued by the proprietors of the sugar factory at Laveuham, a crop may be grown in ordinary reasons, \\ hicli contains the neeessaiy proportion of sugar for pro h'table extiaetion, aud which is of jufficient yield per acre to repay the faniici for his trouble and cost in growing Moreover, if for any reason the supplj exceed*, the demand, aud the crop cinnot he sold to the factory, it will prove oi great value as a cat'le food, quite equal to a much heavier weight of mangolds, inasmuch as it contains less water, and the sugar is very feeding. The fanners in the districts adjoining or within practicable reach of Lavenhan may wi-ll pay attention to this renew eu demand for sugar beet, which c-»n be grown on a considerable variety of laud, strong or light, provided the surface if well worked clean, and the proper kind of seed is sown in the manner recom mended, and ordinary attention paid t< cultivation Crops ranging from tw>l\ to twenty tons per acre may be 1 >uk« - for, and such will pa> much better than wheat at present and probable rates. If the expeiiment proves a success at Livcnhim, it will be follows! elsewhere ; and over a larg* area of the midland and southern counties the soil ami climate an uiiUble for the extended growth of su^.v beet. To Me-*r- Button and Partners, Limited, 4, Tho Sanctuary, Westminster, S.W. (tENn.KMKN, — In accordance with your instruction'- I have visited and carefully m Hpected the chief districts where •sugar beet* ha\c been grown this year fur your new sugar factory at L.ivenham. Kft WF OKI. \VT I X VK> DltOl GHT-GK.VFR U. KhsULr^.— Thi" extraordinary di yness of the p,ii«t spring and minimer has told unfavourably upon tho regularity tmd yield of the crop. On the shallow and hot gravelly or sandy soils of the districts in question, the seeds have in many places failed to ger minute, or the plant has not develo|ied propei ly. This is not surprising when one learns that tho rainfall this year between April. tnd.lunc has tievti but Ul-.lthm. instead of the Usual average of neatly Gm. How ever, in spite of tfie unusual drought, and in spite of the inistnkes made by some of the growers in the manuring, the sowing, tho singling, and the after tieatment of the ciop, the results of tins hrst year's experience are encouraging. If tho weight of the crops has been small in some instance*, yet a yield of ul)out twehe tons per acre has been secured on a large proportion of the farms, while the average quantity of migar in the roots has nearly reached 13 per cent., cor responding to a production of one ton and a half of crystallisablo Migar per acre. Even if we take into .account the whole of tho sixty farms on which the trials have been made, and from which returns have been received, tho figures will not bo very much loss favourable ; for although in a few inHtancc* thp j iold per acre has been less than fivt! tons, in others it has exceeded fifteen, or been as high as twenty, while the wholo l! 40 acres have produced ;i total of about (5850 tons of roots, or over 10 tons per acre. Rh-ai,rs in Individual C\sks, and Lkssovk derivvulk rHKHFKitoM.— Besideu importing rtitch general lesults, it will be sorviwablo tocitou fow individual caseH, both of sncccHs ,md of failure, in order to derive thi'rnfrom lessons for the futuio ; At lirent Klcigh, Lavenham, tho]{«>v. H. K. Longden obtained fouiteen tons per ucie of r»ha|>ely nni.tll loot*. Tho land wan clean and wellfarmed, thn drills being about bixteen inches apait. In an ordinary season the plant ho managed would have given a yield of at least twenty to twenty-rive tons. Ah a contiant to this trial may bo natmd <m experiment near Stowm.uket, where tho drills wuro2Sm. apart, and tho distance betwnen the plants in the lows w.-ih no less than 2ft. | A ciop of uusatisfactoiy ro'its, at the late | of only ."4 tons p«r acre, was tho lemiU. One may well compare with this Mr (4. H. Munn's trial on 11 acroi at Bury St. Edmunds. From old meadow land, well funned, 200 tons witc obtained, or a yield of lHtons per acre. In this instance, however, the percentage of sugar was rather low, namely 10}. That a fair cr«.p, for such » season, is not incompatible w ith richness in sug.»r, is sown by tho 10 acres under sugaiboot on .Mr Uarrott Taylors farm near Norwich. Hero the yield was 14 tons per acre, and the iiercentage of sugar 14 A. The roots averaged, as they should do, le"s* than ljlb. apiece. If only Din. instead of lKm. had boon loft Imtncen tho roots m the rows (which were 18m apart), the crop might h»T« been doubled, with further benefit to ita quality, w Trell aa with bo coflsidtrftbty

am increase in its quantity. Similarly Mr (). 1). Johnxon, of Higham, Bury St. Edmund*, with distances of 20m. by i)in., obtained over 15 tons per ace, the rin)U chow ing 14^ per cent, of uryxtalhsable Mtigar. These roots were «*en aiul fair, although grown in a gravelled hoII overlying the clMik. Goi.dks Rulk kor ({rowkrs.— ln the ninjorit.v ol the paht *twn'» trials, .sufficient attention was not paid to the golden rule of having an closo a plant as ponmblo. Small rooth and many of them are Iwst, both for tho grower and the tmgar mnker. The smaller the root, the t ichor it 10 in Hiigar ; the le-'S saline matter does it extract from tin- Kind or the in.iniin* : and tho earner it it to lift. When tho roots are near t» on* .moth" 1 ! the bulb-, are riot so much ox posed, .md the propoition of l»'.if to root is smaller ; tln-y are also lesrf likely to be fi'nged and foiked. Aiaamu.ks or \ Ciose Pi.\nt.— The followiiiK calculation exhibits, 111 a. tabular form, the ad\.mt.ige of a close plant. The hr->t column give 1 * the distance lx;tween the drills; the second that between the single pl.iiiti in tho ronu; the third bljows the number of roots per acre ; while the fourth column gives the yield per acre on the assumption that each root weighs but lib. :

Wn \ r Mam rkh arkSi itabf c.— Another lewm taught by these trials relates to tha manuring <>f the crop. With your unproved btrontia process, by which the sugar u directly precipitated from the beet juice, no hesitation need now be felt in lining »uperphosplute of lime, nitrate of soda, and other artifici.il manures suitable for sugarbeet. The increase thus c»used of nalina matter in the root* n<» longer interferes with the extraction «»f the «ugar. Farmyard manure, howler, should neser be Applied directly to tho sugar-Wet crop, but to th»t which precedes it. Where it has been used, especially in the spring, the root* b»\ebeen uneven in sue, coarse in quality, and much fanged. In light soils .uid dry seai»oni farmyard manure may help to Hecure » tolerable yield, but at the sacrifice of almont e\ery desirable character in the root. Lvs'd vrsr bk Clkas. — A third lesion to be drawn from those experimental tri*U 1 relates to the cleanness of the land. WeedH, especially couch gra«s, have Hadly duninlhhed the yield of rooth in not on a few cartes. Othkb DißEcnovs kor Clltivation.— Many other points? iw to cultivation might bo noticed did .space permit. In the printed instructions i»Mied by you on the subject of sug_ar-beet growing, emphasis wa.s laid on'the i_mportanco of thick sewing ; of early thinning, and careful singling ; of earthing upon the exposed part of the roots ; of cutting off any "bolted" or runaway stems; of selecting th<- proper tune for pulling the crop ; of drawing without wounding tho roots ; and many other details of culti\ation. It it to be hoped that, in tho future, these necesiary directions will bo followed faithfully, and that a htrict uniformity of practice v. ill prevail.

pKOOJ-s IN KWOI'R OK SUGAR-BEKT ItHOWISi- IN England. — Aware, as I am, that there still remains much scepticinni amount well-informed, and even amongst men interested in farming, as tv the possibility, in average seasons of producing in this country a crop of sugar-beet having a high proportion of sugar, it may Imj well to give further proofs of the soundness of the jKwition taken up by the advocates of English sugar-beet growing. Putting on one side the older and betterkuovMi examples of sacce-inful trials of this pl.mt, I will begin by citing the experiment-? made under yo'ir luspicet* in 1884 in Suney, Berks, Oxfordshire, Middlesex, Northamptonshire, Lincoln* shire, Staffordshire, Worcestershire, Warwickshire, Suffolk, Norfolk, Cambridgeshue, and Essex, and also in County Wexford, Ireland. We have between thirty and forty analyses of fair average parcels of roots grown in different localities, and under conditions which, for the. most pait cannot be regarded as favourable. A H«>r DltV SUMMKK NOT AI.W \YS MOST m irvniK — It is, I know, sometimes stated that a hot dry summer is the only one which suits the sugar-beet. But this statement cannot be accepted without modification, and become* almost the rverse of true when the soil devoted to this plant ih shallow and gravelly, and when the rainfall during the spring has been insufficient to allow of the regular tit rimuation of the seed. We may then, I think, regard our present year's crop »• bv no means offering a series of exceptionally w ell-grown and rich roots. Yet in four cases only does the sugar i>ercentage fall below 11, in seven instances it lien between 11 and I' 2, in eight between 12 and 13, in eight between 13 and 14, in seven between 14 and 15, and in three between 1.1 and lU'4. As I ha*e before pointed out, the highest j>ercentages of sugar were by no means generally associated with the smallest yields por acre. FoilMhi; TIUALs. AT CIKKNCK-STER 1870-1. —Revolting to some earlier experiments, 'nade dining the time when Mr Duncan ,sa-» working his «ugar factory, I beg to cite the turds which I made in 1870 and liS7l on the farm of the Agricultural College at Cirencester. In the former year, when the lamfall between August and >)etnber, both months inclusive, was as much an B;|in., a good crop containing 13$ !» i cent, of sugar was secured. In 1871 no if<s than ten different varieties of ttugar-b-ct were grown, with tho result that 11§ >\as the lowest per centage of sugar obtained, and I,VI the highest. These ns»ures must \w regarded as satisfactory, particularly as tluy were obtained in a year when the autumua 1 temj)erature wa<(exceptionally low, and tlie rainfall, between the end of August and the middle of October, exceptionally heavy. Whai is thk hkst tivik kor ("Fathering. —Another conclusion dr;iv\n from the Cnencester ex]>eriments of 1870 and 1871 w connected with the best time for gathering the crop. In the former year the increase of sugar continued up to and even after the middle of October: in 1871 it practically ceased a week earlier. In both year*, durincr the first half of November, the amount of sugar remained practically stationary, but afterward* a decided diminution of the {percentage became apparent. But, although the observation of temperature and rainfall during the latter part of the autumn may guide us in judging as to the probable saccharine riinjuess of the crop, it is now mi easy to ascertain its exact Content of sugar bv, taking the specific gravity <>r by analysing with the pol&ri»coi»6 the juice of a fair sample of roots, that recourse should always be had to these more accurate methods. Thivls iv Irkland iv 1852.— 1 ought now to recall your attention to the experiments made by Mr (now Sir) Robert Kane in Ireland, and reported upon in the year 1852. The yield varied between 1(! and 40 tons per acre, while the sugar in the roots was sometimes as high as 1(5 per cent., and in veiy few cases fell below the amount necessary for profitable working. ETPF.ItIMhNT AT RoIHAMsTKD, 1871— 187.">. —The Rothamsted experiments of Messrs Lawes and (Jilbert (1871— 187.">) are not less confirmatory of the value of sugar beet in this country aB an industrial crop. With dressings of .">evvt. per acre «f nitrate of soda, on land which had received no manure foi eighteen jears previously, 21 J tons of roots pel acre were obtained, the percentage of sugar in these root* being 11. Vihnorin's green-top white Silenian beet was the variety grown at Rothamnted. It must not be forgotten that neveral improved sorts of sugar beet are now at our disposal. Si li \U BKKT A BKTTF.R-PAV. INC. CROP TH 4V Whk \r.— Although, owing to the abnormal character of the past season, to the difficulties inherent in tho introduction of a new industry, and, in many cases, to tho want of attention to your instructions for grow* ing, the farmers have not obtained t>uch results at were expected ; there are, nevertheless, some glowers who have not done badly, and it is evident that, under normal conditions, sugar beet must pay better than whfst at pre^nt prices. To insure success, however, growers must cease to treat sugar beet as a fellow crop ; it is worthy of their best land and of all the care and outlay they can bestow upon it. Thit they will find so soon as the selling value of the crop is regulated by the yield of sugar i>er acre — a system «hich --uff»r manufacturers in this country iiiuat certainly adopt if they intend to compete imcce«sfully with Continential producers. Sui»\n Bkkt \ni» Mangolds.— Another joint may be mentioned as interesting. O\\ mg to the drought, ordinary mangoldn hay c been almost a failure, even on heav y lands. Sugar beet, on the other hand, has succeeded better than most other roots. In many fields where mangolds and sugar l>eets were sown side by side, the mangolds failed to make their appearance, while the sugar boets gave a fair plant {To H ewi'wKJ.)

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