Abstract
THIS small volume, one of the series known as “l'Encyclopédie scientifique des Aide-Mémoire,” is prefaced by a few general considerations upon the importance of the sugar beet. In the opening chapter the history and the present state of cultivation, as well as the future of the sugar beet, are dealt with. As regards the future it is interesting to note that as the supply already meets or even exceeds the demand, the only hope held out to the cultivator is an increase in the consumption of sugar. The second chapter treats shortly of the production of sugar in the plant. A brief description of the different varieties of beet is followed by a chapter on the production of seed. This is perhaps the most interesting portion of the volume before us. In it the methods of selection, physical, chemical and genealogical, the culture of seed plants and the analysis of the roots are given at some length. Then follow chapters on the influence of climate and soil and manures. The important fact that the beet removes from the soil very little else than carbon, hydrogen and oxygen, and therefore the manures supplied to it benefit the crops which follow, is duly insisted on. Two short chapters on sowing, hoeing and thinning are followed by one on diseases, insect and other pests. Although a number of remedies, such as sprinkling with copper arsenite, &c., are mentioned, proper cultivation is upheld as the most important factor in preventing and overcoming such diseases and insect ravages. The remaining pages are devoted to the harvesting and storage, the marketing, and, in connection therewith, the analysis of the juice and the cost of cultivation.
La Betterave à Sucre.
Par L. Malpeaux. Pp. 206. (Paris: Masson and Gauthier-Villars. No date.) Price fr. 2.50.
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M., J. La Betterave à Sucre . Nature 64, 28 (1901). https://doi.org/10.1038/064028b0
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/064028b0