Experiments to determine the action of lime upon soils apparently prove that it does not matter in what form calcic salts are employed; their effect, in all cases, is to increase the yield of roots to the acre.  On the other hand, very secondary results were obtained with phosphoric and sulphuric acids.

A micro-mushroom, a parasite that kills a white worm, enemy of the beet, has been artificially cultivated.  As soon as the worm is attacked, the ravage continues until the entire body of the insect is one mass of micro-organisms.  Spores during this period are constantly formed.  If it were possible to spread this disease in districts infected by the white worm, great service could be rendered to beet cultivation.

In sugar refining it is frequently desirable to determine the viscosity of sirups, molasses, etc.  Methods founded upon the rapidity of flow through an orifice of a known size are not mathematical in their results.  A very simple plan, more accurate than any hitherto thought of, is attracting some attention.  Sensitive scales and a thermometer suspended in a glass tube are all the apparatus necessary.  The exact weight of thermometer, with tube, is determined; they are immersed in water and weighed for the second time; the difference in weight before and afterward gives the weight of adhering water.  If the operation is repeated in molasses, we in the same way obtain the weight of adhering liquid, which, if divided by the weight of adhering water, gives the viscosity as compared with water.

Sugar refineries located at Marseilles claim that it is cheaper for them to purchase sugar in Java than beet sugar of northern Europe.  On the other hand, the argument of Paris refiners is just the reverse.  The total refined sugar consumed is 375,000 tons, the colonial and indigenous production of raw sugar is nearly 1,000,000 tons more than sufficient to meet the demands of the entire refining industry of the country.  There appears to have been considerable manipulation, foreign sugar being imported with the view of producing a panic, followed by a decline of market prices, after which Marseilles refiners would buy.  All sound arguments are in favor of protecting the home sugar industry.

It has been suggested that manufacturers weigh the fuel used more carefully than hitherto; the extra trouble would soon lead to economy for all interested in sugar production at ruinous cost.  Some chemists advocate that coal be purchased only after having been analyzed.  Efforts to have a unification in methods of analysis of all products of factory is a move in the right direction; the Association of Sugar Chemists have adopted a series of methods that are in the future to be considered as standard.

Copper solutions are destined to render great service in the destruction of micro-organisms that attack the beet field.  The liquid used should be composed of 3 per cent. copper sulphate and 3 per cent. lime, dissolved in water; fifty gallons are sufficient for one acre; cost per acre, every item included, is 56 cents.  The normal vitality of the plant being restored, there follows an increased sugar percentage.  Ordinary liquid ammonia may be advantageously used to kill white worms and insects that attack beets; two quarts of the diluted chemical are used per square yard, and the cost is $12 per acre (?)