THE FARMER'S MAGAZINE. 



313 



362,000 florins taxes. The manufactory at Wagliausel, 

 near Bruchsal, in Baden, is the largest and most im- 

 portant establishment in the Zollverein. The number 

 of hands regularly employed is 560, but during the 

 busy months of the year they are increased sometimes 

 to as many as 2,200. Above 1,000,000 cwt. of beet- 

 root is worked up there, and 60,000 to 80,000 cwts. of 

 sugar produced. In 18oo the company paid a dividend 

 of 17 per cent, on the capital invested, to its share- 

 holders. But this extraordinary prosperity did not 

 last. In 1859 the factory was partially destroyed by 

 fire. At the same time the manufacture of sugar has 

 increased and spread universally throughout the Zoll- 

 verein, so that competition has reduced the price of 

 sugar to an almost unremunerative point. The effect 

 of this has been that the factory of Waghausel only 

 paid a dividend of 1 per cent, last year ; and the grow- 

 ers of beetroot, finding the market glutted with sugar 

 and with the raw material, have been reduced to sell 

 their produce for what it would fetch as food for cattle, 

 and in many instances it has been crushed and used 

 for manure. In all cases where beet factories have 

 been carried on, on the Continent, there has been a 

 marked and beneficial influence upon agriculture. 

 The people have learned the value of manures, and the 

 benefit of science and capital applied to agriculture. 

 In the department of Saone-et-Loire there are two 

 sugar factories, which employ 600 men, give to agri- 

 culture £18,000 or ^20,000 and 600 cart-loads of 

 manure, producing pulp to feed 300 cattle. In Saxe- 

 Weimar there are two factories, which used last year 

 237,773 cwt. of beetroot, and paid a duty of £7,102 on 

 sugar. Within the last few years the cultivation of 

 beetroot has been greatly extended, the produce being 

 not only sufficient to supply the local manufactories, 

 but a considerable quantity is sold to the neighbouring 

 states. According to the returns of last year there 

 were 166,602 acres under culture with beet in Bavaria, 

 producing 12,701,559 cwt. of root. In the Duchy of 

 Wurtemberg 8,564 acres, producing an average yield 

 valued at 54 florins (about £i 10s.) 



The cultivation of the beetroot for manufacture of 

 sugar has of late years received an immense develop- 

 ment in Poland and the adjoining provinces of Russia. 

 As early as 1812 the Government endeavoured to in- 

 troduce this manufacture into Poland by offers of loans, 

 and by promising freedom from conscription to persoi;s 

 employed in it. These measures, however, did not 

 then meet with success, the first factory being only es- 

 tablished in 1831 , and the first refinery in 1839. Now, 

 however, there are about sixty factories in Poland, 

 thirty-five of which are In the Government of Warsaw. 

 The number of persons employed in the manufacture 

 ja 1857 was permanently 1,748, temporarily 5,902, be- 

 sides those engaged in the cultivation of the root. The 

 crop of beetroot in Poland in 18-58 was estimated at 

 350,000 tons, which at the current value of 24s. gives 

 the large amount of £420,000 as the benefit derived 

 by agriculture from this manufacture. Calculating the 

 yield of sugar at six pounds for every 100 pounds of 

 beetroot, which is rather under the average, it will be 



seen that the quantity of sugar manufactured was up- 

 wards of 10,535 tons. This would give a produce of 

 upwards of seven pounds for each inhabitant. But the 

 consumption does not exceed two pounds per inhabitant 

 in Poland, and is even less for the whole empire. The 

 only sugar in the market is refined loaf, costing nearly 

 teupence per pound, s price quite out of the reach of 

 the poorer classes. 



In the last twelve years, the increase in the produc- 

 tion of sugar in the States of the Zollverein has been 

 about five-fold, notwithstanding the successively higher 

 rates of duty charged. In 1859 the number of 

 sugar factories in the German States was 257 : 

 of these the greater proportion (214) are in 

 Prussia; about a dozen in Brunswick, seven or 

 eight in Bavaria, and six in Wurtemburg. In 1848 

 95,500 tons of beetroot sugar were produced in Europe, 

 in 1849 129,000 tons, and in 1850 160,000 tons, and 

 now it exceeds 200,000 tons, of which 100,000 are 

 manufactured in Germany, 61,000 in France, and 

 the remainder in Belgium and Russia. France has 

 nearly 300 factoi'ies in operation, Belgium 40, Austria 

 170, and Russia with Poland about 400. 



Our continental neighbours are certainly far more 

 enterprizing than we are, in utilizing everything, and 

 making the most of every substance. Thus, not con- 

 tent with the sugar to be obtained from the beet, they 

 now produce many other useful articles from it. A kind 

 of rough pasteboard and paper is made from the pulp. 

 A new industry has also arisen in France and Belgium 

 within the last seven years, in the production of spirit 

 from the beet-root. It had been tested experimentally 

 some fifteen years ago; but in 1852 the distillers 

 seriously took up the subject, and 1,600 hectolitres 

 (each of 22 gallons) of alcohol or brandy were made from 

 beet-root. In that and the following year the value 

 of the alcohol obtained from beet-root was £-20,000. 



The cultivation of the beet-root offers the advantage 

 in France of producing brandy, of the quality of three- 

 sixths, 50 per cent, cheaper than from wine ; for a 

 hectare yields 16 hectolitres of brandy. The wine- 

 distiller of the south is ruined when the " trois-six" 

 falls below 60 francs ; the distiller from beet will clear 

 a net profit at 50 francs. A very good champagne is 

 said to be made from it, which, if it do not play old 

 gooseberry with those who indulge in it, may perhaps 

 pass muster in quarters where sparkling gooseberry 

 now finds favour. When the juice of the beet-root has 

 been purified by the ordinary process, and a pure solu- 

 tion of sugar and water has been obtained, it is evapo- 

 rated to a suitable density, after which it is fermented 

 by adding cream of tartar ; and the required bouquet 

 is given by means of aromatic plants. 



IRON A CURE FOR THE CATTLE DISEASE.— 

 Late foreign papera state that marked caaei of the pleuro- 

 paeumonia in France were completely cured ia twelve days 

 with sulphate of iron. 



