THE FARMER'S MAGAZINE. 



89 



and concentrate themselves into a volume of 50 per 

 cent, less in bulk, retaining all the nutritive prin- 

 ciples they contained before their fermentation : 

 thus drained, they form a compact mass, of the con- 

 sistency of cheese." The result of the analysis of 

 this pulp and of the fresh mangold wurzel, by Mr. 

 J. Mitchell, it will be useful to place in juxta- 

 position : 



Fresh I'oot, Fresh pulp. 



Water 86.470 87-502 



Sugar 8.028 2.065 



Pectine and mucilagi- ^ , ^^ , o noo 



2.824 



3.642 



nous matter S 



Albuminous matter and ) 



woody fibre J 



Fatty matter traces. traces. 



Ammoniacal salts traces. •• \ i (-r4. 



AlkaUne and earthy salts , 774 ..J ''^ 



After keeping some of the distillers' pulp for 

 three months, it was found to contain — 



Water 85.603 



Sugar 2.038 



Pectine and mucilaginous matter . . . 3.302 



Albuminous matter and woody fibre. . 7.100 



Fatty matter traces. 



Ammoniacal, alkahne, and earthy salts 1.957 



Mr. Burn adds the result of feeding from Feb- 

 ruary l6th to March 9th, 1857. Some ewes with 

 their lambs on the fresh mangold root, and on the 

 distiller's pulp six ewes, three with two lambs and 

 three with one lamb, had daily — 



Distillers' residue . . 22^ lbs. 



Cake 3 lbs. 



ChafF, ..CO 30 lbs. 



cwt. qrs. lbs. 



They weighed when put up 8 3 8 



At the end of first week 9 3 



„ second week 10 11 



„ third week 10 2 10 



Six ewes, three with two lambs each, and three 

 with one lamb each, had daily- 

 Mangold wurzel 1 5 lbs. 



ChafF 30 lbs. 



Cake 3 lbs. 



cwt. qrs. lbs. 



They weighed when put up 8 3 21 



At the end of first week 8 2 26 



The mangold was then increased to 28 lbs. 



At the end of second week 8 3 20 



„ third week 7 2 23 



The commercial prospects of the proposed beet- 

 root distillation did not escape the attention of Mr. 

 Burn. He says, on the authority of M. Gay 

 Lussac, that a ton of white Silesian beet will yield, 

 on the average, five per cent, of pure alcohol, at 

 100 degrees of strength. Proof, in England, is 

 only 56 degrees : therefore, 1 ton of beet produces 

 19l gallons of English proof spirit, at 56 degrees, 



An acre of ordinary land should yield 25 tons of 

 white Silesian beet-root, and therefore will produce 

 493 gallons of proof spirits ; whereas, the best acre 

 of barley ever grown will produce only 170 gallons 

 of proof. Calculating the price of the spirit (with- 

 out excise duties) at 3s. per gallon, the result is 

 £73 19s. per acre of beet. 



The spirit thus produced appears to rank next in 

 value after grape spirit. It is fitted, Mr. Burn 

 adds, for any use to which pure spirit of wine can 

 be applied. It is used for many purposes where a 

 grain spirit is not in favour, such as perfumery, 

 &c. Many thousand gallons of beet-root spirits, 

 paying duty of 15s. per gallon as foreign spirits, 

 are imported from Belgium annually, for the use of 

 perfumers and aromatic spirit makers. The spirit 

 is also, in the South of France, employed in the 

 fabrication of brandy. It is also used exten- 

 sively in the arts, for all kinds of chemicals, var- 

 nishes, &c. 



It may be true that these distilleries can only be 

 carried to a certain extent, and that they cannot be, 

 therefore, of universal application ; but still, I am 

 inclined to believe that much may be done in this 

 way, in particular districts, to aid the farmer to 

 contend successfully against low prices and bad 

 seasons. It may also be correct that the present — 

 however improved — distillatory process is j'et very 

 imperfect; but then, as concludes Mr. Burn (re- 

 ferring especially to the very improved apparatus 

 invented by M. Leplay, and introduced into this 

 country by Messrs. W. Dray and Co.), let us not 

 forget, while criticising the crudities of nev/ pro- 

 cesses, the difficulties which beset all inventors ; 

 that their inventions do not, Minerva-like, spring 

 from their brain ready armed. As the births, 

 says our great Bacon (and the sentence is one 

 pregnant with meaning), of living creatures at 

 first are ill-shapen, so are all innovations, which 

 are the birth of Time. 



I had intended to have said something on the 

 manures best adapted to the growth of mangold- 

 wurzel; but this will be better, perhaps, reserved 

 until the lime of beet-sowing approaches, early in 

 1S58. There are two papers on this head in the 

 last number of the Journal of the Koyal Agricul- 

 tural Society, to which, in the meantime, my 

 readers will beneficially refer. Of the produce per 

 acre of mangold-wurzel, a Nottinghamshire grower 

 (p. 403) says : " I can reckon upon 30 tons of beet 

 per acre, quite as securely as upon 20 of swedes. 

 Upon good turnip land, where there is a large 

 proportion of clay in the soil, the comparison is 

 still more favourable to the beet. Then, again, the 

 nutririve quality of the beet is, after Christmas, 

 fully equal to that of the swede : after March, it is 

 superior." Then, again, I am much inclined to 



H 2 



