57 



ON THE TECHNOLOGY OF A BEET SUGAR FACTORY, 

 FOR WORKING UP THE PRODUCE OF FIVE HUN- 

 DRED ACRES OF BEET. 



By J. Barnard. 

 {Bead November 12th, 1872.) 



" In tracing the history of any great enterprise, it will rarely 

 appear that success has been attained all at once, but in most 

 instances the progress gained has been slow and gradual ; and 

 it has generally been found to be a work of time to wear 

 down prejudices, alter the course of habitual thought and 

 practice, as well as to overcome that vis inertice which is opposed 

 to all innovation and change. The cultivation of the White 

 or Silesian Beet, with its many attendant advantages in 

 relation to agriculture, and as a sugar-producing root, has 

 proved no exception to this ordinary experience. In support 

 of this, it may be well, before passing on to the particular 

 object of this paper, to draw attention to what has been done 

 towards the establishment of the important industry now under 

 consideration. 



" In 1868, a Select Committee of the House of Assembly, 

 inquiring into the best means of encouraging manufactures, 

 reported in favour of a subsidy of =£500 being paid to the pro- 

 ducer of every 500 tons of sugar manufactured from beetroot, 

 under certain conditions ; and so impressed were the com- 

 mittee with the great advantages to be derived from its 

 introduction, that they added the recommendation to re-print 

 an excellent treatise by Arnold Baruchson, ' for the information 

 and guidance of the colonists.' 



" The Government promptly carried these suggestions into 

 effect,by printiugand widely circulating throughout the com- 

 munity an abridgement of Baruchson's pamphlet ; and they 

 also, in the succeeding session, introduced and passed a measure 

 to encourage this among other manufactures, which enacted 

 that ' there should be paid to the person or company who first 

 manufactures, to the satisfaction of the Governor-in-Council, 

 200 tons of good marketable sugar in any one year from beet 

 or other product grown in Tasmania, the sum of .£2,000.' 



" Several able leading articles have also, from time to time, 

 appeared in The Mercury newspaper, urging upon public atten- 

 tion the special importance of cultivating the sugar-beet. 



" The little share that I have had in the same direction, I 

 may now be permitted to mention, without, I hope, any 

 imputation of undue egotism. 



" In June, 1869, after my return from Sydney, I read a short 

 paper before the Royal Society, describing the simple and 

 inexpensive, if somewhat rude, process which was adopted by % 



