222, THE AFRICAN SUGAR CANE. 
Having shown the value of one crop of imphee, per- 
haps it would be well to repeat that this one crop of im- 
phee is off the ground in from three to four months from 
the day the seed was planted; and that, as this comes off, 
another crop is immediately springing up from the same 
roots, (if the weather will permit), to be ready in another 
three months; and even a third crop will be produced, 
provided the weather is warm enough. 
We must now compare the imphee with its Kuropean 
rival, the beet root, which is at present so largely grown 
for its sugar. 
I find that there is now manufactured throughout the 
whole continent of Europe about 160,000 tons of beet- 
root sugar, obtained from about 400,000 English acres of 
land, forming an average of something like eight hun- 
dredweight of good sugar per English acre. 
Besides the sugar obtained from the beet root, we must 
take into consideration its other products, such as potash 
and alcohol, yielded by its molasses, and the quantity of 
food for cattle, furnished by its leaves and by its refuse 
pulp. 
France alone has now three hundred and thirty-two 
manufactories of beet-root sugar, producing this year 
about 75,000,000 kilogrammes, (rather more than 
158,300,000 pounds English) of syrup, besides molasses. 
M. Du Brontfaut declares, that by a certain process of his 
own, there may be obtained from this molasses (after the 
alcohol has been taken from it by distillation) a quantity 
of potash equal in weight to one sixth of the sugar pro- 
duced from the beet root. | 
tis, however, quite evident that this quantity of pot- 
