950 SUGAR 



system is adopted. The beets having been -washed are rapidly cut up into small 

 pieces, and subjected to the drying heat of a coke-fire for six hours. They lose from 

 86 to 84 per cent, of their weight ; the dried root may be kept -without injury for 

 many months, and the sugar is extracted by infusion. At this colossal establishment, 

 which in 1855 employed 3,000 people, and the building of which covered 12 acres of 

 land, there were twenty infusing vessels, 12 to 14 feet deep and 7 wide. A cwt. of 

 raw roots cost Id., and the dried root contained 46 to 47 per cent, of sugar ; the 

 capital employed was eighty millions of francs. 



Whether the juice is extracted from fresh or dried beets the subsequent processes 

 are the same. The juice, having been extracted either by infusion or by submitting 

 the rasped pulp to hydraulic pressure, is placed in a shallow vessel, and mixed with 

 as much milk of lime as renders it strongly alkaline, it is then boiled, generally by 

 means of a copper coil heated by high-pressure steam. The excess of lime is removed 

 by passing a stream of carbonic acid gas through the liquid. The gas is generally 

 produced by forcing a stream of air through an enclosed coke-fire. The liquid is 

 next filtered through cloth concentrated to a specific gravity of 25 B., filtered 

 through animal-charcoal, and treated in all respects similarly to ordinary cane-sugar 

 in a refinery. Though the vacuum-pan is employed in most beet-root establishments, 

 there are some manufacturers who continue to evaporate in open vessels. 



The large amount of water which has to be removed in the concentration of beet- 

 root syrups involves the use .of so much fuel that to economise it an ingenious 

 apparatus has been constructed by M. Gail of Paris. The principle adopted is to use 

 the steam generated from the ebullition of liquid in one vessel for boiling another, the 

 steam from which in like manner boils a third. 



The cultivation of the sugar-beet, so largely conducted on the Continent, has been 

 introduced into this country. See Dr. Voelcker's paper ' On the Cultivation of Sugar- 

 beet in England,' Joum. Soc. Arts, March 10, 1871. 



In 1873 the total production of beet-root sugar in Europe amounted to 1,142,896 tons. 

 Maple-sugar. The manufacture of sugar from the juice of a species of maple-tree, 

 which grows spontaneously in many parts of North America, appears to have been 

 first attempted about 1752, by some of the farmers of New England. 



The sugar maple, the Acer saccharinum of Linnaeus, thrives especially in the States 

 of New York and Pennsylvania, and yields a larger proportion of sugar than that 

 which grows upon the Ohio. It is found sometimes in thickets, but more usually inter- 

 spersed among other trees. It is supposed to arrive at perfection in 40 years. 



The extraction of maple-sugar is a great resource to the inhabitants of districts far 

 removed from the sea, and the process is very simple. After selecting a spot among 

 surrounding maple-trees, a shed is erected, called the sugar-camp, to protect the 

 boilers and the operators from the vicissitudes of the weather. One or more augers, 

 three-fourths of an inch in diameter ; small troughs for receiving the sap ; tubes of 

 elder or sumach, 8 or 10 inches long, laid open through two-thirds of their length, 

 and corresponding in size to the auger-bits ; pails for emptying the troughs, and 

 carrying the sap to the camp; boilers capable of boiling 15 or 16 gallons; moulds 

 for receiving the syrup inspissated to the proper consistency for concreting into a loaf 

 of sugar ; and. lastly, hatchets to cut and cleave the fuel, are the principal utensils 

 requisite for this manufacture. February and the beginning of March is the sugar- 

 season. 



The trees are bored obliquely from below upwards, at 18 or 20 inches above the 

 ground, with two holes 4 or 5 inches asunder. Care must be taken that the auger 

 penetrates no more than half an inch into the alburnum, or white bark ; as experience 

 has proved that a greater discharge of sap takes place at this depth than at any other. 

 It is also advisable to perforate in the south face of the trunk. 



The trough, which contains 2 to 3 gallons, and is made commonly of white pine, is 

 set on the ground at the foot of each tree, to receive the sap which flows through the 

 two tubes inserted into the holes made with the auger ; it is collected together daily, 

 and carried to the camp, where it is poured into casks, out of which the boilers are 

 supplied. In every case it ought to be boiled within the course of two or three days 

 from flowing out of the tree, as it is liable to run quickly into fermentation, if the 

 weather become mild. The evaporation is urged by an active fire, with careful 

 skimming during the boiling ; and the pot is continually replenished with more sap, 

 till a large body h&s assumed a syrupy consistency. It is then allowed to cool, and 

 passed through a woollen cloth, to free it from impurities. 



The syrup is transferred into a boiler to throe-fourths of its capacity, and it is urged 

 with a brisk fire, till it acquires the requisite consistency for being poured into the 

 moulds or troughs prepared to receive it. This point is ascertained, as usual, by its 

 exhibiting a granular aspect, when a few drops are drawn out into a thread between 

 the finger and thumb. If in the course of the last boiling, the liquor froth up consi- 



