BEETROOT SUGAK IN FRANCE. 271 



Fermentation and distillation come as a ready resource, 

 and must in any case be adopted; still the manufacturer 

 never willingly resigns any portion of crystallisable sugar to 

 alcoholic fermentation. One chief cause that operates against 

 the extraction of crystalline sugar from molasses is the pre- 

 sence of various alkaline salts; and some ingenious experi- 

 ments have recently been made, with the intent of determin- 

 ing whether separation cannot be effected by an application 

 of the laws of dialysis as recently developed by our own 

 countryman, Mr. Graham. To this ingenious process I can 

 onlv now advert. . 



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An important consideration is the following: the largest 

 beetroots grow in rainy seasons, and contain the least sugar ; 

 in very rainy seasons, almost none. Are these islands cele- 

 brated for rain, or are they not ? Think of this, messieurs 

 the Mincing-lane capitalists, and don't forget to talk over the 

 matter of alcoholic excise with the Right Honourable the 

 Chancellor of the British Exchequer, before committing your- 

 selves too deeply. 



Though it is not intended to go fully into the manufac- 

 turing details of beetroot-sugar extraction, yet it seems desir- 

 able to present an outline. In drawing the roots care is taken 

 not to wound them, as doing so would induce rapid decompo- 

 sition. They next have to be freed from adherent dirt, which 

 is effected by placing the roots in a cage, rotated under water. 

 After this operation they can be stored away for a time with- 

 out damage, though it is nevertheless a precept in this manu- 

 facture to get through successive operations with the practical 

 minimum of delay. Mashing is the next operation, and is 

 accomplished in a manner so similar to the mashing of apples 

 for cider-making, that farther description is needless. 



Being mashed, the pulp must be pressed, and pressed 

 without delay, otherwise fermentation sets in and the sugar 

 is destroyed. Pressure is variously applied, hydrostatic pres- 

 sure being most important and most general. To this end 



