96 



Manufacture of Sugar from the Beef. 



V(.L. IV. 



This was in the island of Tortola — the report 

 contains another account, of a crop in the 

 well cultivated island of Barbadoes. 



Sugar grounds,— fiC acres. 



Yield of sii?ar, 116 hhds. (a) ICOO lbs.— 185,600 lbs.— 



2812 lbs. per acre. 

 Melasses distilled — 5216 gallons of rum. 

 Negroes employed — 120, and 30 children. 



These estimates were puhlished, to show the 

 dirFerence between productive and unproduc- 

 tive estates; the second pays nearly nine per 

 cent, profit upon capital invested, the first 

 paying 'Zh per cent, only ; the difrerencc in 

 favor of good management being 6^ per cent, 

 profit. But compare even No. 2 with tlie IjCsi 

 crops of beet, united to the best management, 

 and the difference is very greatl}'' in favor 

 of the latter. Melasses given to the cattle, 

 horses, sheep and hogs, will pay a profit five 

 times as great as that to be obtained from rum 

 in the We.?t Indies; rendering even the re- 

 flise of the crops, when cut up and soaked for 

 twenty-tour hours, the most nutritious and 

 palatable food. But at the lowest calculation, 

 the profit upon the culture and manufacture 

 of the beet is most ample ; while the advan- 

 tages to the cause of agriculture, husbandry, 

 and the mechanical arts of the country, are 

 incalculable. 



It is not, however, my intention to recom- 

 mend the manufacture of sugar from the beet 

 to the agricultural part of the community 

 generally — this is neither expedient or de- 

 sirable. In the first place, the necessary out- 

 lay for improved machinery, without which 

 no good results can be obtained, would ope- 

 rate as an interdiction, in very many in- 

 stances; while the employment would be 

 foreign to the habits and feelings of such per- 

 sons generally, and v/ould lead away t'neir 

 attention from the more important and legiti- 

 mate objects of their calling. But I would 

 recommend every farmer to cultivate the su- 

 gar beet as winter food for animals of every 

 description ; and should they at any time have 

 more than they require for tliis purpose, a 

 ready sale might be made at the sugar-houses, 

 at a price which would often bring about 

 three times the value of the land upon which 

 they grew. The real value of tiiis inestima- 

 ble crop will not be fully known, until it is 

 cultivated to the full extent of the wants of 

 the country. The system of fattening cattle 

 and sheep in the lointer, is attended with 

 great profit ; they are purchased lean, at tl»at 

 part of the year when they are cheapest, in 



per acre, and a yield of nine percent, of sugar, would 



be— 

 Roots,— P,100,OnO lbs. lbs. 



SiiKar 7-Jli.iUiO 



MeliiKses, I(>'2,(i0() 



Cakes ],2l.-).000 



2,100,000 



consequence of the approach of winder; and 

 a friend has just reminded me of a mode, 

 which he once adopted in the expenditure of 

 a crop of sugar beets, which proved very pro- 

 fitable. He purchased cows and calves, at 

 the commencement of the season for taking 

 up the crop, Vvhich he fed in stalls, in tlie 

 first instance with the leaves or tops, as they 

 were cut ofi", permitting the calves to take all 

 the milk ; after the tops were expended, ho 

 commenced on the roots, allowing each cov," 

 two oil cakes a day. In tlie spring, the calves 

 were sold to the butcher, very large and tut, 

 and about six months old, at astonishing 

 prices: the cows were then permitted to go dry, 

 and in six weeks thoy were alt^o sold fat, for 

 large prices, at a season when beef was scarce 

 and dear. One little cow, which he purchased 

 for seventeen dollars, brought a calf which he 

 sold for forty dollars, after which tiie cow was 

 fattened the same season. This plan, he con- 

 ceived, paid him better than any other of his 

 labors ; and, which was of immense importance, 

 furnished a mountain of the richest manure, for 

 future crops, which would have been dropped 

 and dissipated in the fields, if these cattle 

 had been pasture-fed in the summer. Here- 

 marked, " Sugar beets against all the world, 

 for the fiittening of cattle." 



There is yet another mode of expending the 

 sugar beet, which is not generally knov\ai ; 

 and although it might be considered by some 

 persons as liable to objection, it may be sub- 

 stituted for corn and grain in the distillery^ 

 with the greatest advantage, rendering a spirit 

 incomparably more pure and wholesome, and 

 taking the place of enormous quantities of 

 these articles, which are now di.stilled, to be 

 expended in the destruction of life, instttid 

 of the support of it. I was present at the 

 crushing of the first beet root in the island 

 of Jersey, for the purpose of making French 

 bran'ly : the establishment was conducted by 

 men from the wine countries in France, and 

 the spirit was exported to England, where 

 it commanded the best prices in the market, 

 without a suspicion that it had been drawn 

 from the beet ! its character being equal to 

 the best old French brandies; and the busi- 

 ness was a most lucrative one, until it was 

 interdicted by an order in council from tlie 

 British government — just as it is said they 

 now prevent the inanufiicture of supar from 

 the beet in England — they have clo^-hing in- 

 terests, and cannot afibrd to allow their people 

 to act as they think best for their own in- 

 terests. 



It is said, an extensive estublislimont is go- 

 ing up in an Eastern state, for tlie purpose of 

 manufacturing sugar from the Beet, and that 

 an agent luis been despatched to France, to 

 examine into the present state of the busi- 

 ness, and to construct machinery for the same 



