1837] 



FARMERS' REGISTER. 



151 



purpose of acquiririi^ such inlormation as will be 

 necessary aiiil useful lor tlieir future oporations. 

 His letter will doubtless attract the attention ol' 

 all our readers. 



P. S. — Since the above was written, we have 

 been iutormed that the company above referretl to 

 has been incorporated, lljrthe purpose of inaiiu- 

 flicturiui^ sMiTar from the beet, oil from ihe popp\-, 

 anti the culture of silk'. Tiie capital of the com- 

 pany is .3200,000, with the privilege of the holiiiiiir 

 rer.l estate to a ceriain extent. We trust they 

 will, in western phraso, "go ahead." 



^Irraa, Jan. 9, 1837. 



Dear Friends : 1 have now been que month an 

 observer or laborer in a sugar manuliictory, and 

 have made short visits to several others. — 

 The beet sugar business, taken in all its branches 

 and bearings, is interesting beyond my exoacta- 

 tions : but to the mere manula(;lurer, I doubt 

 whether it is as profitable as Pedder's report 

 would lead one to suppose. 



In the first place, the beets do not yield, on an 

 average, more ihan^ue percent, of sugar. They 

 may yield more when first dug and before they 

 have be<run to sprout, but I am satisfied that six 

 per cent, is the utmost that can be calculated upon, 

 under the most favorable circumstances. The 

 beets, after being gathered togeiher in heaps, and 

 covered with earth to preverve theni ii-om frost, 

 soon begin to sprout. By the middle of Decem- 

 ber this season, which had been warmer than 

 usual, they had put Ibrth considerable. Various 

 expedients have been employed to prevent this 

 heat, which is generated in the heaps, and gives 

 rise to this, but none of them have as yet com- 

 pletely succeeded. This shows the impnriance 

 of an early sowing, and an early commencement 

 of working up the crop. Here the seed is sown 

 in the first days of May. In Illinois I should sup- 

 pose it might be sown as early. The working up 

 of the crop ought to commence before it has at- 

 tained its utmost growth, say in the last days of 

 August or the first of September at fiirthest. — 

 There will then be seven months lor the manu- 

 facture, and in most of those months laborers 

 have little employment, and maybe hired for com- 

 paratively small wages. 



The quality of the sugar earliest' made is the 

 best, as well as the yield the greatest, In fact, a 

 small quantity of the first product of the season 

 is all the beet sugar I have met with that appear- 

 ed to be fit to use loilhnut refining. In France 

 very little except refined sugar is used, or had been 

 for a long time before beet sugar was introduced. 

 The meanest cantines (liquor shopsj and the 

 poorest families use, conslauliy and exclusively, re- 

 fined sugar. To this circumstance I attribute the 

 fact, that a certain bitter taste, generally belonging 

 to the brown sugar of beets, has not been much 

 mentioned here, .and not known at all in the Uni- 

 ted States. It would probably be thought of great 

 importance there. People are not agreed about 

 it here. Some maintain that the brown sugar 

 may be made at all times of such quality as to ad- 

 mit of universal use, and that in point of fact it is 

 used to a considerable extent already. Others have 

 told me that neither the brown nor refined sugar 

 of the beet is equal to that of the cane. I feel 

 able myself to contradict the latter assertion. I 

 have used the beet sugar constantly since I arri- 



ved in France, and I can perceive no difference in 

 flavor, orquantiiy of saccharine, between it and ihe 

 sugar of cane. If there be any difli;rence, it con- 

 sisis in a certain brilliant whiteness, which beet 

 sugar seems to me tn possess in a degree superior 

 to luosi of the colonial sugar. I have good autho- 

 rity for saying ti)at the French custom-house, 

 ihouirh many tesis have been ajjpiicd, find it im- 

 possible to distingush satisfiictorily between the 

 I wo. The reason why they seek to do so is, that 

 a drawback is paj'able on the exportalion of refi- 

 ned suijar of ihe colonies. The refiners offer beet 

 sugar lor the drawback, and obtain it, notwilh- 

 stan-ding great vigilance is exercised upon the 

 subject. 



You see, therefore, that the sugar in a refined 

 slate presents no such diiiiculty as it does when 

 raw. I have mentioned that difficulty, not be- 

 cause it weighs much in the mind, but because I 

 ihink it probable that in the United States, where 

 the consumption of brown sugar is great, consid- 

 erable disappointment will be (tilt wiien the true 

 character of that of the beet comes to be known. 

 That character will undoubtedly be improved, es- 

 pecially in a country where the habits of the peo-- 

 pie demand a great deal of raw sugar. The beets 

 will be better preserved, the machinery perfected, 

 and the the selection of seeds and soils made with 

 more intelligence and care. I have before me a 

 sjjecimen of the brown susrar of the beet, as full 

 of saccharine, and as free from any bad taste, as 

 any cane sugar I ever saw, and far more beautiful 

 in its appearance. It is like a rich yellowish New 

 Orleans brown, that I have occasionally seen in the 

 American markets, only a shade whiier. I have 

 also a speciment of clayed beet sugar, of a pure 

 whiteness, and i\ee from all ill-flavor. While, 

 therefore, I state the general objection to the 

 brown sugar of beets, I also say that, in a ivell- 

 provided und well-conducted manufactory, from 

 beets just dug, or very well preserved, brown sugar 

 can be made as good, in every respect, as any. 

 from the cane, and far more beautiful and attrac- 

 tive in appearance. 



The refining of sugar is not in any instance 

 known to me connected with the manufacturing oF 

 it. > see no reason why they should be thought 

 incompatible, especially as I am told that the 

 same steam-engine would serve for both; and also 

 lor a third object, which I had not heard of until 

 I come here, viz: the distillation of the refuse mo- 

 lasses into alcohol. This is not yet used lor 

 drinking, though I think it probable it will be con- 

 vented to that use, but for making varnish, and 

 other applications to the arts. This method of 

 utilizing [he molasses, afier two or three depos- 

 ites of sugar, is begin ninir to attract great atten- 

 tion among the sugar maulacturers. 



The value of sieaip in the various operations of 

 heating and evaporating, whether in the manu- 

 factory or refining of sugar, cannot be overrated. 

 The superior economy of it although the first out- 

 lay is greater, cannot be questioned. It requires 

 less fuel and fewer hands, and, in point of neat- 

 ness, coiiveniance, and despatch, admits of no 

 comparison with any other agent. A method of 

 distilling by steam has been discovered and pa- 

 tented in Belgium, which is said to possess the 

 same character of superiority over the common 

 process by furnaces, as the use of steam ia sugar 

 manufacturing and refining. 



