1837]. 



FARMERS' REGISTER 



409 



ers are in the habit of <;ro\vin<r. Were tlie crops 

 heavier, I hiive no doubt tiie price would be lower; 

 because, if 10s. per ton would pay tl\e grower in 

 Enejianil, [as I believe it would,] it certainly ought 

 to \n\y in France, where the expenses of every 

 port are much liixhter; and it" it does not p-ay, it is 

 not owitm to ihe low price so much as to want of 

 skill in tiie ijrower; not thai I would advise the 

 goinn; into the opposite extreme, of lorciniia crop 

 By heavy manuring. A root may in garden cul- 

 ture be Ibrced to an extraordinary size and weight. 

 but of what does this weight consist? Of a great 

 deal of watery matter, worse than useless for su- 

 gar-makiuiT, inasmuch as it displaces the saccha- 

 rine juice so abundant in roois of smaller size. 

 No where perluips is beet raised of such vast 

 weight as in the neighborhood of London. I last 

 year weighed two or three roots, in company will) 

 my friend Mr. Philip Taylor, which, if I recollect 

 riijht, varied from 35 to 3S lbs. each root. The 

 produce of an acre at this rate is enormous ; and 

 yet no man would say that roots like these, are the 

 better lor the purposes of sugar- making: certain- 

 ly not; nay I very much question whether the 

 proportion ot saccharine matterin ihem, would pay 

 forihe labor of rasping, boiling, &c., to get at it. 

 It is this [)ropensity of the I'armer to (brce his crops 

 to the utmost, especially in the neighborhood of 

 large towns, that tends to thwart the views of the 

 manufacturer. His interest and the farmer's are, 

 as we have said, diametrically opposed, if the one 

 buys and the other sells by loeight; perhaps a bet- 

 ter way would be that adopted by some of buying 

 by number, the manutactiu-er taking only such 

 sized roots as he likes. In this case, there is no 

 inducement on the part of the farmer to manure 

 over hitjhly, because all the largest roots would 

 either be rejected by the manufiicturer, or if taken, 

 would be worth no more to the giower than if of 

 halt; or probably one third the size. But to the 

 question of profit and loss. 



M. Chaplal calculates that to fit np an estab- 

 hshment capable of manufiicturing 10,000 lbs. of 

 beet-roots a day, would cost 20,000 francs [£833 

 6.S. SfZ.] ; but he reduces this expense to 16,000 

 [£666 13s. 4(/.], if there is a convenient water- 

 course, and a good wine-press on the premises. 

 He reckons the expenses of such an establishment 

 for eachdav. for roots, [say 12,000 lbs. in order to 

 have 10,000 always ready for the rasp], cleaning 

 and other hand labor, horse v^^ork, animal charcoal 

 and fuel at £8, or for the season of 120 days, 

 £960. The chai'ires for refining the sugar are ad- 

 ded to, and are totally independent of, the above, 

 but as this is a distinct branch of business, and one 

 by no means advisable (or sugar makers in com- 

 mon to enter into, I purposely omit them. Pro- 

 duce of the above 10,000 pounds of root, 210 kilo- 

 grammes [4 cwt. 141bs.] of brown sugar, worth 

 at market £ 12 5s. 



M. Matthieu de Dombasle has a manufactory 

 calculated to work up 4,500,000 tons in 150 days. 



The first cost of buildings, machine- 

 ry and utensils [in which are in- 

 cluded those necessary for refin- 

 ing] 70,000 francs, or - £2916 13 4 



The produce and expenses of this establishment 

 are not stated here, because they are so mixed up 

 with refined sugar, with vvhich we have nothing 

 now to do, that they cannot well be separated. It 

 Vol. V— 52 



may however be observed, that M. de Dombasle 

 reckons on obtaining 4 per cent of brown sugar, 

 whereas JM. Chaplal only admits 3 |)er (-ent. 

 M. Crespel— Expenses on 1000 kilo- 

 grammes [2209 lbs.] Roots [being 



at 12s. Sd. per ton] 12 6 



Labor and other charges - - - 1 



£1 12 6 

 Produce of 1000 kilogrammes. 

 5 per cent of brown sugar — 50 kil. 

 [llOlbs.] -------- 2 18 4 



Molasses— 40 kilogrammes [88 lbs.] 2 8 



Pulp — 300 kilogrammes [nearly 6 



cwt.] - 039 



Deduct expenses 



3 4 9 

 - 1 12 6 



£1 12 3 



Balance profit - - - 



In the above statement, if the value of the pulp 

 and the molasses [6.s. 5d.] be deducted from the 

 expenses [ £1 12s. 6d], it will leave £1 6s. Id., 

 which sum divided by 110 [the number of lbs. of 

 sugar] leaves a trifle over 3d. as the cost price of 

 the sugar. 



The Duke of Ragnsa at Chatillon [1822].— 

 Consumption 8000 kil. [7 tons 17 cwt.] of roots 

 per day, since more than doubled. 



Daily expenses 174 francs - - - £7 5 



Daily produce 150 kilogrammes [330 lbs.] brown 

 sugar. 



330 lbs. molasses, 14 francs - - lis. Sd 

 2200 lbs. pulp - 6 francs - 5 



16 8 



Deducting this 16s. Sd. from the expenses, £7 

 5s., leaves 4|c?. per lb. as the cost of the 330 lbs. 

 of suirar. 



JM. Cafler, of Douav, thouirh on the small scale 

 of 1000 kilogrammes [2200 lbs.] in 150 days, does 

 not estimate the cost of his brown sugar at more 

 than 3|d to 4d. a pound. 



In the above statements, there is only one in- 

 stance [M. Crespel in which so large a produce 

 has been obtained, as 5 per cent of sugar upon the 

 gross weight of the raw root; [that is, if the weight 

 of the crop be 20 tons an acre, lor example, that 

 of the suirar will be 20 cwt. or 1 ton.] But im- 

 provements of late have made such rapid strides, 

 that this is now generally reckoned an average 

 produce in France, and even as hitrh as 6 per cent 

 has been obtained, but as the beet-root, according 

 to my friend Mr. Philip Taylor, actually contains 

 8 per cent*, who shall say that the maximum of 

 improveiTient has been arrived at? 



CHAP. XIX. 



TTie adaptation of this manufacture to Great 

 Britain. 



The British farmer will perceive, from the 

 previous statemenis, that this is no air-built 

 speculation, no vision of the imagination ; but, 

 for the most part, a plain narrative of what has 

 occurred, and what does actually uccur every 

 year in upwards of one hundred susar-mak- 

 ing establishments at this time in operation on 



'See Farmer's Journal, March SO, 1829. 



