FARMERS' R fi G I S T fi R 



161 



time will come wheti sugar mills will be set up by 

 the more forehanded, as cider mills now are ; and 

 sugar beets, wliich may be produced by those 

 who cannot aflbrd to build a mill, will be carried 

 to their neighbors, and worked up on shares as 

 cider is made among us, and as wine is made in 

 tiie French communes. In the east, he observes, 

 tiiere are itinerant sugar makers, who are provid- 

 ed with a moveable apparatus which they esta- 

 blish under a bamboo shed in a given neighbor- 

 hood, and work up the canes as the cultivators 

 bring ihem in. Mr. Nosarcwski suggests this as 

 a practical mode of domesticating the beet sugar 

 manufacture in Poland, in connexion with his sys- 

 tem of drying the beet. Details are given, to 

 show that raising the beer, simply, would hardly 

 fail to be profitable here. In this case, the climate 

 comes to be considered. There has been a com- 

 mon belief abroad, that a northern climate alone 

 would do, and that 45'^ was the true boundary. 'J'his 

 is considered a mistake, (derived from the fact, 

 that many of the establishments, and especially 

 the early ones of the south of France, miscarried 

 from other causes,) as in the first place all plants 

 are found richer in oleacjinous, aromatic, and sac- 

 charine properties, the farther we go towards the 

 equator; and in the second place, that the beet 

 does not depart from this law, we know by experi- 

 ments on samples raised in the extreme south. 

 Humboldt found that the same law applied to dif- 

 ferent altitudes, on the table lands of Mexico. In 

 1836, eight factories then in the department of 

 Vaucluse and in Languedoc, made 1,131,000 

 pounds of sugar. These are all situated south oi' 

 45°. 'The business has been introduced into the 

 kingdom of Naples, where one of the principal 

 advantages expected, is the production of two 

 crops a year, and the supplying of fresh material 

 from the field, all, or nearly all the year round. 

 Mr. C. is not yet informed of the result of this 

 enterprise, nor of a similar one undertaken in one 

 of the West India islands, where beet and cane 

 have been placed side by side for a fair race. This 

 last, will be awaited with no small interest. It 

 appears that beets ripen earlier in the United 

 States than in France, the summer heat being 

 more intense. 



At Northampton, beets sown the first of June 

 the last year, were perfectly ripe on the first of 

 September, whereas the period of growth and 

 maturit}' is never estimated in France at less than 

 four months. This will enable our manufacturer 

 to begin his operations a month earlier than in 

 France, and oi" course to have seven months for 

 working up the green beet in lieu of six ; besides 

 which, he will not be obliged to lay up so large a 

 proportion of this material in pits. As to soil, 

 the beet seems by no means very particular. 

 Whatever will do for Indian corn, will do lor that. 



As all that concerns the beet now is a matter 

 of great interest, we should notice Mr. Child's re- 

 mark, that the common wild sea-beet, is thought 

 by many to be the parent of all our numerous 

 species. This grows in Holland and Great Bri- 

 tain on the salt marshes, and is found about Not- 

 tingham in England. The first beet planted in 

 France, was however, a native of the southern 

 and maritime regions of Europe, and was brought 

 from Italy. The Romans were acquainted with 

 the white beet. The uses made of this vegetable 

 are worthy of notice. Besides furnishing sugar, 

 Vol. VIII— 21 



it is also used for making coffee, beer, brandyj 

 spirits of wine, potash and paper. There are es- 

 tablishments, on the continent and in England, 

 where these respective products are obtained in 

 abundance. Mr. Child mentions also, without 

 contradicting it, the late rtsmor that they are mak- 

 ing wine of the beet in France. And yet even 

 the beet, it would seem, may be supplanted, for 

 we are told "other plants usually grown in our 

 soil are capable of furnishing sugar, and that some 

 of them may be found worth cultivating for that 

 and accessory products. We have tried Indian corn- 

 stalks and the pumpkin, and have obtained from 

 them good sugar and molasses. Perhaps those 

 crops may alternate advantageously with the beet. 

 Ifthe manufacture of sugar from the stalks of 

 Indian corn can be reconciled, as we believe it 

 may, with the maturity or near maturity of the 

 ears, this source of saccharine may supersede the 

 beet root. The seeds of the pumpkin yield a fine 

 sweet oil, but we have no means of judging what 

 quantity of this product can be obtained from a 

 given extent of land. If it should turn out salis- 

 iactorily in this respect, the pumpkin may one day 

 overshadow the sugar cane. 



We have spoken of the Northampton experi- 

 ments as the only ones of note in this country, and 

 they are so. Yet others we hear have been made 

 to such an extent as to encourage an attempt in 

 Burlington, New Jersey. An establishment is 

 about being raised, to operate on the method of 

 Sorel and Gautier, which has lately made some 

 noise. It seems they grate the beet with a hand 

 grater and deprive the pulp of its saccharine by an 

 instrument they call the Extractor, which they 

 declare completely exhausts it, and gives a purer 

 liquor than either pression or maceration, properly 

 so called. A complete apparatus of Sorel and 

 Gautier capable of working up 600,000 pounds, is 

 stated to cost .^1254; the rated expenses of ope- 

 rating to that extent $1881, and by the grater and 

 presses $2337 ; the amount of product 42,000 

 pounds, instead of 30,000 pounds as by the common 

 sj'stems ; and the cost of the sugar will be only 2i- 

 cents per pound. As to this, " We shall seey 



One word by way of caution. We advise no 

 body to make a hobby of the sugar beet. For 

 speculation purposes, it is no touch to tlie morus 

 muliicaulis: and that humbug is pretty much 

 used up. If any money is to be made out of beet 

 sugar culture, it will only be by hard work, and 

 perseverance, probably amidst many discourage- 

 ments. We would not recommend that every 

 body should go into it at once. Let Mr. Child 

 and a few others make the experiment first. If it 

 succeeds, others can follow them. If it does not, 

 they can save their money and their patience. It 

 is however a branch of industry which mc?/ become 

 extremely important in this country. The value 

 of sugar imported into the United States from 

 Ibreign countries, is about $7,000,000 per annum. 

 If we can grow all this sugar at home, or a part 

 of it, at cheaper rates than we can import it, we 

 had better do so. 



P. S. Since writing the above, we find it stated 

 that application has been made to the legislature 

 for the incorporation of a company in this city, 

 with a capital of $500,000, "for the purjjose of 

 manufacturing sugar from beets, and refining 

 sugar." 



