BEET-ROOT SUGAR. 389 



ing the upper portion, are pulverised and packed 

 separately for exportation. 



The molasses which have drained from the sugar, 

 together with all the scummings of the coppers, are 

 collected, and, being first fermented, are distilled for 

 the production of rum. The proportionate quantity 

 of this spirit, as compared with the weight of sugar 

 produced, varies considerably with the seasons and 

 management. In favourable years, when the canes 

 are fully ripened, and the quality of the sugar is good, 

 the proportion of molasses and scummings is com- 

 paratively small, and the manufacture of rum is con- 

 sequently lessened : the proportion usually made is 

 reckoned to be from five to six gallons of proof spirit 

 for every hundred-weight of sugar. 



BEET-ROOT SUGAR. 



SUGAR may be properly reckoned a necessary of 

 life. It is of almost universal use throughout the 

 world. The scattered tribes of North American In- 

 dians spend the months of spring in their rude en- 

 campments, manufacturing sugar out of the juice of 

 the maple ; the five-and-twenty million inhabitants 

 of the United Kingdom employ, throughout the year, 

 two hundred thousand tons of shipping to export 

 five hundred million pounds of sugar from their 

 colonies. This enormous supply affords, upon an 

 average, 201bs of sugar to each individual of our 

 twenty-five millions of population. Through the 

 natural operation of our commercial power this im- 

 portant article of comfort is placed within the reach of 

 the humblest in the land, although the revenue re- 

 ceived by the state from the consumers amounts to 

 5,000,OOOZ annually. In France, on the contrary, 

 where the government has chosen to force the manu- 

 facture of sugar at home, the article is consumed only 



VOL. xv. 33* 



