75 



FARMERS' REGISTER, 



[No. 2 



The general argument against the introduction 

 of this branch of industry, that labor is too high 

 in the United Slates, is incorrect, when we consi- 

 der the other great advantages which the United 

 States have over every other country on the globe 

 in almost every business, and especially in this 

 branch of industry : 



1st. The United States possess a climate which 

 suits the beets better than any climate of Europe, 

 because the summers are excessively warm, which 

 increases the saccharine property of the beet-root. 

 2d. Plenty of cheap and rich land, subject to 

 but a small tax. 



3d. Inexhaustible stores of fuel, from which the 

 great natural water-courses, rail-roads, and canals 

 branch, over the whole union. 



4th. Well-constructed labor-saving machines of 

 all descriptions. 



5th. An intelligent population, which, when 

 once acquainted with this branch of industry', will 

 soon bring it to great perfection — a population un- 

 derstanding the use and management of machine- 

 ry, and famous for improvements and inventions. 

 Whereas, in Europe, the land is over-taxed, high 

 in price, and therefore the interest upon it consi- 

 derable ; subject to tHhes and other feudal bur- 

 dens, while the fuel is scarce and valuable, and 

 its transportation high and slow. The population 

 are entirely unacquainted with labor-saving ma- 

 chines, and possess very little mechanical inge- 

 nuity, while their enterprise is prohibited by the 

 excise laws of their petty governments. 



It is obvious that America overbalances with 

 its advantages, the low prices of labor in Europe; 

 and that she is able, not only to provide herself 

 with all the sugar wanted for home consumption, 

 but also to supply other countries. 



The sugar now produced in Louisiana, averages 

 only about four and a half pounds per head for the 

 population of the United States, or about 70,000,- 

 000 pounds annually, which is but a small part of 

 our consumption, as enormous sums are yearly 

 paid to foreign countries for sugar, as the follow- 

 ing table shows, viz : 



1832, imported into the U. States, ^2,933,688 



1833, do. do. 4,752,343 



1834, do. do. 5,537,829 



1835, do. do. 6,806,184 



1836, do. do. 12,514,551 

 This sum will annually increase in proportion 



as the population augments and their comforts 

 and means improve. 



By the adoption of this ne\v branch of indus- 

 try, the sums at present paid for imported sugar, 

 would be in a short time a clear gain to the coun- 

 try: its agriculture would be improved, and thou- 

 sands of acres of exhausted and deteriorated land 

 would be again taken up and improved. To procure 

 the necessary manure for this purpose, the farmer 

 would be obliged to increase his live-stock, which 

 would find, during the winter season, plenty of 

 food in the residuum of the manufacture. It 

 would increase the consumption of sugar amon"- 

 the less wealthy class, and would make their con- 

 dition of life more comfortable, and, of conse- 

 quence, greatly extend the population of the 

 country. 



The manufacture of sugar is not confined to the 

 beet and cane only. In Hungary, there arc at 

 present, manufactories whirh make sugar from 

 pumpkins. The lollowing article, translated Irom 



the ^Hanoverian Communicator,^ 1837, gives the 

 particulars, as follows: 



"A manufacturer in Hungary, for three yeara 

 past, has used pumpkins for the nianufacture of 

 sugar. We have seen raw and refined sugar, 

 also sirup from this manufactory, and found the 

 refined sugar equal to the colonial in every re- 

 spect. The raw sugar is crystalline, coarse-grain- 

 ed, light-colored, and of more agreeable (melon- 

 like) flavor than the common raw beet-sugar ; the 

 sirup is of a blackish-green color, and has also a 

 melon-like flavor, but is suitable for consumption. 

 The juice, obtained by pressure, yields, on an ave- 

 rage, six per cent, of sugar. But the water-melon 

 of the south of Hungary is still more productive 

 than the pumpkin of the north. The sugar ob- 

 tained from the pumpkin is always considerable, 

 whether the fruit has been raised on rich or poor 

 land. The manipulation is said to be more sim- 

 ple than the manufactory of beet-sugar, and re- 

 quires less attention, as the pulp and the juice may 

 stand for three weeks without getting sour or los- 

 ing any quantity of sugar. The juice, during tha 

 process of evaporation, does not rise in the boil- 

 ers, and is not so liable to be burnt. The residu- 

 um is very good food for cattle. One acre pro- 

 duces 650 cwt. of pumpkins ; twenty pumpkins 

 yield sufficient seed ibr one acre of ground. From 

 the remaining seed a very good table oil of about 

 16 per cent, can be obtained. 



"Marquardt." 



Indian corn, at the period of tasselling, yields 

 just half as much sugar as the sugar-cane; and it 

 is astonishing that this well known fact did not 

 induce persons to plant corn especially for that 

 purpose. 



To make use of green corn and pumpkins pro- 

 fitably, and to improve the crop of beet in quality 

 and quantity, the following plan is, therefore sug- 

 gested, which would keep a manufactory in ope- 

 ration all the year round : 



We know that the beet requires a deep soil, 

 sufliciently provided with decomposed manuic, as 

 when planted in green manure they ^ield much 

 less sugar, and the operation is rendered more 

 difficult ; to prepare the field properly for the beet, 

 it should be well manured, (no matter in what 

 state the manure may be applied,) ploughed, and 

 planted in corn and pumpkins, and worked regu- 

 larly as long as the pumkins leave room for the 

 horse-hoe. When the corn begins to form the 

 tassel, it should be cut off, and the sugar extract- 

 ed from it. The pumpkin has then all the influ- 

 ence of the sun to come to full maturity, and 

 should be used, when ripe, for sugar. The fol- 

 lowing year the field would be in first-rate order 

 for the beet, and the following rotation of crops, 

 viz : 



Indian-corn and pumpkins, with j) 

 manure, > for sugar, 



Beets, 3 



Barley, 



Clover, 



Wheat. 



An acre of good cultivated land yields, on an 

 average, twenty tons of the beet-root. Beets 

 were sold this fall, near Boston, for $5 per ton. 



One ton of beets yields, when treated afier the 

 new method, 180 lbs. of tvhite refined sugar. 

 The cost of manufacturing a ton of beets into su- 

 gar would be, at very high estimate, ^6. One 



