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\j: \ 103 THE GENESEE FAEMEE. ( 



per cent, of juice, tlae average quantity secured by the manufacturer is but 50 per cent., 

 and in some cases not more than 30 per cent, is obtained. 



Beets have lons^ been used in France for the manufacture of sugar ; and though they 

 were first grown and extensively used for this purpose during the continental system of 

 embargo, when sugar was a dollar per pound, yet they are at the present time gro.wn to 

 a great extent in France with considerable profit, and sugar at eight cents per pound. 

 They are also being grown in Ireland; but it is yet problematical as to whether they will 

 pay there, the price of sugar being but six cents per pound and the chmate being cokl(-'r, 

 not so well adapted for the formation of sugar in the beets. The composition of the 

 beet, the mean of several analyses, is as follows : 



Water, 87 



Sugar, 8 



Woody tissue, 5 



100 



By the processes of manufacturing now adopted in France and Belgium, from 4 to 6 

 lbs. of fine, white, crystallized sugar is obtained fi'om 100 lbs. of beets ; and it is but 

 reasonable to suppose that by further improvements in the machinery, and possibly in 

 the cultivation of the beets themselves, all the sugar they contain will be obtained, and 

 this quantity augmented by special manures and better cultivation. 



The cultivation of the sugar beet is similar to that recommended in the March num- 

 ber, page 82, for mangel wurzel, though more plants should be left per acre, as the beets 

 do not grow so large as the mangels. The rows may be twenty inches to tMO feet apart, 

 and the plants singled out from eight to ten inches in the rows. The seed should be 

 sown the latter part of May and first of June. The plants will be ripe about the last 

 of August. Sixteen tons per acre is the average in France, though thirty tons are some- 

 times obtained on very rich land. "We think twenty tons per acre might be usually 

 obtained in this country by careful cultivation and judicious manuring. Taking five per 

 cent, as the average amount of white sugar obtained by the common manufacturing 

 process, a ton would give 100 lbs. ; or an acre of beets of twenty tons, one ton of sugar. 

 This, at six cents per pound, would be $120 per acre ; and this besides the leaves of the 

 plants and the residue of the bulbs, which are very valuable as food for cattle and hogs. 

 The value of the beet-root in France is estimated at $3 per ton. The cost of raising a 

 crop of beets in this country can not exceed |35 per acre, leaving, at this estimate, a 

 a profit of |25 per acre for interest on land, &c. Of the cost of extracting the sugar from 

 20 tons of beet in this country, we can not speak very definitely ; but where wood or coal 

 is cheap, it appears more than probable that it could be done and leave a good round 

 sum as profit for $60. 



We think the matter well deserves the serious attention of our farmers ; and are 

 glad to learn from the many inquiries we have lately received respecting the culture of 

 sugar beets, that they are alive to its importance. We would advise to small beginnings 

 at first, so that the loss from any error in the manufacture, if any, would be small. 



The process of reducing the beets to pulp and pressing out the juice, is very similar 

 to that commonly adopted in the making of cider. When the juice is obtained, it is 

 placed in a furnace and about 300 grains of pure lime added for every gallon of the 

 liquor. It is then heated and kept as near the boiling point as possible without ebulli- 

 tion for about half an hour. This is for the purpose of freeing the liquor from impuri- 

 ties. The clear juice is then run off, passed through filters of animal charcoal, or burnt 

 bones, and concentrated by evaporation till the sugar crystallizes. In France, about 

 four hours are occupied from the time the beets are ground till the liquid is in the crys- 

 tallizing pans, though this time is considered much too long and efforts are making to 

 shoften it. It is necessary that great expedition should be used to prevent loss from 

 fermentation, which proceeds with great rapidity in warm weather, and greatly reduces 



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