VOl,. XVI. NO. 30, 



AND G A R D E N E B ' S J 0. U R N A L . 



237 



BEET ROOT SUC-VR. 



The siibjdined, translated from thn Journnl ilcs 

 eh-Ms, will he road with iiitere.st hy those of our 

 tizeii.s vvlio have, of lain, heeii devotins; their at- 

 ntioti to the nilliire of the Beet, and tlie tiianu- 

 cttire of the Beet Root Siisrar — JVnt. Gaz. 

 We |iro|)ose, in our turn, to lay heforp the ren- 

 :r the authentic and fiille.^t aceoiints, which we 

 •oiiiiscil, relative lo the iniporfimt discovery made 

 the Grand Duchy of Baden, for the desiccation 

 'the Beet. 



Until now, the Sngar eslahlisliments have want- 

 the fre.sh Beets, which, when collected in Oc- 

 ber, begin to ferment and decomjiose towanis 

 e month of February. At ihe close of March 

 April, the manufacturers are obliged to suspend 

 eir work until the next crop ; so that there re- 

 lin only four or five months in the year for the 

 II ni/uuifacture. Notwithslanding the most pa- 

 nt investigations, it has, hilherlo, been found 

 [possible, without injury to the beet, to obtain a 

 siccation that would allow its preservation thro'- 

 t theyear,aiid to work without interruption. In- 

 ed we believe the solution uf this problem had 

 en almost abandoned as hopeless, 

 A German, M. Scliuzenha(-h, who appears to 

 endowed with a high degree of inventive ge- 

 ts has discovered a process, by which to obtain 



s desi -cation in large quantities of the beet 



sides the uninterrupted work which hence be- 

 •nes possible, assurances are given of other ad- 

 utages not less important. The beet, when 

 ed, occupies only one fifth the space it does 

 leii fresh, and the sacchiirine matter is in a state 

 double concentration. A hundred quintals of 

 !ts, iin(b'rgc>ing this preparation, give, in the 

 ill result, about ten quintals of a drained and 

 • sugar. 



This discovery is no longer to be viewed as a 

 re the(M-y. A society, formed in the Grand 

 chy of Baden, with a ca|>ital of a million of 

 I'ins (more than two millions of francs) and sus- 

 led by all the credit of the powerful house of 

 Haber, has established a factory at Ellinguen, 

 ere the process has been tried on a large scale 

 several months. The experiments have been 

 owed up by two commissions composed ol 

 entitle men and manufacturers, one from Bava- 

 the other from Wurteinberg. After six weeks 

 or in the manufacture, the two bodies declared 

 L-ertain, the advantages an.iounced. A parlic- 

 r circumstance permitted us to be jiresent dur- 

 the^firsl experiments. The immediate desic- 

 ion of the beet, (a fact which M. Deiriarcay 

 he session to day fleclared impossible) is done 

 h a rapidity and ease truly wonderful. 

 The protection extended to national industry by 

 paternal government of Baden, is well known, 

 ccordingly favors with all its support, this new 

 lertakiug. There is now being organized in 

 irtemburg, a second society altogether as strong, 

 carrying itfto operation the process of M. Schu- 

 bach, and the two com|>anies, it is saiil, have 

 ted in a sort of private contract, the fir.rt idea 

 vhich, was borrowed, pcrha[)9, from the system 

 the Brussiim Custom Houses. New u.ssocia- 

 s in Prussia and Bavaria are also, according 

 ccounts worthy of credit, on the eve of adopt- 

 the new invention ; and of acceding to the 

 1 of association. We think we can, also, assure 

 readers, that a patent is asked of France ; and 

 several of our principal n)antifacturers are al- 



ready in the way of an arrangement with the pro- 

 prietor of this method. 



It is impossible vet, well to rate the bearing and 

 influence of ibis revolution in the manufacture. — 

 But it appears demonstrated, that it will, at least, 

 hiive the effect of rendering the business defini- 

 tively commercial ; while it is true that the pres- 

 ent processes tend to render it agricultural. Con- 

 sidering the powerful tnacliinery which the new 

 method requires, the system in laying in the stock, 

 (which is henceforward possible) and the regular 

 continuance of the manufacture, we are led to the 

 iqiiuion that it will be a business reserved only for 

 large capitals. 



THE WHEAT CROP FOR 1835-6-7. 



Statements of flour left at Albany, '1 roy and 

 Schenectady, from 1st Septend)er to the close of 



navigation in the year 1835 — 36 — '7 



1835. 1S36. 1837. 



590,213 457,040 728,839 bis. 



The wheat coming to Albany and Troy is in- 

 chirled in the above estimate at the rate of five 

 bushels for a barrel of fjour. 



The above stat .'inent shows the quantity of flour 

 arriving at tide water, from the first of Heptember, 

 when the new crop commences coming to mar- 

 ker, to the close of navigation, in each of the last 

 three years. The quantity coming to tide water 

 for this period in 1837, is greater by 138,626 bar- 

 rels than for the same period in 1835, — and it ex- 

 ceeds the quantity coming to market in the fall of 

 1836 by 181,790 Imriels. The average price of 

 flour during the navigation season in 1835 was 

 $6 50— in 1836 $9, and in 1837 it has probably 

 been about $9 per barrel. At these prices, the 

 quantity brought to market after harvest and dur- 

 ing the continuance of canal naviganon, in each of 

 the years before referred to, will yield to the flour 

 merchants the following sums, viz : f 



1835—500,213 bari-els at $6 50— $3,836,384 

 1836—557,010 " at 9 00— $.5,413,360 



1837—728,830 " at 9 00- $6,559,551 



The crop of 1836, that is, the wheat and flour 

 coming to market tiom the first of Sept. 1836, to 

 the 21st of Aug. 1837, is less by 384,000 barrels of 

 flour, than the iiroduct of the previous crop of 

 J835. But with an importation from foreign 

 countries of several millions of bushels of wheat 

 and other grains, and with an abundant irrop of 

 wheat anrl all the coarser grains, as well as of ev- 

 ery description of vegetable food, and with nearly 

 730,000 barrels of flour already in market from 

 the wheat crop of 1837, can the prisent high pri- 

 ces be maintained ? Since 1814 the price of flour 

 has nearly doubled. Can those who are interest- 

 ed in the flour trade explaiiv the causeof this enor- 

 mous increase .' 



these new (i i man wax lights had acknowledged 

 to hiin that the quaiuity used was one part of 

 white arsenic to twenty-seven parts of fatty mat- 

 ter. Considerable discussion ensued in the -so- 

 ciety, as to the effect of such a quantity of a dele- 

 terious substance like arsenic being con!<ume<l in 

 this way in houses or crowded churches— in some 

 of which they hail been lately intro<iuced, aa also 

 in theatres. From the known ill effects of thia 

 iTiineral on those [lersoiis who are in the habit of 

 using it in various manufactories, as well as the 

 wretched breath and shnrt lives of miners in Sax- 

 ony and other parts from which it is procured, in 

 combination with other substances, most of the 

 members were led to consider that its eTects 

 would be exceedingly injurious to health, and that 

 it was right the public should he made acquainted 

 with the fact. One or two mciidiers siateii that 

 they had used the candles for some time, without 

 experiencing any ill efl^ects, while others, of a 

 weaker habit of body had found them injurious. 

 The candle may be known to contain white arse- 

 nic, if, on blowing it out, the wick smells like 

 garlic; a fact indicating the presence of metallic 

 arsenic, in which state a .small portion only of the 

 mineral is — the great jiroportion being white ar- 

 senic — the most deadly form of the poison. The 

 lights in question are sold cheap, and in many in- 

 stances a fraud is practised on the public, by the 

 substitution of them for true wax lights; the 

 fraud may be detected by the test we have ineti- 

 tioned. — [Standard. 



PoisoKous Candles. The attention of the 



Westminster Medical Society, at their last and at 

 a previous sitting, was directed to a subject ma- 

 terially aflectiirg the |)ublic health — that of white 

 arsenic having been detected to a considerabl'i ex- 

 tent iir some candles lately come rrriicli into use. 

 it appears that the.se cairdle.s, which ar-e very much 

 in appearance like wax, owe their beauty and 

 brilliancy in burning lo arsenic, which fact has 

 been proved by experiments made by Mr Ever it 

 the lecturer oit chemistr-y at the Middlesex hospi- 

 tal, and Mr Phillips, of St. Thomas's hospital 



Dr Scott also stated that two nrariufaciurers of 



Silk. — The culture of the Mitlheiry and iho 

 production of silk, are now known to be well 

 adapted to the soil and climate of this State. The 

 care of the silk worm is also sitited to the other 

 employments of the mass of our population, and 

 the nranufacture of the article will add greatly to 

 o'-r wealth. The Legislature endeavored to pro- 

 rrote it, by the act of 1832, authorising the estab- 

 lishment of one silk conqiany in each county. — 

 But the means adopted, seem not to have produ- 

 ced the desired result. A company hcs been 

 chartered in each of the counties of Beaver-, Ches- 

 ter-, Cmnberland, Lancastet-, Lebarron, and Phila- 

 delphia, but without much apparent success. Nor 

 is it perhaps desirable that they sbouhl succeed. 

 The silk business will undoubteiUy become of fii-st 

 rate importance among us, rmd will probably be 

 the sooner fairly esti'.blished if left to the iirrrc- 

 strained exercise of private enterprize, properly 

 eircouraged by the Legislatur-e. With this view, 

 I would recommend that a small premium be of- 

 fer-ed hy the State, for a limited time, on specified 

 rpiantities of the article, when the productioir of 

 our own soil and industry. — Message of Gov. 

 Ritner, of Pa. 



A curiosity has been sent to orrr office by Col. 

 George Ferrce, of Marietta, which we deem high- 

 ly deservirrg of notice. It is an ear of corn com- 

 plete and entire, and solid at the stem or i-oot, but 

 at about an iirch above the root, branching out into 

 seven distinct, separate, and perfectly formed ears 

 of various sizes — a large, fitll and very handsome 

 one in the centre, and surrounded by six smaller 

 ones of different lengths and birlk, and equally 

 well formed as the large one. It seenrs like a 

 stout and hardy' parent, with her six little ones 

 clustering around her aird craving nnurisirinent 

 and protection — Columbia Spy, 



