824 



NEW ENGLAND FARMER 



APniL 



18:'8. 



of 



vigor hPiian to take root but upon tlie piitraiici; 

 the Allifs in 1814, tlie nianiiractoiies witli one or 

 two (xceiitioiis were closed and llie culture ahan 

 rloned. Duriu); the Restoration raw suynr sold 

 in the French market for seven cents per lb. though 

 previously it had commanded 30 to 40 cents, h 

 could not have been exirecte.l that a single eslab- 

 lishment vvould survive such a reduction of the 

 I)rofits upon which their proprietor^ hail calcula- 

 ted, yet two were kept up through the worst of 

 times and their proprietors are now very wealthy. 

 In 18-28 there weie 89 beet sugar maiuifactories 

 in Fnuice. 



At this time there are 542 in operation and 39 

 being built. 



'1 he whole aiimial product is 96,01 0,000 pounds 

 nearly half of the annual consumption of the avti- 

 cle in Fraiu-e. 



'J'he expense of producing the beet varirs ac- 

 coriling to locality arul the .skill of the cidtivator 

 and niamifacturer. It ranges between 5.7, and 

 9.5 cents per pouiul. The average of 7.6 cents 

 is usually adopted in calculation. The wholesale 

 price of the sugar in the market varies from 8 to 

 11 cents. French manufacturers have been jeal- 

 ous (or many years that the Government was de- 

 Bii-ous of obtaining their secrets with the design 

 of laying an excise on every [louiid of sugar which 

 they make. TheJ have in consequence been 

 very close and seldom adinit that they reap a ben- 

 efit of even so much as one cent per 11). Hut the 

 fortunes which have been made and the great and 

 sudden extension of the business, tend strongly to 

 prove that their profits must in many instances be 

 greater than this. 



They do not always take into arcount, and if 

 they do, not with scrupulous accuracy, the beneft 

 deriveil from feeding large nund)ers of I'attlo, sheep 

 and swine, upon the green tops au<l upon the pulp 

 or residuum of thebeetsafter the juice is expressed. 

 The manure also which is iuunense in quantity 

 and superior in quality is not endjraced in any of 

 their accounts or estimates which I have seen. 

 An acre of lanil will pioduce 25,00( lbs. -, upwards 

 of 11 tons of sugar beets. Three tons of this will 

 be pulp worth as much fur feeding and fattening 

 cattle as one and a half ton of good English hay ; 

 or it will make excellent manure by being thrown 

 in a heap with other residuums and suHered to 

 ■ decompose. 



Lime mixed with vegetable matters coming 

 from the scum and dregs of the defficating pans 

 and ashes from the furnaces enter largely into this 

 conq)Ost. It is certain therefore that one cent 

 per lb. does not represent all the profits which the 

 mamifactiirers who are at the same time fanners, 

 have been in the habit of making. 



The following is a list, very limited, yet the 

 largest to be obtained of the profits admitted by 

 Botnc numiifacturers in different parts of Europe. 

 In France, 30 per cent on capital. 

 " Silesia, 57. 

 <' Prussia, 61. 

 " Khenish, Pru.ssia, 9. 



The Beet sugar in its chemical analysis is the 

 eame with sugar of the cane. In a raw state they 

 are distinguishable but not at all in u refined. — 

 During the Continental System refini'd Colonial 

 sugar was smuggled into France and sold for that 

 of the beet, and at this time refined beet sugar is 

 exported with the benefit of a heavy drawback 

 (120 francs on every 220 lbs.) ulthoueh that ilraw- 

 back applies by law to none but Colonial sugar 



which has paiil a duty on its entrance. ]n both 

 cases the utmost vigilance of custom-house otfi- 

 ccrs and skill of chemists have been put in requi- 

 sition but without success to detect these fraiirls. 

 The most experienced and intelligent sugar 

 makers in France regard the business merely as a 

 branch of agriculture. The processes and ma- 

 chinery are every year rendered more simple and 

 chcip. A number of small farmers convert into 

 siig.ir in winter the beets which they have raised 

 i:i summer, and there is no rensonable doubt that 

 the lime is at hand when every proprietor of a 

 small farm in France, may manufacture his one 

 or two thousand pounds of sugar as regularly as 

 he thrc.-^hes his wheat, and ibis with yo other as- 

 sistance than can be rendered by his wife and 

 children. 



It is esteemed by some of the most eminent 

 manufacturers of sugar and machinery that a far- 

 mer with liis pectare (2 1-2 acres) of beets may 

 make 4,000 lbs. of sugar whiidi would cost him 

 but 2 or 3 cents a pound, and which he might 

 therefore deliver in the market for 4 cts. per lb. 

 with a handsome profit. From such industry he 

 would derive the following advantages. 



1st. The sum of $40 clear profit on his sugar. 

 2d. The leaves of the beet to feed bullocks, 

 sheep, ami milch cows from the middle of August 

 to the middle of Novend)er. 



3d. The pulp, equal to 3 1-2 tons of good hay. 

 4th. The ashes coining from the furnaces in the 

 manufactory. 



5th. The molasses worth about 2 or 3 percent, 

 on the whole expenditme. Where such stnall 

 domestic manufacture siiall become general the 

 price of sugar will not tie above one thinl the 

 present, and the consumption will be two or three 

 times greater. 



Land has risen in the neighborhood of manu- 

 factories and more especially of those established 

 in the large towns, 50 per cent, and fields |mrlicu- 

 larly adapted to beet culture 3 to 400 per cent. 



There is probably no country more susceptible 

 of benefit from the introduction of the beet sugar 

 business than New England. Hot stmmiers and 

 steady cold in winter are two things most essential 

 to the increase and preservation of .saccharine in 

 b.^iets and during the process of converting them 

 into sugar. In France an idea has prevailed that 

 4.5° is the most southern latitude which will admit 

 of the manufr.cture of beet sugar. In America it 

 is collier at 40° than it is in France at 50 . 



Wages are higher with us, but the rent of land 

 and the price of fuel would go far to balance the 

 disadvantages of that item. 



Fifty acres of land in France would cost for 

 'rent or the interest of purchase money §383; 

 with us I suppose it would not cost above 50 to 

 100 ilollars, though I do not profess to know very 

 well the rent of land in the United States. Fuel 

 all over France bears about the same price that it 

 does in our cities. Wages of men is alioutSOcls. 

 per day and of women and children who do most 

 of the cultivation, 12 to 20 cts. per day, they find- 

 ing themselves. 



The great quantity of excellent manure which 

 farmers would obtain from this business vvould 

 be invaluable to New England. 



There is probably no oiher means yet discover- 

 ed of ett'ecting an equal supply and improving in 

 an equal degree the comfort of New England (am- 

 ilies and the fertility and beauty of her land and 

 rough surface. 



It is obvious that if these views are ever reali^ 

 ed, the price of raw sugar would be ultimately re) 

 duced to three or four cents, of refined to 8 or l| 

 cents and that the consumption of each would bil 

 immediately doubled. 



(From tlie Horticultural Register.) 



FORCING FRAMES AND FORWARDINO 

 EARLY VEGETABLES. 



tCcntinueii.) 

 In continuation of my subject on forcing fratnei 

 I shall make a few remarks on covering and gin 

 ing air, and proceed on the subject of 



FORCING THE CUCUMBER. 



Covering of the frames is very essential ani 

 should be regularly done at evening, a little befoi. 

 sun down ; it should never be omitted.in the earl 

 part of the season of a mild evening, which pel 

 haps, in the miildle of the night will change e> 

 verely cohl, and the crop will be lost. Recollei 

 one neglect of this kiml will destroy the who 

 crop. Uncovering should be as regularly attende 

 to as the covering ; for nothing injures plan 

 more than to be confined in a frame when tf 

 sun is shining strong on it. The sun nnist I 

 considered the best stimulant to vegetation, and 

 lay-a bed framer will seldom succeed. The long 

 phmts are kept in darkness, the more feeble w 

 be their growth. 



Giving air, only requires a few hints to be pe> 

 fectly understood. In the fii-st place, it must I' 

 in all cases done gradually ; that is to say, begi 

 early in the morning by giving a little, at the ba* 

 of the frame, and continue to increase as the SH 

 grows stronger, until noon. At one or tw 

 o'clock the air may he gradually taken away t 

 about an hour before sunset, when the frame inn 

 be closed with the exception of a little air bein 

 left at the back to let of!' the steam. 



M.\NAGEMENT OF THE FRUITING FRAME. 



Having a quantity of manure prepared as dire< 

 ed for the seed bed, proceed to make a bed f 

 fruiting the cucumber. The bed may be mat 

 about three feet, or three and a half feet high, at 

 a foot all around wider than the fiame intendi 

 10 be put on, as directed for the seed bed. Tl 

 bed being made, place the frame on it and dra 

 the heat as before directed, letting ofFtlie rank he 

 at the back of it ; when the bed is in a prop 

 temperature, which can he ascertained by pressii 

 a pointed stick into it, and drawing it up, and, I 

 pressing the point in the hand ; then proceed 

 prepare the hills for planting. 



Preparing the compost for planting. — T he b« 

 compost for the cucumber is a rich mellow loai 

 from the top of a pasture where cattle have bet 

 laying and enriching it. This compost should" 

 collected in the fall, and about one third of goi 

 rotten leaf mould from a frame, or other got 

 manure mixed therewith ; the compost should i 

 turned and mixed well together before it is used 



Preparing the hills, and plunting. — In prepare 

 the frame for planting, the top of the bed may 

 shaken up about three inches deep and level!/ 

 all over, when the hills are to be prepared as'fi 

 lows : under the centre of each sash, put enoaj 

 of the above soil, to form a conical hill in siii 

 a manner that the top may be eight or ten ineb 

 in diameter, and about four or six inches iind 

 the glass ; when the hill is warmed throng 

 which will be in a day after it is made, the c 

 cumbers may then be planted, hy making a bt 



