1858. 



NEW ENGLAND FARMER. 



149 



Mr. D. J. Browne, of the Patent Office, who says 

 that he has seen horses, cattle, poultry and swine 

 feed upon it freely, both in an unripe and a ma- 

 ture state, without the slightest symptoms of in- 

 jury or disease. Bread has been made from the 

 Hour in Texas, which was of a pinkish color, but 

 was palatable, and no injui-y was suffered by those 

 who ate of it. It is true, the seeds are very hard 

 and almost indigestible, and should never be used 

 in an unsfround state. 



THIRD LEGISLATIVE AGBICULTURAL 

 MEETING. 



[reported for the n. e. farmer by zenas t. HAINES.J 



THE CULTURE OF THE SUGAR BEET, Am> ITS MANU- 

 FACTURE INTO SUGAR. 



The third of the current series of Legislative 

 Agricultural Meetings was held in the Hall of 

 the House of Representatives last Tuesday even- 

 ing. The attendance was rather small. Mr. 

 Felton, Senator from Worcester, presided, and 

 in opening the meeting, announced the subject of 

 discussion to be, "The culture of the Sugar Beet, 

 and its manufacture into Sugar." He said he 

 had the satisfaction to introduce to the audience 

 Mr. Leonard Wray, of England, who had con- 

 sented to deliver an address on the subject an- 

 nounced. 



Not many years ago, said Mr. Wray, in com- 

 mencing, the beet root was not known as a plant 

 of more value than the turnip ; but in the wars 

 of Napoleon it was brought into extensive notice. 

 When France was in a manner sealed up, Napo- 

 leon had to foster the beet plant as the only 

 source for obtaining sugar ; since then it had 

 gradually and extensively increased. The other 

 nations of the Continent saw the benefits which 

 France had derived from its cultvire, and now 

 175,000 tons of pure refined beet sugar are annu- 

 ally made on the Continent. Its average yield 

 was comparatively small, but in some districts it 

 yields very largely. Its culture was still spread- 

 ing in Belgium and Russia. In France, in 1854, 

 there were 354 sugar manufactories. But in ad- 

 dition to this, proof spirit was also extracted from 

 the root. Last year the value of this item alone 

 in France was $10,000,000. It was a mistaken 

 idea, said the speaker, that this culture had in- 

 jured France. The effect has been entirely to her 

 benefit. The farmer who sells it to the manufac- 

 turer by weight found it extremely profitable. 

 Hence he manured his land heavily, and obtained 

 very large and very undesirable roots for sugar. 

 To have a beet root in perfection for sugar-mak- 

 ing, it should only weigh from 2 to 2^ lbs. By 

 planting it at small distances apart, and manur- 

 ing properly, the desirable size can be obtained. 

 Increasing the size of the beet root decreased the 

 quantity of sugar. Here was seen an antagonism 

 between the cultivator and manufacturer. Such 

 antagonism, he apprehended, would not occur 



here, where so much enlightenment among agri- 

 culturists existed. The beet contained a very large 

 amount of sugar, but its product had been great- 

 ly disproportioned to the sugar in the plant. Mr. 

 Wray here exhibited some simple beet jviice 

 which he had that day expressed from a beet se- 

 lected at random, which he said, measured to his 

 astonishment, nine by the saccharometer — a num- 

 ber representing 16 per cent, of sugar or saccha- 

 rine matter, or as rich as the cane of Louisiana. 

 The juice was very dark, and much richer than 

 that expressed from beets grown in France. 



The leaves and crowns of the beet furnished 

 two or three tons of fine vegetable matter to the 

 acre, which was very good for cattle. A farmer 

 in England saved a quantity of white beet and 

 mangel wurtzel leaves, which he carefully buried 

 in a pit, with a layer of straw between them and 

 the earth. After eight or ten months he opened 

 the pit and found a soft unpleasant-looking mass, 

 which, upon experiment, he found was eaten with 

 avidity by his cattle, and to the greatly increased 

 yield of milk by his dairy cows. 



The pulp left after the expression of the juice 

 was purchased by the French farmer, who found 

 it better for feeding to cattle than the beet itself, 

 for the reason that certain injurious salts were 

 removed with the saccharine juice. He thus gets 

 back not only food for his stock, but valuable 

 manure. Pigs, also, fatted readily on the pulp, 

 especially if it was mixed with a little meal. 



The speaker then spoke of the manufacture of 

 alcohol from the beet root. It yielded a valua- 

 ble spirit, which sold for 75 cts. per gallon. A 

 French farmer from 420 acres of land of modei-ate 

 quality, and of a slightly calcareous nature, net- 

 ted over $73,000 in proof spirit. 



The process of manufacturing the spirit Avas 

 described according to the practice of Laplay, a 

 celebrated cultivator of the beet root. The beets 

 were cut into long, thin pieces, the fermentation 

 being commenced in the piece, 'i'hey were then 

 put into a cistern containing a portion of ferment- 

 ing juice, to which was added a quantity of sul- 

 phuric acid. After two days it was put into a 

 cylinder and steam let in upon it. The steam 

 passes through the mass, cooking it and depriv- 

 ing it of its alcohol, and leaving it in the finest 

 possible condition for cattle. For this cooked 

 pulp farmer were glad to give one ton of beets 

 for two of the former. From a hundred tons of 

 beet roots, 70 tons of the pulp might be obtained, 

 and it might be kept two years. Its value for 

 cattle in New England was alluded to. 



The speaker called attention to the immense 

 consumption of sugar in the United States. In 

 1855 and 1856 we raised 123,468 tons of sugar, 

 and imported double the amount, making a drain 

 on the country of $25,529,200. 



