NO. 17. 



THE farmers' cabinet. 



26^ 



processes in the manufacture, we have care- 

 fully avoided the use of chemical terms, and 

 substituted language which we hope will be 

 undonstood by every reader. 



I'liere are several varieties of the beet 

 which yield sugar, but the Silecial beet is re- 

 commended as the best and most productive. 

 This beet will cotne to maturity in all parts 

 of tiie United States, up to the 45th degree 

 of latitude. The soil most congenial to its 

 growth is a light sandy loam, of good deptli, 

 and if free from stones tiie better. Probably 

 no country in the world is better adapted to 

 the growth of this root than the alluvial mea- 

 dows on the Connecticut and other rivers of 

 New England. Tiie cultivation, however, 

 need not be confined to vallies, as in most of 

 the hill towns, lands may be found well 

 adapted to its growth. The land is prepared 

 for the seed by deep ploughing and pulveriz- 

 ing the surface. Tins is best accomplished 

 by ploughing in the fall and leaving the land 

 in furrows through the winter. In the spring 

 the land should be cross ploughed and har'- 

 rowed, and, if the soil be ligiit,'^itvvill be pre- 

 pared to receive the seed. The seed may 

 be sown as early as the season will admit, 

 broad cast, or in drills; but ultimately the 

 plants should be from 12 to 19 inches apart. 

 They should be lioed and kept free from weeds 

 —at the second hoeing they should be thinned 

 out and but one plant left in the hill— the sur- 

 plus plants may be transplanted to vacant 

 pjaces in the held. 



In the extraction of the sugar, the beets 

 must first be cleaned by washing or scraping 

 with a knife, and care be taken that all de"- 

 cayed parts be cut off. They must then be 

 passed through the rasper and be reduced to 

 pulp— the finer they are rasped the better, 

 as it facilitates expressing the juice. The 

 pulp must then be put into cloth bags and 

 have the juice pressed out by a screvv'press. 

 In France they use the hydraulic press, but 

 a cider, or other press, will answer the pur- 

 pose, and be attended with much less ex- 

 pense. As decomposition commences soon 

 after the beet is out of the ground, and pro. 

 gresses rapidly, no time should be lost in con- 

 verting them into sugar. 



After ihe juice is expressed, and before it is 

 converted into sugar, it must undergo four 

 distinct and diflferent processes. 1. Defeca- 

 tion. 2. Evaporation. 3. Clarification. 4. 

 Concentration. 



DEFECATION. 



The composition of the beet juice does not 



differ essentially from that of the cane it 



combines with the saccharine matter small 

 quantities of malic or acetic acid, wax and 

 mucilage, which must be extracted before 

 evaporation is commenced. The first pro- 



cess, therefore, is to purify the juice, which 

 must be done by nutralizing the acid, decom- 

 posing the wax and congulating the mucii 

 age, and hence is called dcfiL'cation. All this 

 may be done by heating smd mixing with it 

 the milk of lime in about the proportion of 4fi 

 grains troy wciglit to the gallon. The milk 

 of lime is prepared by slacking quick lime 

 \yitli hot water, and reducing it to the con- 

 sistence of cream. The juice must be heated 

 to about IGO degrees Eahrenhcil, and the 

 milk of lime poured into it and thoroughly 

 mixed by stirring with a stick. After it is 

 intimately mixed, the stirring must be stopped 

 and the mixture sullered to rest for a short 

 time. It must then be heated to the boiling 

 point, which will throw the impurities upon 

 the surface in the form of scum, when the 

 boiling must be stopped. When, tiie juice 

 has become clear it must be drawn olf from 

 below, by moans of a cock, or the scum must 

 be skimmed off from the top— care being takej^ 

 in either case to effect a complete separa- 

 tion. 



EVAPORATION. 



The next process in the manufacture is to 

 dissipate' the water, which is done by " boilino- 

 away," as it is commonly called, but in teclT- 

 nical language, evaporation. If in the process 

 of defecation an excess of lime has been used 

 it should be extracted. This may be done by 

 a mixture of sulphuric acid and water, in the 

 proportion of one of the former to forty-four 

 of the latter. This mixture put in contact 

 with the lime, causes an efl^i^rvescence, by 

 which the lime is thrown off, and the cessa- 

 tion of which is a sure evidence that the lime 

 is neutralized. Some manufacturers say that 

 a small portion of lime should be allowed to 

 remain, and others that the whole should be 

 neutralized. As practical men differ on this 

 point, we can safely conclude it is not very 

 material. 



The juice is boiled down till it is reduced 

 to about one fifth or one sixth of its original 

 quantity. For this purpose pans or kettles 

 may be used ; but it will be seen that those 

 vessels which present the greatest surface to 

 the fire, and give the least depth to the juice, 

 will best facilitate evaporation. As the water 

 evaporates, flaky substances will separate 

 from the juice and collect in a white foam on 

 the surface, which must be skimmed off as it 

 appears. To promote their separation, the 

 boiling is commenced with a moderate fire, 

 which is subsequently increased as they dis- 

 appear. Sometimes the white of ega:s beaten, 

 or a little blood, is added for the same pur- 

 pose. During the boiling the juice will rise 

 in froth and flow over the top of the pan, un- 

 less prevented by occasionally throwing in a 

 small quantity of some fatly substance. But 



