310 



Sugar 



Beet. 



Vol. n. 



To ihe Editor of ilieFai-meis"' Cabinet. 



SUGAR BEET. 



Sir — IIow is it tiiat the successful manu- 

 facture of sugar from the beet still remains a 

 problem ? When Mr. Pedder was in France, 

 two years ago, we were led to believe that 

 on his return the experiment would be made 

 •on a scale which would put the question to 

 rest; but, on the 3d of September, 1837, more 

 than a year afterwards, we find Mons. Le 

 Clerc, who had studied the beet sugar making 

 in France, conducting "an experiment at 

 Ludlow's station near Cincinnati, on a small 

 quantity of juice, only a glass full,'" and ex- 

 , pressing himself overjoyed with the result, 

 for he had discovered that the manufacture 

 of beet sugar on a large scale is every way 

 possible ! — and this he discovered from an ex- 

 periment upon a glassful of juice ! 



In your number for September last, p. 46, 1 

 find an account from Mr. Child, who writes 

 from France, what we would almost suppose 

 must have been taken from the published re- 

 port of the Beet Sugar Society of Philadel- 

 phia, had he not said, " I do not find the 

 profit of raising the beet so high as Mr. Ped- 

 der did," but immediately adds, " can you won- 

 der that land has risen from 50 to L'^O per ct. 

 in the districts of the sugar manufactories!" 

 Since that time we have been inundated 

 ■with accounts of partial success, and promises 

 of great results from small experiments; but 

 yet, so far as I can learn, th^ main question is 

 still undecided, and I prophesy it will remain 

 so until it is taken up by those who will enter 

 upon it with the single aim of jrrcparing 

 sugar from the beet, an-d not with the view 

 •of making it subservient to some land specu- 

 lation, or other consideration quite foreign to 

 tlie purpose— then, with a capital sufticient 

 to carry out the undertaking, success is cer- 

 tain. It has been supposed, that thedifi^erence 

 between the cost of labor in this country and 

 France, would operate as an interdiction to 

 the manufacture of beet sugar, but I am of 

 quite a contrary opinion. The growing of 

 the crop is not more expensive than the rais- 

 ing of a crop of corn, this has been ascer- 

 tained to a certainty; the ditference in the 

 amount of wages must, therefore, apply to the 

 fabrication of the sugar only, and so liir fj-om 

 this being in favor of France, I believe it is 

 quite otherwise. In France, where the rate 

 of wages is so low, few think of applying ma- 

 chinery to its full extent, in the various ope- 

 rations of the sugar house ; almost every 

 thing is done by hand, but the labor of a dozen 

 men and women is, oftentimes, not equal to 

 the single motion of a crank in a steam en- 

 gine; and in the report above mentioned, I re- 

 member the observation, in proportion to the 

 low rate of wages, so is the labor performed ; 

 and there too we are told, a woman with 



boards fixed to her feet was employed in 

 treading the surface to save the expense of i 

 rolling ! I believe it is Edgeworth who says 

 it is customary in Ireland to make gates of 

 boys, and when cattle break inio the corn 

 fields, the employer complains that the poor 

 gates do not do their duty ! If I am not mis- 

 taken, i have an establishment in my eye 

 vyhere six times the amount of labor is per- 

 formed, at about a third of the expense in- 

 curred in countries where a man might be 

 had for 15 cents a day's wages ! and "where 

 the very circumstance of this low rate of 

 wages, operates as the greatest injury to so- 

 ciety; and who will erect expensive machi- 

 nery, when the human machine can be pur- 

 chased at so cheap a rate, ineffective as it 

 will always be found. 



It is an excellent observation, that the well- 

 being of a country can always be estimated 

 by the valueof daily labor, and that this isby no 

 means in favor of low wages. Although it has 

 been proved, that no root crop can be raised 

 for the use of cattle and sheep, that can at all 

 be compared with the sugar beet, I am not 

 willing that our efforts should stop here. All 

 writers agree, that nearly as much stock can 

 be kept on the refuse of the sugar-house and 

 barn-yard, as upon the crop of beets un- 

 crushed, and if I am not greatly mistaken, the 

 fabrication of sugar might be conducted in this 

 country, by the aid of improved machinery, at 

 as cheap a rate as in France, by manual labor 

 paid for at a rate, which scarcely affords the 

 means of a bare subsistence. Thus far is cer- 

 tain, sugar from beets has long been made in 

 France, equal, in all respects, to that from the 

 cane, without difficulty and to great profit. It 

 is admitted by all h-nds, that the beets can 

 be grown in tliis country larger and more 

 rich in saccharine than in France ; the only 

 question seems to be, on the power of crystal- 

 ization in this country; now if those who 

 have found a difficulty with their "glassful," 

 "gill," or " half pint" of juice in this part of 

 the process, would experiment upon the same 

 quantity of cane juice, they would find the 

 same cause of complaint; butif they will sub- 

 stitute for this "glassful " two or three thou- 

 sand gallons, they would also find a very sim- 

 ple cure. 



I have been re-perusing IVIons. Le Clerc's 

 letter of page .55 of the Cabinet, vol. ii. It is 

 a curious production — here is a man, who has 

 studied beet sugar making in France, operat- 

 ing upon a glassful of juice, and expressing 

 himself overjoyed with the discovery, ivhick 

 he has made! that the manufacture of beet 

 sugar on a large scale is every way possible 

 ^— with such very small means of judging", I 

 should hardly have expected iiim to take 

 upon himself to doubt whether this industry 

 can be profitably conducted in this country by 



