46 



SILK MANUAL, AND 



use of no other precaution than that of forming 

 against the surrounding walls a layer of straw or 

 broom, which rises as high as the pile of roots ; 

 when the frosts set in, I cover the pile over with 

 straw; and in this way I have for ten years pre- 

 served my crops of beets uninjured by them. It 

 has however happened two or three times, that 

 the roots began to germinate with so much ener- 

 gy, that I was fearful they would become decom- 

 posed. In these cases, I unstacked and spread 

 the beets, and thus arrested the process of vege- 

 tation. 



Som:! farmers leave their beets in the fields. In 

 order to preserve them, they dig a trench in a dry 

 soil, giving the bottom a gentle slope, that water 

 may flow off easily. This trench tViey fill with 

 the roots, and cover ii over with a bed of earth a 

 foot thick ; upon this they throw heath or broom, 

 to prevent the rain from penetrating. Some line 

 the bottom and sides of the trench with straw or 

 heath. 



Instead of being i)Ut into trenches, the digging 

 of which is always exj)ensivc, the beets may be 

 preserved in the fields by forming heaps of them 

 upon a dry soil, and covering the tops and sides 

 with layers of earth ; or they may bs covered 

 over with a roof like the one heretofore described. 

 This method of preserving roots may be empioj'ed 

 when there is no suitable storeliouse for them ; or 

 when the means of conveying them to one in au- 

 tumn are wanting. 



ON THE EXTRACTION OF SUGAR FROM BEETS. 



I shall not here describe the numerous difficul- 

 ties that have been encountered before arriving at 

 sin-e methods and certain results. I shall confine 

 myself to the description of the simplestand most 

 advantageous processes that are employeil at this 

 time ; and I will draw my examples from my own 

 practice, enlightened as it is by twelve years of 

 experiment and observation, 1 have successfully 

 executed all the known processes ; and I have 

 tried all the improvements that have been sug- 

 gested : I have myself regulated and improved 

 some of the processes ; and 1 shall describe only 

 such as I have proved and confirmed. 



ON THE PREPARATION OF THE ROOTS. 



Before subjecting the beets to the teeth of the 

 rasf), they must be carefully freed from all the 

 carlii which they bring with them from the fields. 

 The necks, and any portion that has begun to de- 

 cay, must be cut off, and the radicles removed from 

 the surface. 



In many manufactories, nothing more is done 

 to the roots than to wash tiicm. But this opera- 

 tion cannot be conveniently practised in all places, 

 and I have therefore dispensed with it as a pre- 

 liminary ; nor have I found any bad effect to arise 

 frt m the omission ofit. Eight women can easily 

 prepare 10,000 lbs. of the roots in a day. If the 



beets are large and retain but little earth about 

 them, the same number of women can prepare in 

 the same time from 15 to 20,000 lbs. 



ON THE METHOD OF RASPING THE BEET ROOT. 



The beets, when well cleansed, are submitted 

 to the action of a rasp, by which their fibrous sub- 

 stance is reduced to a pulp. The rasp is worked 

 either by a horse, or by a stream of water. The 

 rapidity of its motion should be equal to four hun- 

 dred revolutions upon its axis in a minute. 



The rasps used by me, are sheet-iron cylinders, 

 fifteen inches in length and twentyfour in diame- 

 ter, having their surfaces furnished with ninety 

 iron plates armed with saw teeth and fixed by 

 screws perpendicularly to the axis of the cylinder 

 and throughout the whole length of it. 



The beets being pressed against the rasp, by 

 means of a piece of wood held in the hand, are 

 immediately torn in pieces. The pulp falls into 

 a box lined with lead, which is placed beneath. 

 The table upon which the beets destined to the 

 rasp are placed, is so near the instrument as to al- 

 low onljf sufficient space between for the passage 

 of the pulp. 



The operation of rasping must be conducted 

 expeditiously, otherwise the pulp begins to turn 

 brown, fermentation takes place, and the extrac- 

 tion of the sugar is rendered difficult. By the use 

 of two rasjis, put in motion by the same horse, I 

 have reduced 5000 pounds of beets to a pulp in 

 two hours. The pulp should not contain any 

 portions of roots that have not been acted upon 

 by the instrument. 



Compression will not in any degree supply the 

 place of rasping. The strongest presses can nev- 

 er extract from beets more than from 40-100 to 

 50-100 of their juice, whilst the pulp, if properly 

 managed, will yield from 75-100 to 80-100. 



ON THE EXTRACTION OF THE JUICE. 



As fast as the pulp falls into the box placed un- 

 der the rasps, it is |)ut into small bags made of 

 very strong cloth woven of |)ack thread. These 

 bags are placed upon the plate of a good iron 

 screw press and submitted to a strong pressure. 

 The screws are after a time to be loosened, the 

 places of the sack changed, the pulp which they 

 contain shaken over, and the whole again submit- 

 ted to the action of the screw. 



Sometimes the pulp is first acted upon by acyl 

 indrical press, by which about 60-100 of its juice 

 is extracted, and the operation is afterwards com- 

 pleted by means of the screw press. But 10,000 

 })ounds of beets may be pressed in a day by the 

 last alone. 



The pressure should be continued till the pulp 

 will not moisten the hand when strongly squeezed 

 in it. The juice which flows from the press, is 

 carried by leaden pipes into the boiler, where it 



