G94 FARMERS' RE GISTER— BEET-ROOT SUGAR— STEAM CARRIAGES. 



sui^'ar, differs from a pound weij^'lit of West India 

 sugar, only in our receiving more of these liim[)s 

 in our pound weight. If sugar were sold by the 

 cubic inch, beet-i'oot sugar, as comparetl with 

 West India sugar, would be less sweet and less 

 economical in use; but, being sold by the jjound 

 ■weight, it is, for domestic use, oven more economi- 

 cal. 



From five to seven per ceiit. of raw or Musco- 

 vado sugar api)ears to be the usual produce from a 

 given weight of beet-roots. From a given weight 

 of this raw sugar, forty percent, of the fhiest white 

 refined sugar, with fiflecn per cent, of inferior re- 

 fined sugar, appear to be the (juantities produced; 

 making cibout two pounds and fbur-fiitiisof a pound 

 weight of the finest white refined sugar from each 

 hundred pounds weight of raw beet-roots. The 

 pulp from which the juice is extracted, and the 

 other lesidueof tiie manufacture, are used for feed- 

 ing catilc, and form a very important item in the 

 returns or profit. According to M. Chaptal, the 

 value of the molasses, pulp, &c. is sufficient to co- 

 ver one-fourth of the expense of tlie manufacture. 

 This value must of course depend uj)on the value 

 of butcher-meat, and upon other local circumstan- 

 ces, which are at least as fiivorable in Great Britain 

 as in France to the manufacture. It is not the 

 least promising feature of the manufacture, in the 

 eyes of those who promise themselves great and 

 extraordinary results i'rom it ultimately, that it is 

 thus linked with the ordinary business of hus- 

 bandry ,-^that it offers no excessive rate of profit, — 

 that it operates upon a known root cultivated for 

 feeding cattle, — and that the flirmer, wliether he 

 raises beet-root for feeding cattle, or for sale to the 

 sugar-baker, is cultivating a green crop, which, in 

 liis ordinary rotation of crops, he would at any rate 

 raise on a part of his farm. The beet-root, it may 

 be proper to observe, is the same plant which is 

 cultivated in England under the name of mangel 

 wurtzel. There are varieties of the plant having 

 red, yellow, and white roots, but which appear not 

 to be distinct varieties, as occasionally they re-pro- 

 duce each other. Tli« white beet, liaving firm 

 white brittle roots, is considered the most produc- 

 tive of sugar. 



BEET-ROOT SUGAR.* 



From the Quarterly Journal of Agriculture. 

 The manufacture of beet-root sugar in France 

 has advanced so far, that it presents itself with all 

 the intricacy and imposing development of old es- 

 tablishments, carried on with considerable capital 

 and expensive machiner}'. It is no longer a collec- 

 tion of pots and pans, and tubs and vats, in the cor- 

 ner of an ol<l barn, that constitutes a beet-root 

 sugar-work in -France. The processes of rasping 

 and pressing are performed in many cases by steam 

 engines and hydraulic-presses ; and the boiling, 

 concentrating, evaporating and crystallizing pro- 

 cesses arc very generally carried on by the agency 

 of steam. At Coulonne,on the side of the canal, 

 about four miles from Calais, is a sugar-work, upon 

 a considerable farm, fitted up in the most approved 

 manner. It is no wonder — no show-place in the 

 country, there being at least five such establish- 

 ments within a circle of thirty miles. At this 

 farm is a beautiful steam-engine working the rasp- 



* See Arcana of Science for 1831. 



ing machine, and two liydraulic presses, and a well- 

 connected system of i)oile4-s, and condensing and 

 evaporating vessels, all heated by steam. Beet- 

 root is in much more general cultivation on the 

 continent, as a cattle-crop, than turnijis. Turnips, 

 indeed, are seklom seen, except as a second crop, 

 sown upon an early stubble, and yielding a small 

 and uncertain produce. The plant itself affords a 

 more sulistantial food for cattle than turnips ; and, 

 wlicn cultivated with care, appears to give as great 

 a bulk of food from a given space of ground as an 

 ordinary turnip crop, and much more than a broad- 

 cast turnip-crop. The preference given to the cul- 

 tivation of beet-root may arise, however, from the 

 general state of husbandry, as much as from the 

 l)articular nature of th.e plant. The country being, 

 in general, open and unenclosed, cattle are of neces- 

 sity stall-fed, day and night, and all the year round. 

 Gra.ss, that is natural pasture, does not, it may be 

 said, exist at all ; and, in fact, between the cold in 

 winter, the heat in summer, the unenclosed state of 

 the land under crop, and want of shelter, as well as 

 of enclosure, when could cattle pasture.' How 

 many hours in the twelve months could sheep or , 

 cattle have tlie benefit of pasture, if pasture was 

 there for them.'' Stall-feeding may be the best 

 husiiandry ; but it is there one of necessity as much 

 as of choice; and, of necessity, every ])iece of land 

 must be brought under the plough, or left in a pro- 

 fitless state. The beet-root is better adapted for 

 this state of husbandry than the turnip. It ad- 

 mits of being taken up in October, and pitted or 

 stored for winter use, like potatoes. It is, bulk for 

 bulk, a more substantial food than the turnip; and 

 in spring, it is food when the turnip has ceased to 

 be so. There are many varieties of the beet-root 

 cultivated for cattle crops. There is beet-root en- 

 tirely red, and entirely yellow, and entirely white; 

 and white w ith red streaks, white with red skin, 

 white with yellow skin, &c. Of these varieties, 

 the entirely white is preferred for sugar-making : 

 not as containing a great proportion of the saccha- 

 rnie matter than the other varieties, but as yielding 

 a juice more free from coloring matter. Roots of 

 a medium, or rather small size, not exceeding two 

 pounds w eight, and which creak under the knife, 

 and present a hard and almost shining fracture 

 wiien broken, are considered the most productive 

 in sugar. The cultivation is so entirely the same 

 as that given to a turnip crop, that it is unnecessary 

 to dwell upon it. 



STEAM CARRIAGES. 



From the New Monthly Magazine. 

 The select committee appointed last session of 

 parliament, on the motion of Colonel Torrens, con- 

 clude their report with the following summary of 

 the result of their inquiries: — 1. That carriages 

 can be propelled by steam on common roads, at an 

 average rate of ten miles per hour. 2. That at 

 this rate they have conveyed ujnvards of fourteen 

 passengers. 3. That their weight, including en- 

 gine, fuel, water and attendants, may be under 

 three tons. 4. That they can ascend and descend 

 hills of considerable inclination with facility and 

 ease. 5. That they are perfectly safe for passen- 

 gers. 6. That they are not (or need not be, if 

 properly constructed) nuisances to the public. 7. 

 That they will become a speedier and cheaper mode 

 of conveyance than carriages drawn by horses. 8. 



