CULTIVATION OF PLANTS. 



that imported from the French sugar islands. But such has 

 been the vast increase of its manufacture affecting the revenue 

 of the empire by lessening its receipts at the customs and a 

 desire on the part of the French government to uphold the in- 

 terests of the sugar islands, that a heavy tax has been imposed 

 on the domestic manufacture. 



Sugar from the beet, of a very superior quality, has been 

 made at different periods and in various sections of the Union. 

 To manufacture sugar from the beet root to a profit, the busi- 

 ness must be conducted on the grand scale. No doubt is 

 entertained, however, that in process of time, the business will 

 be so far simplified, as to constitute an article of household 

 fabrication. But at the present period this is not desirable: 

 and if the manufacture of sugar from the beet should, with us, 

 prove a total failure, still the benefits arising from its introduc- 

 tion and extensive culture of the beet throughout the Union, 

 are incalculable. Accomplishing for this country what the 

 turnip culture did for England. But that the manufacture of 

 the beet-sugar, will ere long become general and profitable, is 

 as certain as that the beet will grow. We would not, how- 

 ever, advise the farmer to give the least attention to its fabri- 

 cation, especially under present circumstances. He will find 

 it of far greater advantage to feed the roots to his stock, thereby 

 increasing his manure and in the event of factories being 

 established in his neighbourhood, supplying them with the 

 products of his farm. 



The following comprehensive account of the process of 

 manufacturing sugar from the beet, is from the pen of JAMES 

 PEDDER, Esq. He is familiar with the whole system. It will 

 be found as valuable as it is interesting. 



The manufacture of sugar consists of seven distinct processes. 



1. Cleaning the Roots. In many large factories this is done by washing in 

 long wooden cylinders, with open sides, which revolve by the power of steam 

 in cisterns of water: the roots are thrown in at one end of this cylinder and are 

 carried round and ejected at the other by a spiral or Archimedes' screw; and 

 if the work could be effectually performed by these means, it would be a great 

 .saving of expense, but the fact is, it is at best a most inefficient mode. If the 

 roots have been grown on a stiff soil, quantities of earth will still be,. found ad- 

 hering to them, maugre all your attempts to free them from it. This will do 

 great injury to the teeth of the rasp while crushing, and will, I presume, be of 

 no value in the cake as food for sheep or cattle. The large roots are often 

 found to be hollow and partially decayed at the crown; this putrid matter 

 being acetous, is peculiarly destructive to the yield of saccharine, and no 

 washing will remove it. The end of the tap root and the lateral fibres are 

 almost useless to the production of sugar often very injurious; I therefore 

 prefer to clean by scraping with a knife, when the earth and decayed parts are 

 easily removed: the cuttings are greedily devoured by cattle and hogs, and 

 that portion only of the root is used which is best calculated to yield a superior 

 quality of sugar. 



2. Crushing or rasping the Roots. In no manufactory, except where mace- 

 ration is practised, is this process performed by any other means than by the 





