S6 NUTRITIVE PLANTS. 



no longer dependent on the West Indies ; it has for many years, 

 however, been relinquished, and hence there can be no doubt that 

 it was not found to answer upon the broad scale. 



The plant employed was the white beet, the root of which re- 

 sembles the parsnip in shape, and is white crossed with bands of 

 red, and has a mild sweetish taste. It is remarkably succulent, and 

 the saccharine quality of the juice seems to be much improved by a 

 careful cultivation in a rich soil. It has long been cultivated in 

 many parts of Germany as a food for cattle. 



The following is M. A chard's process. The roots are pulled, 

 cleaned, and stripped of the leaves ; and immediately boiled for a 

 short time, till they are so far softened that a straw may be thrust 

 into them. They are then sliced by a machine used in the country 

 for slicing potatoes, and put under a very strong press to ex- 

 tract the juice. The cake which remains in the press still retains 

 enough juice to make it worthwhile to moisten it with water, and 

 after some hours again to press it ; this juice is mixed with the 

 former. Even after this second pressing, the cake may be use- 

 fully employed in making a fermented liquor, from which a spirit 

 may be extracted bj distillation. The juice is then strained through a 

 flannel, boiled down to two- thirds of its original bulk, again strain- 

 ed through a thick blanket, and then boiled down to half its bulk aud 

 strained. It is now of the consistence of a thin syrup, and must be 

 put in shallow pans in a stove-room, heated to about 120 to allow 

 the sugar to crystallize. This begins by the formation of a hard 

 crust on the surface, which must be now and then broken down to 

 hasten the evaporation. After a time there forms on the surface a 

 thick gummy skin, instead of a hard granular crust; when this ap- 

 pears, the syrup is removed from the stove-room, and the whole 

 mass is put into a close linen sack, previously wetted, and strongly 

 but gradually pressed. By this the svrup is forced through the sack, 

 and there remains within a yellow, granular, saccharine mass, re- 

 sembling muscovado sugar, very sweet and well tasted. From this 

 sugar, of any degree of fineness, may be afterwards obtained by 

 the processes employed in the refining of sugar from the sugar-cane. 



Such was M. Achard's process, which has been since repeated 

 by a committee of the French National Institute, with similar 

 results as to the general products, though the quantity yielded 

 was much less than what might be inferred from the price 



