EXTRACTION OF SUGAR FROM ROOTS. 457 



manufacture of sugar, the Silesian beet is preferable to the 

 mangold. For distilling purposes the latter may be used 

 with equal advantage; and as the yield of mangold is 

 generally more per acre than of Silesian beet, it is more 

 commonly grown for that purpose. In the manufacture 

 of sugar it is necessary that the sugar should be in a crys- 

 tallizable form, as "cane sugar" (C 19 H 1 2 12 ), while 

 for the manufacture of spirits, where the sugar itself has 

 to undergo a change, the uncrystallizable form, known as 

 " grape sugar " (C j 2 H 1 4 j 4 ), is equally available. The 

 mangold and the beet in the fresh state both contain crys- 

 tallizable sugar; this, however, is very readily changed by 

 fermentation, either natural resulting from injury or 

 from storing, or forced occurring during the process of 

 manufacture, into the other form (uncrystallizable), and 

 thus cannot be obtained in the state desired. The sugar 

 is obtained from the expressed juice of the root, and it is 

 found that the larger the proportion of soluble salts and 

 organic matters the juice contains, the more difficult is 

 the separation of tjie sugar, and the greater is the loss 

 sustained during the operation; consequently, it results 

 that the development of the cellular tissues of the roots, 

 although it gives bulk to the crop, and adds to their feed- 

 ing value, renders them practically less valuable for sugar- 

 making purposes. For distilling where the alcohol is 

 obtained from the decomposition of the sugar, it does not 

 matter in what form it is, whether crystallized or not; 

 therefore, the larger the produce of bulbs per acre, the 

 better the returns in alcohol. 



This change in the condition of the sugar of the root 

 has an important bearing upon the process of its manufac- 

 ture. Although for our own purposes (feeding) we find 



years (in 1857 this had increased to 110,000 tons); in Austria (1850) about 

 6000 tons were produced; and in Belgium (1851) the quantity manufactured 

 from beet-root amounted to 14,000 tons. See paper " On the Manufacture of 

 Sugar from Beet-root," Roy. Agri. Soc. Jour., vol. xiii. p. 145. 



