458 THE MANGOLD-WURZEL CROP. 



mangold improving in sweetness by keeping a few months, 

 the manufacturer 1 finds that for his purpose the value of 

 the root decreases each day it is kept, the natural process of 

 fermentation, slow and imperceptible though it be, chang- 

 ing the constitution of the sugar, and gradually converting 

 it into an uncrystallizable form. To meet this difficulty 

 for it is obviously impossible to use the root entirely in 

 its fresh state a vast amount of chemical ability has been 

 displayed, the whole question has been well worked out, 

 and agriculture has largely benefited by it, as may be 

 seen from the well-marked consequences to a district at- 

 tendant upon the successful development and prosecution 

 of the sugar-making industry. 2 The residuum, after the 

 juice is expressed, forms a cake suitable for feeding pur- 

 poses, and as about 20 tons of "cake" (pressed pulp) re- 

 main from each 100 tons of roots consumed, which is 

 obtainable by the growers at a moderate price, 3 a large 

 amount of stock is kept and fattened, and a large amount 

 of manure produced. This, of course, reacts upon the 

 land, and its fertility is increased, as, practical! 3 r , all its 

 mineral constituents abstracted by the crops, are again 

 returned in the residuum from the manufacturer. In the 

 arrondissement de St. Quentin (Departement du Nord), 

 the sugar manufacture has doubled the area of corn cul- 

 tivation, and has increased the average yield from 13 hec- 

 tolitres per hectare in 1823, to 28 hectolitres in 1852. 

 The manipulation of the roots for distilling purposes is 



1 M. Paul Hamoir (Serret, Hamoir, Duquesne, & Co., of Valenciennes) says 

 -"If the roots be taken from the field and stored, even under the most 



favourable conditions, the quantity of crystallizable sugar is found practically 

 to diminish, according to the time they have been kept. For instance, if the 

 fresh root yielded in October 7 per cent, of sugar, in January it would only 

 give 5 per cent., and in February probably less than 4 per cent." Roy. Agri. 

 Soc. Jour., vol. xiii. p. 151. 



2 Roy. Agri. Soc. Jour., vol. xiii. p. 154-161. 



3 In 1859 the average price given for the roots was 16s. per ton, and the 

 pressed pulp was sold at 12s. per ton. 



