124 BEET AND BEET- SUGAR. 



Water 87 



Matter soluble in water (sugar) 8 



Insoluble substances, (woody tissue) 5 



"loo 



from which it appears that no more than about fths of the sugaf 

 contained in the heet-root is extracted. As in crushing the cane, so 

 in squeezing the rasped pulp of the beet, a part of the loss is owing 

 to a certain quantity of sugar being left in the expressed pulp. In 

 fact, with the presses generally in use, while from 60 to 70 per cent, 

 of juice is obtained, the root actually contains 95 per cent. The 

 loss here, however, is of less consequence than it is in the cane-, the 

 trash of which is used for fuel, while the pulp of the beet serves as 

 food for cattle. The pulp, indeed, is found to possess very nearly 

 the same amount of nutritive power as the root which produced it. 



One of the considerations which is perhaps of highest importance 

 in connection with the production of sugar from the beet, is inherent 

 in lh(5 difficulty of preserving the root after it is full-grown. Gather- 

 ed at the end of autumn the root suffers no less from severe frost, 

 than it does from mild open weather : frost destroys its organiza- 

 tion, and in mild winters vegetation continues at the expense of the 

 sugary principle, which had been formed during the growth. If the 

 beet actually contains at every period of its existence the same 

 quantity of sugar with reference to its weight, there would probably 

 be a great advantage in not waiting for the period of complete ma- 

 turity, by sowing somewhat thicker than wont ; any difference of 

 weight would probably be made up, and then there would be no risk 

 of loss from keeping. 



The quantity of beet gathered from a given extent of land neces- 

 sarily varies with the soil, the pains bestowed upon the crop, and 

 the quantity of manure that has been used ; the following are a few 

 particulars from official documents : 



PRODUCE PER ACRE. 

 Ton. Cwt. Qra. Lba. 



PasdeCalais 12 9 1 19 



Department of the North 12 10 2 25 



Department of Cher 15 1 39 



but in other departments the produce is considerably smaller, so that 

 the average for the whole country has been estimated at not more 

 that 10 tons 9 cwt. 1 qr. 13 lbs. per acre; an average which ap- 

 proaches very closely to that which I have obtained from my own 

 farm at Bechelbronn, calculated during a period of seven years. 



Assuming 4~7fths lbs. of sugar to be obtained from every 110 lbs. 

 of beet, the produce in sugar from an English acre in the course of 

 seven months will amount in the present state of things to 9 cwt. 2 

 qrs. and 7 lbs. By way of comparison I shall here remind the 

 reader that an English acre of land laid out in Otaheite sugar-cane 

 yields in the course of about fourteen months, 15 cwt. 1 qr. 10 lbs. 

 I find from my accounts for 1841, that to manage an English acre 

 of land under beet-root in Alsace, 45.6 days ojf a man, and 14.1 



