VOL. XVII. NO. 3 0. 



ND HORTICULTURAL R E G I S TER . 



235 



f Baden, dries tiie beets by a slow process, pro-, 

 ably less perfect than Mr lieyrand's method ; but 

 le result is already excellent, and favors the ap- 

 Jication on a large scale. Tn the manufacture of 

 Jr Schuczenbach, the beets are cut in small thin 

 lices, and, as soon as they come in contact with 

 be air, they bend and roll up, and lose the properly 

 f sticking' together, which gives tlie hot air of a 

 ;iln (to which they are brought immediately after 

 Ihey are cut) a free circulation in all directions 

 round them. The temperature of these kilns is 

 ,'rom 30 to 40 degrees Reaumur, (from 99,5 to 122 

 ilegrees Fahrenheit.) 



"Mr Schuczenbach's appanitus of desiccation is 

 i/ery economical. The machine for cutting the 

 leets costs only fr.'m 400 to 500 francs, and half a 

 lorse power is sufficient to put it in operation. 

 Such a machine, when at work every day for three 

 months, will cut one million killogranies of bees, 

 about 1,000 tons,) which would be a sufficient sup- 

 ply for a large manufactory. A kiln, about 10 feet 

 by 9, and 9 fi-et high, dries, in 24 hours, 3,000 

 pounds of beets, and consumes only 420 pounds of 

 charcoal. Three such kilns would be sufficient to 

 dry all the beets cut by one machine during twelve 

 hours. 



" In the manufactory of Mr Schuczenbach the 

 dry beets are reduced to a coarse powder, sprinkled 

 over with lime, and stored away in casks. When 

 the sugar is to be extracted, this coarse powder is 

 mixed with water, which produces a liquur marking 

 twentyone degrees on the saccharomoter ; and when 

 evaporated with Roth's apparatus, this liquor yields, 

 without any other preparation at the first crystal- 

 lization, a raw sugar, known in commerce by the 

 name of honne quatricint, which, after a second 

 crystallization, becomes honne commune. The ad- 

 vaiitao-e of this new method is such, that the beets 

 Taised"" at Esslingen, in Germany, in 1837, (less 

 rich in sugar than the preceding year,) yielded 

 more than eight per cent, of crystallizable sugar, 

 instead of five, which was the highest pn-duct by 

 the old process ; and, in the proportion as the gain 

 on sugar increases, the e.xpenses decrease ; so 

 much so, that right pounds, now obtained, costs 

 less than formerly four or five from 100 pounds of 

 beets. 



"Two important points are then attained: first, 

 how to dry the beet; and second, how to extract 

 the sugar from it. 



"To refine the raw sugar, without taking it out 

 from the moulds in which the sirup was placed to 

 crystallize, and which always causes the loss of a 

 considerable quantity of sugar, appears to be a 

 question equally advanced. Recent experiments, 

 on a large scale, sho^v that raw sugar washed in 

 moulds, with pressure, gives, in the short space of 

 three days, a perfect refined article, which former- 

 ly required from two to three weeks to effect. 



"In regard to the analysis of the beet in its 

 divers states of maturity, nothing has yet been 

 attempted ; but this is a task which chemists can 

 at any time accomplish, and the prize held out for 

 it will induce many a chemist to undertake it : and 

 it will not be long before we know to what extent 

 the constituent parts of the sugar-beet develop 

 themselves simultaneously, and which ia the most 

 favorable moment for collecting them for the man- 

 ufacture of sugar. 



" In regard to an exact saccharometer, of a sim- 

 ple and practical construction, with the aid of which 

 all manufacturers can ascertain, to a fiftieth part, 

 the richness of the saccharine matter in beets, and 



of all other substances, containing crystallizable 

 su-ar, the learned researches of a young chemist, 

 MrPeligot, promise great success. Lime and bar- 

 yte have the property to combine with crystalhza- 

 blp surrar, and form toge'.her an insolvable compo- 

 sition.ln which, nevertheless, the sugar does not 

 alter, and is easily separated from it. In brmging 

 this fact to a simple mechanical operation, no doubt 

 is left that t!ie quantity of sugar contained m 

 beet sirup can be ascertained with the greatest 

 nicety. 



Tlie problems proposed by the Sonde iP En- 

 couragement are at this time almost solved. It 

 does not any longer propose to discover a new 

 method7bat only to perfect the processes which 

 are already verified, by an application on a large 

 scale. Amon? the advantages which are derived 

 from the renovation of the manufacture of the beet 

 3U':rar, is the extension of the culture of the beet- 

 root ; because it will be easy for every farmer to 

 send his dry product to any market, far or near, as 

 the weight of the raw beet is reduced, by the pro- 

 cess of desiccation, to less than one sixth part. 

 The beet can now be raised anywhere, however dis- 

 tant from the manufactory ; and, reciprocally, it is 

 possible to estiblish manufactories in all parts of 

 France, to concentrate them in such places where 

 fuel is plenty and at a low price ; whereas, at pre- 

 sent, the manufacture is only possible close to a 

 field fertile enough to produce beets. Another 

 important fact : 1,000 pounds of beets contain 100 

 pounds of sugar. Tlie price of beets is about 12 

 francs ; the expense of drying and extracting the 

 sugar would not exceed 10 francs, (this is suffi- 

 ciently proved by experiments ;) making the total 

 amount 22 francs. Suppose that one-tenth of the 

 sugar is lost, the manufacturer would have 90 

 pounds of sugar for 22 francs, or 100 pounds for 

 less than 25 francs. Allowing for small expenses, 

 &c., 50 per cent, the sugar (the refined sugar of 

 this country) could be delivered to the consumer for 

 38 centimes, (or 7 1-2 cents,) per pound. 



"This will create a revolution in the consump- 

 tion of sugar, as well as in the division of the 

 branches of industry, over the- whole globe ; then, 

 instead of importing sugar from the southern regions, 

 it will be left for us to furnish them. . 



MICHEL CHEVALIER." 



Another proof of the practicability and great 

 advantage of this improvement, is the enthusiasm 

 with which it was adipied and put into operation 

 by the Germans themselves, who are generally 

 very careful and prudent in all tlieir speculations. , 

 They have already established extensive manufac- 

 tories on the Rhine. 



The importance of Mr Schuczenbach's discov- 

 ery is best proved by chemical analysis and exam- 

 ination of the physiology of plants. This analysis 

 of the beet-root shows that 100 parts of the root 

 contain — 



86.3 parts of water, 

 3.2 parts fibrous matter, 

 10.0 parts of crystallizable sugar, 

 0.5 parts (;f mucilage. 

 By the new process, the water in the beet is 

 evaporated, and there remain only 13.7 parts of dry 

 substances, which consist of the sugar, mucilage, 

 and fibrous matter. 



The sugar dissolves in cold or warm water al- 

 most instantaneously. 



The mucilage is indissoluble in water ; when in 



a dry slate and mixed' wuh water, i^ only swells to 

 ^^STbTous matter is indissoluble, and has 

 neia'er in the old nor new process any injurious 

 influence. , .,„;i..n-p ;■? 



From this analysis we loam that the '"""'^gf '^ 

 the only substance which causes all the d'^*;""^; 

 of the extraction of sugar. The princips.) p. "'^"^ 

 consists, then, in the separation of the mucilage 

 from the sugar, Cut is this mixture a work of 

 nature, or the result of tlie manipvilations ? or does 

 the cellular tissue, of which the beet-root is formed 

 contain the sugar in its pure state, separated from 

 the mucilage? 



These are questions as to the physiology of the 

 beet, which were first suggested by Raspail, a 

 French chemist, (in his work on the physiology of 

 plants, Paris, 1837,) and he solved these important 

 problems by the following microscopic experi- 

 ments : 



"When a thin slice of the red beet-root is 

 brought under the focus of a microscope, it will be 

 observed that the texture of the beet is formed of 

 hexagonal cells, transparent, and of a purple color; 

 these" cells are crossed by white ones, four or five 

 times longer than the purple cells ; this tissue of 

 white cells is crossed again by bundles of opaque 

 cylinders, of a gray color, through which the spirals 

 (elements generatews) are observed. 



When a drop of acid (acide sulphurique albu- 

 minevx, which has the property of coloring saccha- 

 rine substances purple) is put on this thin slice, 

 the colors change ; the part which was purple turns 

 yellowish, the long cells remain white, but the 

 opaque cylinders become purple." 



From this it follows that the cells, naturally 

 purple, enclose the coloring matter and the mucil- 

 age, and the opaque cylinders the sugar in its pure 

 state. Thus the mucilage in the beet-root is sep- 

 arated by naturefrom the sugar, and mixed during 

 the manipulation, *!ich caused all the difficulties 

 of the extraction in the old process, when the mu- 

 cilage was combined with the sugar in grating, 

 pressing, and even in defecation. 



To separate this five-tenths parts of mucilage 

 which the beet contains, occasioned not only the 

 loss of considerable sugar, but also labor, fuel, and 

 costly material, as, for instance, animal charcoal, 

 blood, &c.. 



The newprocejs acts entirely in conformity with 

 the results of scientific investigation, and the whole 

 proccs.-i is reduced to a simple operation, which 

 gives a sure gain of 8 per cent, of white refined 

 sugar from 100 pounds of the raw beet-root. 



The beets are now cut in thin slices, dried be- 

 fore any fermentation can take place, ground to 

 I fine powder, so ihat all the cells are broken apart, 

 I and ..lixed with water, which dissolves the sugar be- 

 I fore the mucilage begins to swell. The pure un- 

 i colored liquor obtained is evaporated, and the sirup 

 j brought into moulds to crystallize. 

 1 These statements should be considered as a 

 sufficient proof of the infallibility and practicability 

 of the new improvement ; and the introduction and 

 general adoption of it in this country would be 

 of the highest importance to the welfare of its 

 population. 



Some enterprising citizens of the United States 

 sent agents to France to investigate the manipu- 

 lations°of this branch of industry ; but the results 

 have yet effected very little, and the sugar produced 

 from the beet in this country is of no great account, 

 which arises probably from the want of skilful and 



