384 



N E W ENGL A N D FAR .M E R 



MAY 20, !K40. 



FIRST MANUPACTURK OF BEET SUGAR 

 IN NEW ENGLAND. 



The subjoined comniunicatinn has been gome 

 timo held in reserve, under the expectation that we 

 should have been sooner prepared to make a full 

 report on the subject of Beet Sugar. As that is 

 now necessarily postponed, we give it as an iiiter- 

 teresting account and njemenlo of the tirst attempt 

 made, in New Enijland, to manufacture Beet Sugar 

 to the amount of a pound weight. The su ;ar pro- 

 duced was much of it of a very good quality. VVe 

 know the communication will be received with 

 pleasure. We have at this moment no time for 

 farther remark. H. C. 



May 20, J 840. 



Ret. Henry Colman — Sir — In compliance with 

 your request, I hand you herewith a description of 

 the process pursued by Mr George A. Perkins and 

 myself, in manufacturing the Meet root Suijar, of 

 which I gave you a specimen in the autumn. 



The bents raised by me the last season, aie the 

 variety known as the White Silei3ian, yielding a 

 light cream colored pulp, ard recommended both 

 by Achard and Donibasle as the best and most prD 

 ductive. The question has been asked, what sizol' 

 beets are the most profitable, and upon what kind 

 of land should they be grown. •' 'I he roots upon 

 which we first experimented, were grown up n a 

 dry, sandy field, highly manured in the spring with 

 stable manure and muscle-bed, the latter having 

 been exposed to the action of the frost during the 

 winter; but in consequence of the unusual drouglit, 

 from which they suttered nearly the entire season 

 of their growth, they averaged scarcely half a 

 pound each in weight, and were harvested early in 

 September: their juice directly from the press 

 marked 11° by the hydrometpr. In order to test 

 the experiments, I purchased a quantity of Beets, 

 raised by one of my neighbors, from the same par- 

 cel of seed, planted upon what is generally termed 

 rich garden loam, and highly manured. These 

 roots averaged lhr( e pounds in weight, were rasp- 

 ed with greater facility, and yielded a imich great- 

 er (piantity of juice ; which marked, however, 

 scarcely t>° in the hydrometer. When we take m- j 

 to consideration the amount of fuel and labor, re- 

 quired to evaporate the water from beets of the lat- 

 ter description, is it not evident, that we shall ob- 

 tain at a less expense, a greater perccent. of sugar, 

 from beets grov/n upon light, sandy tends.' Or, in 

 other words, will not 15 tons of beets, grown upon 

 a light soil, yield as much as 80 tons raised upon 

 our best corn land ? and, may not the juice of the 

 former, be mauul'actured at much greater profit than 

 the latter? I have merely mentioned these cir- 

 cumstances, that in case any of my brntlier farmers 

 should bo induced to plant a portion of their fields 

 with beets, with the intention of maiiufaotiiring 

 their own sugar, they may not be deterred fnim it 

 by imagining that they cannot spare an acre of 

 land, sufficiently rich for their cultivation. 



The first process to which we snlij cted our 

 beets V as cleaning. 'I'his we effected by scraping 

 with knives, which is, however, a long and tedious 

 operation, and we are inclined to give the prefer- 

 ence to washing in «oodon cylinderp, which would 

 be a great saving of labor, where a sufficient sup- 

 ply ol water could be obtained. 



The machine, used for rasping the beets, was 

 the common grater cider mill, upon which we h.ive 

 made a slight improvement by inserting several 



row.s of ttoth upon the face of the cylinder, by 

 means of which we obtain the pulp in a finer state ; 

 and with an iron screw press, which we substituted 

 for the lever we at first used, have extracted 55 

 per cent, of juice, instead of 35, which was our 

 first maximum. Above the cylinder of the rasp is 

 fixed a deep wooden hopper, of sufficient size to 

 admit the largest beet, each one of which is held 

 and pressed on by hand separately. The rasp is 

 turned also by liand, the labor of which is render- 

 ed comparatively liglit, by affixing the handle to 

 the centre ot a large wheel, four feet in diameter, 

 over which runs a band drawn tightly into a drum 

 or pulley upon the axi.s of the rasping cylinder. 

 The pulp falls into a box beneath, whence it is 

 taken by shovels and turned into tlio bag.^, which 

 are made of strong Russia duck. Those which we 

 use, are 18 inches long and 12 inches wide, con- 

 taining about 10 pounds of pulp, and when taken 

 from the press are not more than half an inch in 

 thickness. The manner of folding them, by turn- 

 ing down the two upper corners and lapping over 

 the whole, is similar to that practised in expressing 

 oil. In our experiments we generally press five 

 bags (say 50 lbs. of pulp,) at a time, the bigs being 

 sepirated from each other by boards, instead of 

 huriJles. From 4 bushels of IJeets we olilain about 

 10 gallons of juice, which has ordmanly yielded 

 us 8 lbs. of sugar. 



Having poured the juice into the boiler, a com- 

 mon brass kettle, containing 15 gallons, set in brick 

 work over a furnace, we immediately kindle the 

 fire, and the juice being heated to 180° of Fahren- 

 heit, pour into it a cream of lime, formed by dis- 

 solving two ounces of lime in a small portion of 

 warm water, and stir it constantly for the .-pace of 

 fifteen minutes. Then increase the fire until the 

 juice reaches the point of ebullition, when we pour 

 from a pitcher a portion of the juice, reserved for 

 the purpose, upon any bubbles which may siiow 

 themselves, for the space of thirty minutes. The 

 e.itire surface of the boiler being now covered with 

 foam, extinguish the fire by throwing into the fur- 

 nace a pitcher or two of water, permitting tlie 

 juice to remain undisturbed, until it deposits a sed 

 iment and becomes clear, which it will (icnerally 

 do in the space of two or three hoiirs. This pro- 

 cess is called defecation of the juice. 



The next step is to concentrate it. When the 

 juice has become perfectly clear and limped, but 

 not before, we draw it < ff by means of a syphon, 

 leaving in the bottom of a boiler a black arotic 

 matter, which was precipitated with the inolate of 

 liine. Should the juice have undergone any alter- 

 lion by an excess of the use of lime, it will be 

 necessary to neutralize it by pouring in a small 

 quantity of sulphuric acid, diluted with water. We 

 determine the point of saturation by using Tume- 

 rick paper, which, if there is an excess of lime, is 

 cohn-ed of a reddish brown. A little practice will 

 soon make one faiiulifir with this part of the process. 

 Having neutralized the excess of the lime, leaving 

 the juice slightly alkaline, and the kettle having 

 been thoroughly cleansed, we return it again toihe 

 boiler, and find th;it it is reduced to about seven 

 gallons, in consequence of concentiation and t:.e 

 1 iss of the black sediment. 



Rekindle the fire, and the juice being at 100° of 

 Falireiiheil, commence adding slowly 2 lbs. of aiii- 

 mil cli..rcoal, stirring it briskly the while. The 

 syrup having been kept in a stito ofebullitiim some 

 minutes, a thick whiie scum of a waxy nature ap- 

 pears, v.hich having been skimmed off, we throw 



into the kettle a pint of cold water to abate the 

 ebullition, and immediately add Ihe whites of 3egg3, 

 beaten in water. Increase the fire, ?tir briskly, and 

 skim fiir half an hour, or as long as the scum con- 

 tinues to rise ; at the expiration of which time, ex- 

 tinguish the fire, and draw oif the syrup into the 

 filters, to remain during the night. In the com- 

 mencement of our experiments, we used conical 

 flannel filters, for which we have now substituted 

 two and even three thicknesses of woolen blankets, 

 secured upim a Hoodcn frame or stand, which wc 

 find answer a better purpose. 



If the operations of the first day have been suc- 

 cessfully performed, the liquor in the morning will 

 be found clear and transparent, marking 20" on the 

 hydrometer, at which point we commence the clari- 

 fying process. The syrup is now reduced to 2 1-2 

 or ;3 gallons, and returning it again to the boiler, 

 having first greased the sides thereof with a morsel 

 of butter, to prevent its burning, rekindle the fire, 

 and should there appear any impurities, we add, be- 

 fore heating, the white of an egg, well beaten, re- 

 moving thein carefully with a skimmer. 'J he fire 

 requires to be watched very c'osely, as there is at 

 this stage, great danger of burning the syrup, which 

 should be kept moderately boiling, until it marks 

 45-" on the hydro leter, when the proof by the 

 thread should be taken, by cooling a portion of^ the 

 syrup between the thumb and fore finger: separate 

 theiM suddenly, and if the filament breaks that, curl- 

 ing itself into a horn or spiral, the process is com- 

 pleted. The fire is immediately extinguished, and 

 the syrup conveyed to a tub or cooler, in which 

 crystallization commences, when it must be thor- 

 oughly stir.ed, and thence turned gradually into 

 the moulds, the points or cones of which have been 

 previously stopped with a peg, and the moulds 

 themselves saturated with water, in order that they 

 may not imbibe any portion of the syrup. In the 

 course of an hour or two, a crystallized crust forms 

 itself upon the top of the moulds, which must be 

 carefully stirred and broken, in order to collect the 

 crystals into the centre. At the end of three 

 days, remove the plugs from the points of the cones, 

 set them over the pots to drain, where they are to 

 remain ten days or a fortnight, by which time the 

 sugar will be found to be dry and perfectly crys- 

 tnllized. 



I have thus detailed to you, I trust with not too 

 much minuteness, the method pursued by us in sev- 

 eral ex|ierinients of manufacturing sugar from beets, 

 in which we have been principally guided by the 

 directions of Chaptal and Fontenelle. When one 

 has become acquainted with the process, I am con- 

 fident there is nothing connected with it, which an 

 intelligent farmer c.innot comprehend and practice ; 

 and I see no reason why every man who cultivates 

 fifty acres of land, sliould not have his acre or half 

 an acre of beets, and manufacture not only sugar 

 enough for his family, but a few hundred pounds 

 be.sides, which he might exchange to advantage 

 wi.h his grocer for many of the comforts, or it may 

 be, luxuries of life. 



I remain, respectfully, 



"i'our friend imil servant, 



PICKERING DODGE. 



SakitiyJan. 30, 1&3S. 



Sen Weed. — This material is considered by many 

 skilful agriculturists as equal to barnyard manure 

 fur dressing wheat land. Applied to Indian corn, 

 it is saiil to be <fiicacious in preventing injury 

 from worms and di ought. 



