cii INTRODUCTION. 



with an abundance of food ; and the returns of the sugar-works enable them to add commercial manures, which indefinitely 

 increase the fertility of the soil. In 1855 the city of Valenciennes, the principal seat of the manufacture, was able to ii.scribo- 

 upon a triumphal arch these significant words : .Produce of wheat in the arondissement before the manufacture of sugar, 

 353,000 hectolitres, (961,173 bushels;) number of oxen, 700. Produce of wheat since the manufacture of sugar, 431,000 

 hectolitres, (1,158 256 bushels;) number of cattle, 11,500. &quot; 



The pulp or solid residue amounts to about twenty per cent, of the entire root. When divested 

 of the juice it still contains two or three per cent, of saccharine matter, and is greedily eaten by cattle 

 and pigs, which fatten rapidly upon it. It is said not to be good, however, for milch cows. Ordinary 

 beets and mangel-wurzel contain sugar, but the Silesian beets alone ai - e cultivated for this purpose. By 

 judicious selection and culture, varieties have been obtained which contain much more sugar than the 

 ordinary variety. In obtaining this result, however, the size of the root has been reduced. M. Knauer, 

 of Germany, has produced a variety which he names the imperial beet-root, which contains seventeen 

 and a quarter per cent, of sugar. This improvement places the beet on a par with the cane as a sugar- 

 plant, while the cultivator of the beet has several important advantages over the West India and 

 Louisiana planters. The cultivation of the sugar-cane occupies from twelve to fifteen months, and it 

 must all be manufactured in a few days, or great loss ensues. On the other hand, the beet requires but 

 about four months to arrive at maturity, and then it can be stored and manipulated at leisure. We 

 would earnestly recommend this subject to men of capital, and that the business may not be recklessly 

 undertaken we have obtained from Professor H. Dussauce, an enlightened French chemist, at present 

 residing in this country, an account of the beet cultivated for sugar, and the process of manufacture in 

 France, which we subjoin. 



OF THE BEET-ROOT. 



The presence of sugar in the beet was observed by Margraff, and Achard, of Berlin, attempted 

 the extraction of this sugar on a large scale; but it was -only during the period of the continental 

 system that the manufacture of sugar from the beet acquired such perfection in France as made it 

 profitable. The beet so generally cultivated at the present time is derived from the beta vulgaris. 

 The two principal varieties of this root are the red beet, which has been grown for a very long time 

 in kitchen gardens, and the white beet. Between these two there are numerous varieties, having a 

 flesh color of various intensity. The seeds of the same plant, in fact, frequently produce varieties of 

 decidedly different shades of color. The red and the white beet, however, appear to be the most 

 constant, and the intermediate varieties are the result of crosses. 



The first has a large root, which grows in great part above the ground. It is a very hardy plant, 

 and has been cultivated for a very long time in various parts of the continent as food for cattle, and is 

 now very common. The root which has been preferred for the manufacture of sugar is conical, of a 

 rose color without, and its concentric internal layers are also colored ; but it appears that the white 

 beet of Silesia is the more productive. The beet thrives in almost all kinds of soils, provided they be 

 sufficiently manured. In Alsace (east of France) it succeeds in light and in strong argillaceous soils 

 indifferently. Another valuable quality which this root possesses is that of succeeding in the most 

 dissimilar climates It is grown to advantage both in the north and south of France. 



The beet is sown at once in the field, or in beds, and transplanted. The latter method appears 

 now to obtain a decided preference, inasmuch as it leaves plenty of time for the preparation of the soil. 



In a piece of ground well broken up by delving or ploughing, and highly manured, the seed is 

 sown in lines or drills as soon as the spring frosts are no longer to be apprehended. The transplanting 

 in the east of France takes place about the middle of May, and even in the beginning of June. The 

 plants are generally set about 15 inches apart. In Ihe north the beet harvest does not begin before the 

 end of September, and generally ends in the course of October. The gathering is delayed as long as 

 possible, inasmuch as the root increases visibly to the very end of the season. But gathering the beet 



