civ 1 N T R O D U C T I O N 



Oa an average, the analysis of Pcligot would lead us to conclude that the beet contained, in 100 

 parts 



Water 87.0 



Matters soluble in water, (sugar) 8.0 



Matters uusoluble in water , 5.0 



100.0 



From which it appears that no more than about two-fifths of the sugar contained in the beet-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 express-pulp. In fact, with the presses, whilst 

 from GO to 70 per cent, of juice is obtained, the root actually contains 95 per cent. The loss here, 

 however, is of less consequence than in the cane, the trash of which is used for fuel, whilst 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 produces it. 



One of the considerations which is of the highest importance in connexion with the production of 

 sugar from the beet is inherent in the difficulty of preserving the root after it is full grown. Gathered 

 at the end of autumn, the root suffers no less from severe frost than it does from mild, open weather ; 

 frost destroys its organization, 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, there would, probably, be a great advantage in not waiting for 

 the period of complete maturity, by sowing somewhat thicker than wont, any difference of weight would 

 probably be made up, and then there would be no risk of loss in keeping. 



The quantity of beet gathered from a given extent of land necessarily 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. 



Tons. Cwt. Qrs. Lbs. 



Department of the pas de Calais 12 17 4 



&quot; North 14 6 1 23 



&quot; Cher 15 11 1 



But in other departments the produce is considerably smaller; so that the average for the whole 

 of France has been estimated at not more than ten tons, nine hundred weight, one quarter, and thirteen 

 pounds per acre; an average which approaches very closely to that obtained by Boussingault on his 

 own farni during a period of seven years. 



Assuming four and six-tenths pounds of sugar to be obtained from every 110 pounds of beet, 

 the produce, in sugar, from an acre in the course of seven months will amount to nine hundred weight, 

 three quarters, and twenty-two pounds. An acre of land in sugar-cane yields in fourteen months 

 fifteen hundred weight, one quarter, and ten pounds. 



To manage one acre of land under beet-root, 45.6 days of a man and 14.1 of a horse was the 

 amount of labor expended. A domain of 360 acres in the south is worked by 1.00 negroes, which, 

 reckoning the time that the crop is on the ground at fourteen months, would bring the number of days 

 labor by a man to 177 per acre. 



Such an expenditure of labor must, in the nature of things, absorb the greater part of the profits, 

 and it was shown that the cost of cultivation and manufacture of cane-sugar was equal to the value of 

 the produce. Still the cane presents one considerable advantage over the beet namely, that of fur 

 nishing the fuel necessary to the boiling, an advantage which will be better understood when it is 

 known that in the manufacture of every 100 pounds of beet-sugar the consumption of coal amounts In 

 twenty-two pounds. 



