Cottage Husbandry and Architecture. 149 



ginger, the seeds of coriander and caraway, and the skins of oranges and 

 capsicums. 



Sugar. — The idea of every cottager growing his own sugar is, perhaps, 

 of still less value than the preceding one respecting malt ; for, assuredly, 

 when the West India colonies become independent, and trade becomes 

 free, events which must happen ere long, cane-sugar will be much cheaper 

 throughout Europe than that of the beet-root or any other plant of the tem- 

 perate zones ; unless, indeed, chemistry should discover an easier mode of 

 transforming starch into that principle. However, in the interior of Ger- 

 many and America, it may be desirable sometimes to have home-made 

 sugar ; and, therefore, we shall here state that the produce, in France, of a 

 ton of mangold wurzel is a cwt. of sugar ; and, as half a rood will grow at 

 least 3 tons, here are resources for 3 cwt. ; or say only half that quantity, 

 which is as much as any cottager will use in a year. The pulp of the root, 

 after the juice is pressed out, it is found in France, will fatten at the rate of 

 a bullock an acre : and hence the pulp of half a rood will be found of no 

 small value for the cottager's cow and his hog-tubs. The following process 

 for manufacturing beet-root sugar, most suitable for the cottager, has been 

 kindly furnished to us by our intelligent and much esteemed friend Mr. S. 

 Taylor, the editor of the professional department of the Country Times : — 



Sugar from Mangold Wurzel. — " Dear Sir, I believe you are aware' that 

 the manufacture of sugar from the beet root or mangold wurzel is more 

 likely to succeed on a large than on a small scale. Still, I see no reason 

 why, because we cannot do all we ivish, that therefore we should not do all 

 we can. If we cannot, on a small scale, get 5 per cent, let us put up with 3. 

 ' Half a loaf,' whether of sugar or of bread, ' is better than none.' 



" The quantity of land required to produce 1 cwt. of brown sugar, will, of 

 course, in some degree depend on the quality of that land, and its state of fer- 

 tility, natural and artificial. On this I have a word to say. The occupier of 

 a poor hungry soil may fancy that he has but to apply an additional portion 

 of good rich manure to obtain as great a weight of root as his more fortu- 

 nate neighbour on a kind deep loam. ' Let him not lay that flattering unc- 

 tion to his soil; ' for assuredly he will find himself in error therein. As great 

 a iveight of root I think it likely he might get ; that is no hard matter to 

 effect by dint of artificial means : but the question is, what would be the 

 probable amount of sugar from roots so obtained ? You will not be sur- 

 prised to hear that the weight of roots may be doubled ; and yet not only 

 shall the weight of sugar not be doubled, but even that it shall be dimi- 

 nished thereby. We grow enormous crops of mangold wurzel near London; 

 but they are unfit for the purposes of sugar-making, and the reason is ob- 

 vious : the weight is made up of aqueous, not saccharine, matter. I say this 

 to caution the occupiers of small patches of ground against the practice of 

 over-manuring. The French crops do not average 15 tons an acre of root : 

 this is, undoubtedly, a lower rate of produce than even, for sugar-making, 

 they might safely resort to : 20 and 25 tons might, and ought to be raised 

 on an acre. Now for the quantity of sugar from a given weight of root : 

 5 per cent of brown sugar is now generally obtained in the French manu- 

 factories ; that is to say, 1 cwt. of sugar from 1 ton of root ; but, as I have 

 observed in a former part of my letter, it is not likely that a cottager, with 

 his imperfect apparatus, should be able to obtain any thing like this amount. 

 However, he must do the best he can, recollecting that even half this quan- 

 tity will pay him. 



" Suppose, therefore, we call it half the quantity which a large manufac- 

 tory would obtain, or 2| per cent, and suppose that he grows 25 tons an 

 acre of root, he must have about 15 rods of land in order to produce 1 cwt. 

 of brown sugar. This, be it observed, is a low estimate, and, I have reason 

 to believe, far inferior to what would be obtained by common care and a 



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