192 



SIJGAE. 



{Beta sylvestris). Margraf, as we have seen, was the first chemist 

 who discovered the saccharine principle in beet root ; and Achard, 

 the first manufacturer who fitted up an establishment (in Silesia) 

 for the extraction of sugar from the root. It was not before 1809 

 that this manufacture was introduced into France. 



The manufacture sprung up there in consequence of Bonaparte's 

 scheme for destro}dng the colonial prosperity of Great Britain by 

 excluding British colonial produce. It having been found that 

 from the juice of the beet root a crystaUizable sugar could be ob- 

 tained, he encouraged the dstablishment of the manufacture by 

 every advantage which monopoly and premiums could give it. 

 Colonial sugar was at the enormous price of four and five francs a 

 pound, and the use of it was become so habitual, that no French- 

 man could do without it. Several large manufactories of beet 

 root were established, some of which only served as pretexts for 

 selling smuggled colonial sugar as the produce of their own works. 

 Count Chaptal, however, established one on his own farm, raising 

 the beet root, as well as extracting the sugar. The roots are first 

 cleaned by washing or scraping, and then placed in a machine to 

 be rasped and reduced to a pulp. This pulp is put into a strong 

 canvas bag and placed under a powerful press to squeeze out the 

 juice. It is then put into coppers and boiled, undergoing certain 

 other processes. Most of the operations are nearly the same as 

 those by which the juice of the sugar cane is prepared for use ; 

 but much greater skill and nicety are required in rendering the 

 juice of the beet root crystaUizable, on account of its greater 

 rawness and the smaller quantity of sugar it contains. But when 

 this sugar is refined, it is impossible for the most experienced 

 judge to distinguish it from the other, either by the taste or ap- 

 pearance ; and from this arose the facility with which smuggled 

 colonial sugar was sold in France, under the name of sugar from 

 beet root. Five tons of clean roots produce about 4|- cwt. of 

 coarse sugar, which give about 160 lbs. of double refined sugar, 

 and 60 lbs. of inferior lump sugar. The rest is molasses, from 

 which a good spirit is distilled. The dry residue of the roots, 

 after expressing the juice, consists chiefly of fibre and mucilage, 

 and amounts to about one-fourth of the vreight of the clean roots 

 used. It contains all the nutritive part of the root, with the ex- 

 ception of 4iJ per cent, of sugar, which has been extracted from 

 the juice, the rest being water. 



As the expense of this manufacture greatly exceeded the value 

 of the sugar produced, according to the price of colonial sugar, 

 it was only by the artificial encouragement of a monopoly and 

 premiums that it could be carried on to advantage. Tlie pro- 

 cess is one of mere curiosity as long as sugar from the sugar cane 

 can be obtained cheaper, and the import duties laid upon it are not 

 so excessive as to amount to a prohibition ; and in this case it is 

 almost impossible to prevent its clandestine introduction. 



Another mode of making sugar from beet root, practised in some 

 parts of Germany, is as follows, and is said to make better sugar 



